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Totally agree. While it is clear that this integrated amplifier isn't worth the asking price, the fuzziness in some of the testing choices may lead some to think it was just an ad-hoc hatchet job.A real point that speaks for Amir, though, is that he strives for some sort of consistency so comparisons and ranking (for those who feel the need for such) are somewhat easier to make, but we must never forget that his data doesn't always represent "the truth". I personally wished Amir produced less tests per month but more complete and thorough ones.
To be totally clear, I do not think this is a hatchet job, wouldn't touch that integrated with a ten-foot pole at this price and don't think that Amir is intentionally dishonest in any way. But it sometimes feels that he enthusiastically jumps on the issues he finds without considering options/adjustments. In other cases, the SMSL behavior as temperature rises for example, we get a complete post-mortem and eventually a retest. In other cases, the blade falls, the device is packed and shipped back and that's it.
Again, I don't own any Hegel stuff, don't plan to ever own one, believe the testing, on the whole, is fair (that level issue is bothering me a bit) and have been biased by previous tests to believe that, by default, Hegel is just another so-so overpriced lifestyle brand but the company responded publicly and professionally. This could warrant a slightly adapted retesting of the controversial measurements.