5% THD to .000 THD SOUND

+1 gdnrbob

I dont get what you mean by investigate further,, and short list.. They were just examples that I saw today and t

derrickengineer, investigating further & short-listing would be actions one would do if one was serious about buying. Somehow I got the impression you were in the market for amps hence your questions about these 2 amps.
looks like you are not in the market to buy but are merely asking questions to clarify.
Even then "investigate further" would mean try somehow to listen to one or both amps & judge for yourself if the reviewers words ring true for you or not.
And "short-listing" would mean that you make a note of them somewhere so that when/if you are in the market to buy you look more into these 2 amps. With sooooooo many amps in the market it’s hard to know where to start - one can be stumped on this matter. I’ve found that having a short-list of amps that have come to my attention while trolling forums, hearing at shows/friends, heavily discussed in forums makes the start for the search for a new amp much easier - it’s better than having a blank sheet as I find that I can get swayed by "flavor of the month" amp.
Hope this clarifies.....

Doesn't matter.  Listen carefully to the amp using YOUR preamp and YOUR speakers.  Your preamp needs to be able to drive the amp, the amp needs to be able to handle the load presented by your speakers.  The amp needs to be able to provide the range of listening levels you will use. 

Nothing else matters.

derrickengineer

You can get minuscule distortion figures (.0001%) on a poorly designed amp with massive amount of GLOBAL feedback, and they sound rubbish.
 
The best is to get minuscule distortion under (.1%) without any or very little global feedback if possible. Some very good amp designers can get this with just LOCAL feedback around the input stage which leaves the output stage free of global feedback, this to me is the best way to go.

Amps that have 5%THD are not well designed, and are for the the crew that love their euphonic coloration's depending on the type of THD. 

Cheers George     

Gdnrbob & Bombaywalla, thanks!

I am in essential agreement with most of what has been said above. I would commend the following thread to the OP and anyone else who may be interested, in which I, Atmasphere, and others posted on the subject of amplifier specs in general and THD in particular:

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/amplifier-specs-does-they-matter

One of the basic points I stated in that thread was precisely what Bombaywalla said above: Specs and measurements, including THD, can often be useful in RULING OUT potential candidates for purchase from consideration, in some cases by identifying specs that may be TOO good, and thereby may signify the likelihood of undesirable design tradeoffs such as excessive use of feedback.

Personally, regarding the specific amplifiers that were cited in the OP, if I were amplifier shopping I would probably not include either one on my short list, regardless of what the reviews may have said and even if cost were no object. An amp having a 5% THD spec, no matter how euphonic and pleasing it may sound on initial audition, would over the long term cause me to unduly focus during my listening sessions on how untrue the amp is being to the recording, rather than simply enjoying the music. And an amp having vanishingly small THD would over the long term cause me to unduly focus during my listening sessions on whether it might be introducing excessive brightness, sloppy transients, and other effects that can result from heavy-handed application of feedback, or from other techniques that may have been used to achieve those numbers.

As I see it there are more than enough well regarded amps to consider, in all power ranges, that have specs that are neither "good" nor "bad" to a degree that would raise concern. Given that, I would see little point in pursuing ones having specs like these.

Regards,
-- Al