Maybe how you'd vote. But unless there are guidelines for what we are supposed to consider when we vote, we can apply whatever standards we want to. In one of Amir's videos, he actually said that people have criticized him for not factoring features and value for money in his recommendation system, and that he added the voting system in part to address those concerns.I feel like people are misunderstanding the point of the voting system here. Just because better value exists elsewhere doesn’t mean that the product is “Fine” or “Not Terrible”. I don’t think that there has ever been a better power capability measurement for a HP amp. And to all the people saying “I‘d rather get this other product.”, seriously? If this doesn’t fit into “Great” for a HP amp then I don’t know what does.
I don't mind the aesthetics. I don't even mind the pots. It's just overpriced. I have no problem factoring that into my vote. For this price I'd expect it to do something special. Instead, everything is fine. But so is my L30 II for 1/7th the price.
The L30 II is better in significant ways. Switchware in the front, and a lot more SE power. Given that balanced provides no sound quality benefit (and actually degrades the signal in this product), I'd rather have the single-ended power. Especially since many headphones do not come with balanced cables. It is nice to have both outputs simply so that you can have two headphones plugged in at the same time, but again having the switch in the back negates that convenience.
The big potential benefit of the SMSL is the balanced input. But even that is only useful if you have a ground loop. Otherwise, it'd be nice to be able to switch between inputs except, again, this requires fiddling with little switches on the back of the unit.
I wouldn't buy this for $300, but I can imagine sensible people who would. The only people I can imagine buying this for $1,000 would have to have read some kind of subjective review talking about how it opens up the soundstage and gives the bass a natural, warm tone.