Jab, my comparison was only in the build quality of the products, not the companies.
The other thing I was wondering about, aside from build quality and reliability over the long term, is something Tvad touched on -- that of technology development over the years. My guess is because preamps of this caliber rely more on solid engineering and obsessive build quality rather than fad or bleeding edge technology and mass production, it's not so much an issue. Still, does anyone feel concern is warranted about buying a 9+ year old VAC with 9 year old technology and materials (and thus a lower used price) compared with more modern, newer units in the same used price range? Or do you feel older VAC quality at a used price would still trump a lesser but newer model at the same price?
