Dan D'agostino Momentum Integrated amp

Please let me respond to David99's query as to whether a $54k product is 54x better than a $1000 product. The Mona Lisa would probably never leave the Louvre, but would you prefer to see it hang on your wall or perhaps thousands of inkjet prints of its likeness? Or maybe a googolplex of them? Fine art may be priceless and perhaps a poor "value" but crap is crap!

I don't how it sounds, but it costs almost double the Dartzeel and Vitus- almost 50k for an integrated seems excessive, period.

I would only say this, if you are considering a 50K integrated why would you ask anyone for their opinion? In that price strastophere there is no substitute for listening first hand even if not with your speakers. On a further note before consideration is whether or not the speaker/amp interface would be suitable. The Thiels require current and plenty of it to be driven adequately.

Please let me respond to David99's query as to whether a $54k product is 54x better than a $1000 product. The Mona Lisa would probably never leave the Louvre, but would you prefer to see it hang on your wall or perhaps thousands of inkjet prints of its likeness? Or maybe a googolplex of them? Fine art may be priceless and perhaps a poor "value" but crap is crap!

Not a good analogy... There is only one Mona Lisa and there will only ever be one. However a $54k integrated amp, there will be as many made as buyers want. I'm sure Dan would happily ramp up and turn out millions of these bad boys if he could.

For $54k you could get some really impressive separates and buy some 1 of a kind art to put in front of them if they are not as pretty as the D'agostino amp. You could also probably hire one of the great amp designers to build you a one off that would rival this. I'm not sure what exotics are in there but they better be really really impressive to justify the price.

Of course if you feel it is justified, go ahead. We all buy products that sell for 100s of times more than they are really worth.

I heard the D'Agostino monoblocks and preamp driving a pair of Wilson Alexia's. They sound refined and powerful, and I can see how some would ascribe a tube-like sound in the way that some Rowland amps can sound tube-like, but I (personally) prefer the more neutral, organic sound of Vitus Signature Series amps. The Vitus integrated operates in pure Class A and sounds a bit more 'romantic' than the SS-102. Another advantage of the Vitus is, they have a super cd player to match the integrated for synergy, whereas D'Agostino does not. Just another option worthy of consideration.