Mosfets: The way to go for SS amplification?

Hi Jayme,

I wouldn't get hung up on the technical details if I were you. Yes...MOSFETS can sound great in a great design, but a poorly designed MOSFET amp can sound awful. The same is true for balanced circuitry and all other aspect of audio design. Most equipment was designed by different people with varying ideas of what music should sound like. Unfortunately, the only way to know what is "the only way to go" is to listen to different amp designs and decide for yourself.

My understanding is that generally MOSFETs have a tendency to have sweeter, warmer, even darker characteristics than other transistors. The potential downside of MOSFETs is that they can be attributed to a slightly more polite or recessed midrange.

Balanced connections seem favorable to me in my system as they appear to provide a wider range of macro-dynamics. Perhaps this perception is due to the increased voltage generally associated with balanced connections. But this may not always be the case.

-IMO

You cannot really pin them down as which is better or what's the advantage of one over another. Each have their own operating parameters and do basically the same thing in the end: amplify a signal. How they are implemented for a given topology, the skill of the designer, and overall engineering from power cord to speaker terminals will determine their perfomance. Just one cog of many in a wheel.
For example, Nelson Pass used JFET's in the Threshold "e" series, IGBT's in the Forte's and MOSFET's in the latest "X" series. All different topologies and all, IMO, one hell of a good sounding product history.

"I've done a "search" here and elsewhere and not gotten a good answer as to why it may be superior to JFET"

You need to seek out some good books on the subject and explore the facts on your own (that would be my definition/approach of getting a "good answer"). I don't think the answer is within the scope of these forums, especially not in 5k posts.

www.audioxpress.com carries alot of books.

Thanks, everyone: as a layperson w/limited time to devote to the hobby, and VERY limited science IQ, I depend on my "friends" for help. Amazing what Nelson P has accomplished, BTW: can anyone beat this guy's electronics résumé? (Ez: if reading books would help, I'd have gotten a degree in a scientific field, and not gone through employment hell through these many decades; if we all had the time/innate ability...this forum would vanish!) Happy Holidays!