I bought a used SS amp for $700 that was a total fail. I bought it for a variety of reasons. To test power. To fiddle with Biamping. To understand the whole of my main system and room to help tune. A different perspective. It sucks enough it really is good for nothing.
I should have bought a new VTV class D amp. I don't know what I was thinking. At least with the VTV if I didn't like it, I could return it. I threw away seven hundred dollars.
Fortunately I keep an old Quad CD67-66 preamp - 606mk2 amp for those days ...
You are right, from time to time we have to refresh our perspective.