You make some good points. I have a lyr2 and enjoy that lush, tube sound. However I was shocked at how great my Ragnarok ( the big brother of Mjolnir) in balanced mode, sounded. I was so impressed by the SS sound, I pulled the trigger, and got the Asgard2 . The A2 is a very nice, underrated SS amp, which I can leave on, when dealing with stuff, and not worry about unnecessary tube burn. But the lyr2, with the Telefunken E88CC platinum tubes, does blow away the A2, especiallyin SOUNDSTAGE and the holographic quality of the sound. And, with the right tubes, the bass and everything else can be magical. If you decide to get a lyr2, roll your tubes and get some NOS vokshods from Bob @rb2013. These tubes and others sound better than the stock tubes.