So I got to hear this $10,000 beast. It's a good amp, but to price it at $10K, hmmm.

The Pinnacle sounds much better than the Peak. I've heard a few people say that the Peak is 90% of the Pinnacle. I think it's way less. The Pinnacle is much more refined sounding. It still has the Pete Millett sound, but has less of that treble etch the Peak has. It's more liquid and less grainy. The Pinnacle has better balance - warmer - similar to the Arete. And tons of bass and bass extension. HD800s sounded great from it.

The problem with the Pinnacle is that it was situated right next to the Eddie Current table at the meet. While the sources were different (Craig was using his modified Moth HyperDAC, which is a slightly dark source, a DAC from yester-year which is bested by many of today's DACs,) it was no contest comparing the Pinnacle to the EC 2A3 (running vintage 45 tubes and the high-frequency heater). The EC amps sounded much more "open" and detailed.

The odd thing I couldn't understand about the Pinnacle is why a $10K amp was using sub $200 Sophia PX4 tubes instead of the far superior KR PX4's. I'm familiar with both tubes and I know things would have been closer had the Pinnacle used the KR's. This is assuming it was designed to be OK for it since those Chinese PX4s are not real PX4s (they have a much higher plate resistance.)

Either the Pinnacle should be more appropriate priced or Eddie Current is not charging enough. Still, I'd like to hear a Pinnacle properly tubed.