(Hegel vs Luxman) vs PS Audio

Go with what @lldd said! I have never heard a PS Audio anything that I thought was competitive in its class. The Luxman is sublime! The Hegel is an neutral as they come and can be a little boring but not as much as the PS Audio! The Luxman has all-day listenability and for the record, I don’t own one. 😉

Interesting conversation... Room vs gear, I guess the room always wins.

But if no music plays in a treated room, does one enjoy the sound? I kid.

I'm presently a JC1+ owner, but am in love with my Riviera Labs Levante integrated and have nothing bad to say about my JC1+. I am now looking for a solid state amp with tighter bass and more of a romantic tube like sound and airiness. Seems to be the Mark of the new Luxman M-10x and I'm most likely going to make a move on one to drive my none 90+dB speakers.

@krymer2 what did you end up doing, room, gear or both?

Made the jump... and have a second coming! This amplifier is definitely a revelatory addition, one of those pieces where "you hear things you didn't know were there before" kind of additions. Decided to go with a mono set up as opposed to getting the C-10x. My current preamp will be the Yamaha C-5000 (once hooked up), but presently just listening to it on my T+A DAC200 and B&W 706s3 and I'm just smiling ear to ear. Can wait to pair it with all S-tier gear, but I always listen to new stuff on basically everything I own working up to the higher end stuff.

@krymer2 I have/had a lot of the same equipment you do, BHK everything, I have the Perfect Wave DAC MK2 and the transport also. I replaced the BHK preamp with a Boulder unit and went wow, the difference was bigger than I thought. I love the sound of the PS Audio BHK equipment but it's noisy and the imaging is fluffy and warm but isn't accurate. I have very efficient speakers and really only use them for their mid and high end so the PS Audio equipment was really noisy. The MK2 DAC and the transport are much better on the noisy scale. I have a Luxman m-10x coming also, just bought it this morning. 

Also I started in acoustics and your room is wonderful, don't make the most common mistake by putting in to much making your room to dry, enjoy the room is something you never hear acoustic people say. 

Since then I have acoustically treated my room with Viacousic and they did a great job providing the perfect match.  Massive help.  Everything is so much tighter and focused.  Then I upgraded to Gryphon Antellion EVO amp and Pandora Preamp.  Mega wow now.  The bass control is amazing on all levels and the soundstage is even bigger.  The thickness of the music is amazing.  Now its full bodied.  You can hear pedals on pianos and breathing from musicians.  Its startling.  I cant wait for all this to get some more time under its belt and just listen over Christmas and New Year holidays.  Loving the experience now!