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Solid State Amplifier Advancements In A Decade

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What significant advancements in solid state amplifiers have occurred in the last decade?
Specifically in Class A and Class A/B.

No replies regarding Class D please.
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128x128mitch4t
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,385 posts
 
Capacitors and or other electronic parts alone make no sound and therefore have no inherent sound quality.

Its how you put all the parts together in the design that results in "sound quality".

Some parts are better than others though and operate within a smaller tolerance range ie more accurately to spec as a group overall.

So a good designer these days has access to better parts (perhaps for lower cost than in the past) and if he does his thing well, voila, the result can be better sound/performance.

OR many may take it upon themsolves to replace parts with better parts which if done properly should produce better results to some degree overall. If you replace a part with a better quality one but it is not the right kind to start with, well anything can happen.

Experts in all fields tend to become better over time so no doubt in my mind there is more expertise in designing good gear out there today than ever before. That's called progress and is probably the biggest difference. Today's experts have the expertise of all those in the past to draw upon. They may still innovate but there is a better body of knowledge available for them to start with so the good ones will likely produce even better products. That's progress.....
phusis's avatar
phusis
1,219 posts
 
Capacitors and or other electronic parts alone make no sound and therefore have no inherent sound quality.

Its how you put all the parts together in the design that results in "sound quality".

Implementation is key, sure, but I guess the case could be made just as well that implications into sonics are inherent to the components themselves.

Experts in all fields tend to become better over time so no doubt in my mind there is more expertise in designing good gear out there today than ever before. That's called progress and is probably the biggest difference. Today's experts have the expertise of all those in the past to draw upon. They may still innovate but there is a better body of knowledge available for them to start with so the good ones will likely produce even better products. That's progress.....

Progress.. I see what you mean, but most of the progress made today and through the last decades appears to be working around how to keep costs at bay through mass production, convenience (i.e.: size, consumption, etc.) et al. and hereby lessening the impact of such factors. Oftentimes "developments" resemble a rewrite in disguise in the effort to wow and lure its costumers into ongoing purchases with the promise of better and better sonics. If one were to read all hifi magazines through the last 30-40 years and follow the development of how the reviewers reflected progressively positive on the coming iterations of, say, Mark Levinson amps, the current versions should almost sound as good as to cure severe illnesses as a side effect. It's symptomatic to much of the hifi industry at large: reveling so locally, and navel-gazingly, as to miss the bigger picture.

It's not that I don't see a progression into making amps sound better, but it seems the class-D segment is more or less the sole beneficiary without raising the bar in absolute terms, although getting closer to the best out there. That's definitely progression and exciting in many ways (also as to accommodate the environment, not least).
runnin
397 posts
 
Interesting thread, the comments by John Curl are a disappointment for me. It reminds me of a vintage Sansui receiver from the early 70's that I acquired. I could not believe how good that old thing sounded, I preferred it over my near flagship Onkyo AVR.
mattmiller's avatar
mattmiller
1,497 posts
 

McIntosh has always been a leader in solid state amplification, and they have moved recently from the double balanced to the much more expensive quad balanced designs. I see them continuing to push the engineering forward for there solid state amps of the future. So, I am not disappointed by JC’s statements, his designs have had no personal effect on me or my system. That’s my choice indeed, It is all about the company you choose to get behind. I for one don’t like mass produced junk, or expensive products that don’t hold the test of time. John Curl and Parasound...(way overpriced IMO) . Also, Class D amps are not the future for true audiophile systems, class D amps are used in specialty type situations. For instance Multi channel home theater recievers, car audio amps, sub woofers, wireless speakers. I have never heard a full range class D amp that I could listen to loud for more than a minute! The words, Harsh, uninvolving, abrasive, hammering come to mind, really.  


Regards,


Matt M 

zd542
5,339 posts
 
"Progress.. I see what you mean, but most of the progress made today and through the last decades appears to be working around how to keep costs at bay through mass production, convenience (i.e.: size, consumption, etc.) et al. and hereby lessening the impact of such factors."

There's a difference between mass market products and high end audio components. What you are talking about here, applies mostly to lower end gear.

"If one were to read all hifi magazines through the last 30-40 years and follow the development of how the reviewers reflected progressively positive on the coming iterations of, say, Mark Levinson amps, the current versions should almost sound as good as to cure severe illnesses as a side effect. It's symptomatic to much of the hifi industry at large: reveling so locally, and navel-gazingly, as to miss the bigger picture."

Then how would you have them write the reviews? Its not like they can see the future and hold off on giving a component a rave review because future models will sound better.
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