Gainclone: Impressions...

[roibm]

First, a very big thanks rolled out to Mere and Brian!
Thank you guys, you made it possible

Finally, I got the chance to test a gainclone(never heard one before).
At first, I think that solid state will have a very hard time in the future. The only thing it takes is a chip better than the LM3875 at a price anywhere up to 100USD. The result would be an amp that would give no chance whatsoever to any solid state.

Not that the LM3875 is bad, it gives the best sound I ever had in my house, just that I don't know how it compares to a big bucks amp.
Altho I am extremely happy with my gainclone, I can't say it is the best amp ever since I lack impressive references.
The sound is brilliant, it's like it brought to life my speakers, never heard such a big difference by simply using a different amp(I've used bridged and tweaked Denon POA-800 until yesterday). There was quite some difference when I've started using the POA-800 but now the difference is just much bigger, I would say kind on night and day.
And I must add to the equation the fact that I used some extremely cheap inteconnects(<1USD?) since the good interconnects(DIY) are still used by the POA. D@mn, can't wait to get home and continue

I would like to hear some other impressions, eventually from people that never heard a gainclone until now.
And let's skip the tech stuff since there are enough threads on this.