To me, Meier has the reputation for making solid, but unspectacular sounding amps. I still have a Headfive that was my first headamp. I agree with you about it and it was competitive at its price. I listened to Hiroshi's (Fungi) opera and was very disappointed with it. It didn't sound as good to me as the Headfive. IMO, it was totally non-competitive at its price point. Note that I only listened to the amp side. I never heard its DAC but the Opera DAC was universally panned, making it a worse deal at its price. When I think about buying high end amps, I don't think about buying Meier.