Bought this out of curiosity to check how good it can be against established brands. I have build this Nei-2001 with Aeco silver plated XLR"s . I'm amazed how god it sounds. It's still new so it only get's better with burn in. It seems to be very detailed and articulate, air around instruments is very nice. Sound seems to be denser more defined and most importantly very! engaging.. I like it a lot ,it's way better than my previous reference XlLR (which was for years nordost quatro fil )