100db signal/noise has been commonplace for 40 yearsCleaner designs that reach 100 db SINAD or more consistenly would be an innovation. If putting all the components together in a box were that easy, DIY-ers would be making AVR´s and that does not seem to be the case.
No innovation for amps in 20 years? Hypex and Purifi are have flipped the market in the last five years, so...
-100db THD is indistinguishable from -80db THD (and possibly even down to -60db THD)
When the improvements are beyond the range of audibility, they are unlikely to sell more kit, or be viewed as "innovation"
Back to back testing of quality 40 year old power amps vs Hypex/purifi/benchmark, typically show no discernible difference for most listeners (as long as the amps are within their rated performance envelopes...)
The real difference, is that today, we can get some of the performance which 40 years ago was limited to megabuck high end components, down at mass market price levels... but yes that also implies lower margins.
What Massimo are trying to do, is take those advantages (reduced cost at equivalent performance), and raise the margins.
They can only succeed in this, if their competitors follow suit.
So the question is, what will Onkyo, Yamaha and Sony do.... the big players in that market segment.
If they are happy with current margin structures, and would love to increase their market share - all they have to do is stick with current pricing - and D&M/Massimo will end up sacrificing substantial market share, in exchange for their increased margin - but possibly substantially reduced overall net profit....
The game is afoot.