[Shindoadict]

Originally Posted by pitchperfect

Indeed. There are clear and distinct jumps in performance as you move up the line. Aurieges to Monbrison brings much more scale and even handed musical playback top to bottom. Musical tone and texture takes on a more palpable presence. The Monbrison to Masseto difference is more about finesse, nuance and a bump in resolution. You will also notice much more weight and 'foundation' with the Masseto.

All 3 allow you to enjoy a tremendous degree of great music, no doubt about it!

The key to maximizing the performance of these products is making sure the rest of the system is capable.

As a few of previous posts implied, some missed their Aurieges after moving to a higher end model. This is emotionally justifiable since it is giant killer of a preamp and we all have a special place in our heart for our first Shindo preamp! ;-) But if it is preferred sonically, it definitely highlights, to me, a potential bottleneck in the rest of the system when a model such as Monbrison, Masseto or Vosne-Romannée is placed in the setup.

Higher end models will demand a bit more care in setup to maximize their potential. Ie. Speakers that aren't squeezing the life out of the music, proper speaker setup, proper cabling, better equipment stands..better source components, so on and so forth.

-M

Matt