I'll chime in purely as comic relief...
My NAD has a plain black aluminum face plate. It also has a volume know with No, I repeat No, indicator whatsoever. I had to put a sticker on it just so I knew where it was at before blowing something up accidentally when turning it on. I sure wish they would have put some more lights, or whatever on this thing! Aside from that, it sounds great! It has gotten better and better as time goes on, this also defies complete explanation.
I'm not sure what exactly the argument is here. I can tell the difference between the amp/receivers I own. Could i do it blindfolded if you just picked a random one to turn on.....NO. But when I play one, and then hook up the other, I can definitely discern a difference, a big difference! In context of short term memory.
I recently bought a used Pioneer receiver for the fiber optic input from the computer. It's a damn nice looking receiver (no aluminum faceplate). How did it sound? Terrible! But that's ok, I have a few speakers, they all can't get expensive amps. It only really becomes an issue at higher volume, and in quick comparison.
What is the beef here? Titanium and Mr. Widget seem open mined. Am I missing something?