CHLim I listened to a number of speakers before buying the DARmas. For the price, I found them very hard, or impossible to beat.
The list included ART Deco from the UK, Devore Gibbon 9's, Coincident Super Victory, Silverline Boleros, Peak Consult Empress. Of all of those, I liked the Devore and Silverline best, but the latter are nearly twice the price and some of the others are much more expensive too.
I listened to the new Accordo speakers too, recently. That was at a small dealer show, when I was the only one there, so I was able to have long listen, with my own music. Both the standmounts and floorstanders were very nice indeed, though I preferred the smaller standmounts. In the UK market, even the standmounts are a lot more expensive and on balance, I still prefered my speakers.