I auditioned a few heavy weights for my next tube amp:
Air Tight ATM-300R, Engstrom Arne, Kondo Overture I, Shindo Cortese 300B, Luxman MQ-300.
I was very surprised (pleasantly as well), Luxman beat them all.
Of course the demo was less than ideal, different rooms, different speakers, DACs. But still on a very humble DAC, and a $3000 preamp, and a $5000 speaker, the Luxman outclassed them all.
I am now figuring how to get one home
