That's a fair point - maybe the amplification is the culprit. But then a company that sells $50,000 Vivid Audio Loudspeakers should then tell the dealer (demand the dealer) show his goods with amps that will make his speakers sound "the best" that they can sound - or better yet hire someone to design Vivid Audio Amplifiers. So either Vivid Audio is happy with D'Agostino/Formerly Krell or they don't care because they're selling a fashion design product.
At the California Audio Show Vivid CHOSE Aesthetix as their front end - it sounded a lot better but then it was the Giya G2 and the CD player was Aesthetix Romulus, a Vacuum Tube CD Player ($7k) - Once again they choose what goes on their speakers - or they don't care. If they don't care then why hand over your money? And if they are making the choices and you think their choice is "crap" then why are you handing money over to people with bad ears?