Yes, I think we all know you're not only skeptical, but you flat out disbelieve amps make a important difference. And this is based only on spec sheets.

This is often the case when someone hasn't heard a high end amp switched into a system they know very well and heard the difference it can make.
They've just read "most amps sound the same".

If you can afford the eAR250, I highly rec. you hear the diff. for yourself. As I said, you will be stunned. It will have far greater control over your speakers making what comes out those same speakers (whatever you own) sound much more realistic than what you probably hear now.
What do you own now? Do you own the 950 pre/pro?

If Rotel, Outlaw etc...sounded pretty much the same as Krell, Theta, Ayre, Levinson, etc... these hi-end companies would be out of business. They're all making solid state amps with the cheaper brands having plently of power for almost anyone's needs.

If you think everyone who buys these hi-end brands is only getting a tiny, hard to hear improvement then you're just telling yourself a lie to make yourself feel better about not being able to afford one.

Yes Klipsh speakers have a distinctive sound. Their awful freq. response on the high end as the sound waves bounce around the plastic horn before they hit your ear with their high effi. harshness is pretty easy to spot compared to most speakers using metal or cloth domes.
They're the only major brand using horn loaded tweeters so if you know your friend isn't filthy rich it'd probably be an easy guess that the new bright/harsh sound you heard is from Klipsh.

Typically most good high end speakers (of which I would not add Klipsh to that list) are fairly flat freq. response and decent phase allignment, with some better than others (or course).
These differences are typically (on a spec sheet / test report) +/- ~2db.

This range is far greater than the distortion 'specs' of most solid state amps so most people say speakers are by far the most important element in the audio chain because of this.

The problem in that thinking is that the speaker's own 'distortion' is heard as a small tonal difference from speaker to speaker (still talking good high end speakers w/o massive response errors). Not a big deal.

But the distortion that comes from amps, DACs, preamps (not recorded on spec sheets) are what make or break the "life" of the music. That's where the realism is lost. That's what's Not measured on spec sheets.
It's so difficult to put into words, you mostly just need to hear the diff. between a really hi-fi component and a decent mid-fi model.

It's not their 'sound', it's the damage they do or don't do to the delicate signal.

And it makes a HUGE diff. compared to two diff. speakers that tonaly 'sound' a little diff., but are both capable of playing a super realistic output or a dull lifeless one, or a bright harsh one depending on the quality of signal they're sent.

I think you've yet to hear this effect. It's where good solid value/quality mid-fi turns into true hi-fi.

Hook up the Outlaw 1050 to a pair of $20K Revel Salons and the Salons will not sound incredible in any way. Why? The rec's specs have no gross distortion problems at all, and it should have plenty of power to play the Revels for a short time at the very least.

Hook up an Outlaw 950 and 770 amp and it will sound far far better. Odd things like bass you never heard before, details that you never heard before, far more realisim.

Hook up a very high end DAC, passive preamp, and the eARTwo amp and it will floor you with how realistic is sounds. Air, imaging, transients, detail, dynamics/bass 'slam', depth, width of soundstage, smoothness, etc...

Now reverse it... Hook up that very high end front end to a pair of very low priced speakers (like the Onix Rockets for examp.) and you'll STILL be floored by the realism. Probably calling it better than the $20K Revels hooked up to the 950/770.

The speed of an amp is evident in it's transients. I have had several amps in my system and they all spec as pretty much distortion free, yet sound Very different.

Play a track w/ a strong solid kick drum beat. It sounds progressively tighter, clearer, and more realistic on each better amp. They all pretty much played the correct freq. fundamental and harmonics but the worst amp sounds very dull and sluggish compared to the best amp (the eARTwo). Hard to notice the worst of the amps was 'wrong' until you hear the better and hear the obvious diff.

And no double blind A/B tests needed. If it's not blatantly obvious to you (or me) then IMO it doesn't much matter and isn't worth the extra money. A far more costly amp that sounds -"a tiny bit better maybe, but hard to say for sure if that's what I heard?" is totally not worth it at all IMO.

The diff. the eARTwo was NOT subtle. I would have sent it back if it was. I don't have $2.5K to throw away on a tiny improvement (at the time I bought it -it's now $3.5K and $4K on Sept. 1st). I thought the 950 might hold the eARTwo back from being much diff. from my previous amp, but it didn't. The eARTwo allowed the 950 to shine through showing just how much damage my previous amp was doing to the signal.

People who say the 950's a little bright a little harsh and probably hearing their solid state amp adding these elements to the signal. The 950's not bright or harsh.
It's not the very best DAC/preamp there is, but it's Very Good connected to the eARTwo amp and my Newform Research speakers (-/+2db flat top to bottom -/+1db from 800Hz-14KHz and very good phase).

Dynamics are when between two amps one sounds more compressed volume-wise than the other. They're again both playing spec-wise almost distortion free, yet when a loud sound plays one amp sounds like it's not playing as dynamically. Like how the FM radio is dynamically compressed yet the whole signal is present. Play a CD of the same sound and the louds sound louder. Having nothing to do w/ CD sounding better than radio.

Try the eAR250 amp (~$1990) or the PS Audio HCA-2 (~$1690) if you want to hear what the best in digital amps can do. I'm still waiting to hear the HCA-2 in my own system, but since the eAR amp was called far better by two diff. guys in direct / detailed comp. I decided to go that route and have been floored by it.

I still want Outlaw to look into making digital amps, but none of these high end amps are just power supplies slapped onto a cheap amp chip. Not even close.
I do think Outlaw could hit a lower price point than these amps easy. I'm not sure they could make them sound as good?
There seems to be a very high learning curve even for engineers who design high end solid state or tube amps.

My Audiosource AMP7 uses the Tripath amp module and was a very cheap price. It's great in some ways, but poor in others.
I haven't heard the Bel Canto eVo in my system, but from the tons of reviews on it, it's a very high qualtiy amp (though beaten by both the PS Audio and Acoustic Reality digital amps).
The Bel Canto also uses the Tripath amp module, but in a totally custom, super clean board. The inside is almost totally empty -just small amp boeard and large power supply (unlike the messy guts of my AMP7).
I have little doubt that the two sound very different. A good example of how you can't just slap a digital amp together and get gold.