Always is a terrible word in any real question. If we say mostly a good thing I would definitely say yes. I am convinced that if you're going to get a bass driver to play cleanly at loudish spls there is no replacement for displacement. Sure great sound attributes can be found in really well built transformers. I find the sound quality of most class D amps with big output numbers sterile sounding, but with the usual assortment of tubes or bipolar devices the more power usually in terms of both amperage and watts the more I like the sound. And despite claims that there are beautiful 22 watt amplifiers It may well be an arifact in fact the music sounds better because there is really more juice. Thus some of the best sound you are going to hear- depending on your affection for microdynamics (read SET preferences) comes from the bigger amps. For instance many amps that use transmitter tubes are asked to drive only the higher frequencies, e,g, the need to biamp VSA DB99s they have the amps built into them and big bass columnspeakers almost they almost always have snarling V8s driving them frequently out of the way. While you're bewildered and beguiled with sheer effortless beauty of that relatively small tube amp out front, paying attention to the musical elements now that the bass isn't a blur of ill defined vibration and pleasant. Demand some real db from a low watt amp, even with high efficiency speakers and I almost always hear them distort/clip like mad except the overbuilt ultra transformer amps for a couple of million mega bucks the ability to provide real output in some manner, or another, it comes from someplace and it ain't cheap.
Also why are so many companies drawing attention to their High Amperage/Wattage Flagships? Is it because the smaller versions simply cost less to build and are more affordable and therefore less likely to sell well. Hardly, watch what sells easily on this site, the profit margin maybe smaller but they count on the basic models to keep them afloat.
An aside price is critical. You don't see too many 1000 watt Chinese amps they would cost too much. We all know how poorly the Chinese are doing in the market not because they build powerful amps that cost a fortune. Its simply too expensive to build a really big (BIG) good sounding amp to be competetive! There are just a couple of us who can mortage the house for that big American/ European amp. It will be interesting to see if the Chinese ever make that real powerhouse for cheap and how they fare. I know the bigger but still not huge ASL amps are really struggling to sell compared to their 2X/3X price competitors.(right)
There are diehard believers in low output amps and sure a lousy high output amp will sound terrible but within a range from a single company, its always the bigger one they claim sounds better. I have found few if any manufacturers of low powered tube amps that don't tout the magnificence of thier big brothers, only if they make a bigger amp of course. Even using delicate musical tubes e.g. Canary Audio.
