Can a Amp be "timeless" and compete with todays amps?

When it comes to amps, there seem to be a plethora of folks who like a specific sound. Some will call that sound ’distortion’, others will call it ’neutrality’ and still others will call it ’transparency’. Tube amps have a specific ’sound’, that sound is generally more pleasant to the human ear than some of the typical ss Class D sound that most folks associate with the class. OTOH, there are folks who prefer this very sound that others decry. At the end of the day, I believe it is the ’flavor’ of the amp sound that we choose...and the appeal to not only our pocket book, but also our aesthetics. Most amp manufacturer’s know this...and design accordingly.

Another question is: has the basic circuit of the tube or ss amp design changed that significantly over the years to call it a total re-design? That is a question for the more technically advanced here.

Let’s simplify negative feedback = taking something ( the AC audio signal aka music ) that has ALREADY happened, flip it around out of phase ( that’s the negative part ) and feed it back into the input where something new and unequal is happening ( unless you think sine ways are music )… then apply some critical thinking….

I feel like Pavlov’s dog waiting for the bell to ring…
(like expecting every impulse transient will have a ringing exponential decay like a Cadillac with no shock absorbers going down the road.)

A better approach these days might be to estimate what the error is going be a priori and just apply that as (or along-with) the input. So more of a feed-forward approach, or pre-emphasis in control theory I think?

Then there is no feedback, and the input is driven towards a lower error. But that sort of begs a fully digital system IME.

i have not been keeping with amp design, other than the Bruno work, which Ralph mentioned. So maybe a lot of stuff is happening I am unaware of?

Benchmark moved the game a head with their current technology that's in the AHB2.

My bet is if you plugged your tube pre into this and kept the rest of your system as is you'd be more than pleased with the results! And if not, you can return. Worth a shot!

yes

What this means is its possible to build a solid state amp that is every bit as smooth in the mids and highs as the best tube amps and leave nothing on the table in terms of detail, sound stage and the like, in such a way that vintage amps simply cannot compete (not that they sound bad, just they don’t sound as good). This is one of those things that is easy to hear and easy to measure.

If you are convinced that best amps can be measured, you most likely hit a goldmine of technical wisdom, although the term "smooth" might be not universal enough to define it. However, in my opinion, that is not even possible, especially because amps do not make sound on their own: the sound you hear exists in a relation to all component in the signal path. Insisting on individual component’s quality, as promised by manufacturers marketing materials, rather than emphasizing the signal path synergy is not the optimal formula to enjoy audio but, of course, it can be easily the most expensive one...