dunno how you can doubt the AP amps will be better, thats pretty silly IMO
I'm a huge Zapco fanboy... but I'm also an electrical engineer, and most of what you've listed below adds-up to
Marketing 101 for Suckers...
1)
high res pots - c'mon... did you look at the picture? these are cheap bias pots, made by Electron (pennies a piece)
2)
wima caps in the signal path - This is the only thing that I would say would offer better sound resolution... I'll wait to see actual published specs. This is kinda like the old Nichicon vs. Etna argument. In real life, I doubt there's be any audible difference. Each brand produces its own sound... neither one is better, just different.
3)
double the output devices - This might be an improvement, in the fact that it would allow a slightly higher voltage to the output devices. Doubt it would improve sound quality, but it would lower the noise floor.
4)
better op amps that the user can plug and play with other op amps - Are they better? Published results please. The reality is that; Zapco had failure issues in the past, and this is just a means to easily remove / replace them.
5)
better resistors thru out, instead of 1% they now use .1% - means nothing in real life... there really is no difference in the cost of .1% or 1% or 5% resistors. So why not pick the lowest value and brag about it. It's marketing hype.
6)
perfectly matches output devices - this isn't an improvement over the Z-LX (which also has matched output devices)
In no way am I saying these won't be great amps... I have no doubt that they will be.
If you are in the market for a new amp, then I still say these (or the Z-LX) are absolutely premium.
But I do think there's a lot of marketing BS attached to them...
