Thank you everyone for your kind input.
I went from ARC VT100 MKIII to a used pair of NAGRA VPA's.
Well, I was so impressed with the improvement (dynamics,air, soundstage, placement ambience etc.) that I upgrade to the current new VPA model. With the new unbroken in model, however, the sound seems congested and harsh........i.e.awful. I'll try to break them in to 100 hrs as suggested. So far I have about 10 hrs break in time.