Ajani wrote: "But I still expect an improvement in sound as well....
That is the key idea - your expectations of price and performance are not always the same as the expectations of others.

There will always be manufacturers who build a product that does not align well with our personal expectations, or companies that price an otherwise acceptable item in a fashion that does not agree with our wallet.

I counted the number of tube and solid state amp manufacturers in the Review section of Audio Asylum and came up with over 260. The number of different models is several multiples larger.

If you're like most people, you'd end up seriously considering only a handful of them - the ones you believe are likely to sound the best for the money you're willing to spend.

However, other people are still buying the ones you rejected or didn't even consider. If those other makes aren't selling, those companies would go out of business.

As long as there is one company selling a product I like at a price I'm willing to pay, I don't worry too much why others have made a different choice.