Not sure how you're coming to your conclusion.... but his comparison does make sense given un-modded HD800 and Bricasti M1 are in the chain

It's no wonder it is often considered the best amp for the HD800's.  A lot of all this, however, has to do with personal preference.  The Stratus is a warmer amp than the Mainline and I find that mixes well with the HD800's.  The Mainline is much more neutral.  It's actually much more similar to my SuSy Dynahi in signature which also happens to be considered one of the best solid state amps for the HD800's.  The Mainline is somewhere in between the two for voicing, but much closer to the Dynahi.  As a side note, the Dynahi (also a DIY amp) cost more to build than the Mainline.

Not sure how you're coming to your conclusion.... but his comparison does make sense given un-modded HD800 and Bricasti M1 are in the chain

Cuz I know how my S7 compares to the Stratus which he said was technically superior to the Mainline. This is confirmed in my view as my S7 bests the Dynahi too.

The mainline's output power is online 600 mw, where the Super 7 puts out 1.1 W.
But I'm not sure everyone uses power into 32 ohms as the standard measurement, and the bottle head website doesn't specify, so it might be wrong to assume it's more/less powerful.

Well, my S7 is pushing around 2 Watts. 

How does the S7 compare to the Stratus?

Bear in mind mine is upgraded and runs a 6BX7 driver among other things. Donald's Stratus is the richer and thicker sounding with perhaps a more 3D soundstage. My S7 is ultimately more precise and resolving of inner dynamics and articulation. The Stratus is a much better tonal match for a stock HD800 whereas if I tried to get that color with my S7, it would compromise a lot of the technicalities and push it below the Stratus on those points. The S7 is still very tube dependent and the 6SN7 and 7N7 ultimately have limits to their flexibility (i.e. tube bandwidth of capabilities) if you ask me.

For the average listener with stock phones, the Stratus is the better pairing with an HD800. For those interested in ultimate microscopy of sources, phones and music I prefer my S7 rig. It's more like a SS tool without a lot of the SS fatigue/annoyance issues. The genre bandwidth of your music collection will decrease with my S7 versus the current Stratus.

So it comes down to if you are a macro information listener or a micro detail examiner. I'd say for most people's tastes and their  musical collections I've seen at most shows, the Stratus is the better solution with the HD800. It is also around twice the price.

I am now a happy new owner of a pair of HD800! Fuck, now I get all the plankton talk! I've listened to these more than a few times after they came out from shitty systems (cambridge+lehmann) to very good sounding systems that showed their potential and got me interested (linn+heed/naim).

You all know this, but I just gots to gush... Pitch definition is sublime from bass to midrange to the screeching high tones. They're fast and effortless. Punch when called for, take it easy when appropriate. The plankton: I hear just as much new relevant musical information as irrelevant. I think the only negative is the splishy splashy treble for now. Sounded the best out of the HP-out of the Linn Majik DS-i; toned them down a bit without harming technicalities. Linn as DAC+Leckerton = colder and more harsh without adding much to the table in terms of technicalities, detail and so on. Plug them into the Leckerton via toslink on a computer and they are far from nice and turned from sounding good with most material to making me pick only the few reference cd's that are also musically quite minimalistic for them to be tolerable... I knew they were picky and the Leckerton DAC blows donkey balls, but damn, they indeed show everything. Need to upgrade stuff.

So now I've got two choices:
1) Get rid of my Majik DS-i, which I like for its dlna simplicity and excellent amp/dac performance, and replace it with a rag/iggy combo. Mmm.
2) Keep the Linn for a speaker setup and settle for something more discreet, such as a bifrost/valhalla2 combo, for desktop use only.

The first option requires some refurbishing, because dat stack is just huge. I think the first option could be a go, if Raggy could handle driving my main speakers and an active set from preout (obviously not simultaneously), but it doesn't seem to have a switch to toggle this. If it did it would simply do everything I need it to do.

I kind of like the effortlessness SS provieds, but haven't tried any really good OTL's, except a certain DNA model I can't recall, and that was very good with the HD800's and W5000's to name two I tried.. Seems those amps are still a favorable option for the HD800. Awesome. I guess the raggy just intrigues with its versatility though and after getting Anax's mods would work very well for an SS.

Thanks for everyone's input on this thread. If you have anything more to add with regards to my circumstances, feel free to comment. First date (minus the flirtatious earlier meetings) with HD800 went well. I really want to get to know her better.