Quote Originally Posted by RGA
i think with the issue of build quality one has to separate the internal from the external - plenty of amplifiers - and other gear - add a lot od superfluous weight to the case which has absolutely nothing to do with the internal parts of an amplifier - McIntosh makes a heavier amplifier than a given Audio Note but in terms of the quality of parts inside - it's not even remotely a close contest - Audio Note uses more expensive exotic materials from soldering materials to wiring, to transformers etc.
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I am not really for the idea of buying an AN dac and sticking into a Krell Dynaudio system - it's just not what AN had in mind and frankly I don't think one can actually "hear" what AN sounds like in a system like that - that's not a knock on Dynaudio or Krell - it's reality - They were never designed with those kinds of speakers or amplifiers in mind and in some cases there is an audible mismatch of input impedances especially if the DAC was the previous generation to the new filterless varieties.
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RGA, your relentless shilining for AN is getting old. As an aspiring semi-pro reviewer you at least ought to pretend to be objective.

"Impedance mismatches" are avoided by proper design, that is, high input impedance + low output impedance. Period.