I have owned Esoteric Audio Research equipment in the past and may do again in the future. I like they way EAR Yoshino presents music, the sound-stage is wide and textures are not overly warm. I also like the fact that it's made in England.
Has anybody compared Audio Research equipment to EAR? They both make tube amps which are kind of similarly priced. Do you think there is a 'house sound' for each company? Audio Research are bigger and make a lot more gear. If their equipment goes wrong is it easy to get fixed in the UK?
I am especially interested in pre-amps. I like the vacuum flourescent display at the front of some Audio Research gear and the input layout at the back is slickly functional. Transparency will be the ultimate factor, although it's always nice to have a remote as well.
