That really is the best summation of it...it makes me feel like I'm sitting right up against the stage with the music yelling at me. There's not an ounce of subtlety with, even with the more laid-back tube preamp ahead of it. I haven't tried the Klyne because in the past, it really hasn't affected that type of sonic presentation much. If anything it was the opposite with the 432, now that I'm more used to this amp. The 432 was almost too laid back, and the Klyne brought it back from its slumber.
The measured performance of this amp is very good. On paper. Yet another example of why I could care less what the measurements say as long as they're in the range of competence.
Yeah, physically its a bigger amp than the 432, though not as heavy. Pictures do not do justice to how large this thing is, especially for its power output. I cannot for the life of me figure out why a 100wpc amp that is not Class-A needs to be this ridiculously large. But if it's sound backed it up I wouldn't mind. I wonder when the last time this amp was biased?
My room is medium sized but my listening setup is along the long wall, which puts me fairly close to the speakers. I could try to rearrange them to shoot down the length of it, but to be honest, I don't care enough for what I've heard to totally rearrange my room around it.