I considered trying the Exogal combo, even though I know that Doug Schroeder tends to go way over the top in his reviews. Two things stopped me though. The first was that I like the sound of DSD SACDs, and the Exogal combo would not work for this. The second is that my room is quite large from a cubic foot perspective, and while I am no headbanger, occasionally I do like loud, and unlike Doug I listen to a lot of classical music. A symphony at full cry demands a lot from an amplifier, and nothing is more frustrating than asking for "11" when the amp conks out at "8". Reminiscent of my days with Quad ESL-63s. Lovely sound, but often when you would be getting into it and ask for just a bit more, they would reply, no thank you.
That said, when I called Exogal, none other than the CEO answered the phone, and he offered to send me the Exogal combo to try, which was most accommodating. But he also contradicted Doug, saying that there were no immediate plans for monoblock versions, which may have worked. In the end, as I already had a PS Audio DSD, I decided to add their BHK preamp and Direct Stream Memory Player. For power I went with Bryston 7B3 - no worry of ever running out of juice.
We are spoilt for choice.
