You're a bit dense. Say this to a person and it's no compliment. Spy inside an elite piece of hifi kit and parts density becomes cause célèbre. Our hard-earned scratch has met its perfect itch.

The AQWO 2 is packed. Here we see six blue potted transformers—two up, four down—heatsinked voltage regs and Kendell filter caps.

On the other side our geek show…

… flaunts its optional tube output stage of twin Electro-Harmonix 6922 dual triodes, more voltage regs and more capacitance. We also revisit the massive triangular suspension for the transport mech…

… and sacre bleu not rouge, an LED sentinel. Yves-Bernard André style, that bathes any spinning disc in blue light to give the laser better operating conditions.

The attendant weight of these goods including the substantial steel chassis tickles more kg/€ goose bumps. Add the intuitive and responsive GUI. Even Joe Civilian and Jill next door would instantly know that this is a most serious deck; and from a very different planet than scratchy CD/ROM slot drives. Whilst 'only the sound matters' buyers claim otherwise, my inner spendthrift chokes when popping costly hoods only to inside find mostly hot air. No such gasping with the AQWO. No switch-mode power but multiple beefy linear power supplies. Unlike other Métronome models, this one simply integrates. We don't need two chassis. Bravo. So AQWO 2 is really dense; and not at all insulted for it.