A bit interesting comparison for sure. My brother has a Yamaha pre and power amp from the late 1980's. It is good stuff. Looking inside is super interesting. It conforms to a saying I saw somewhere, but forget where. Japanese electronic design motto, " why use 1 transistor when 10 when do just as well". These units are loaded, I mean by the many dozens of discrete transistors and FETs. Plus nothing other than carbon resistors. Quality low tolerance, but carbon resistors. Yet they hold their own against some expensive designs. I have had them head to head against such. The most surprising thing was the phono stage of the preamp. Switchable between MC and MM. Super, duper quiet and transparent. I used it with a low output MC I had just to see. Yamaha is guilty of rational design, trusting in test results and marketing as Natural Sound. Not high end in philosophy whatsoever, only in real world performance.