A couple of weeks ago, I had my Ayre amp looked at for a "noise" - "resonance" that I heard in my left speaker. Ayre told me that the amp was performing well with no noise that they could detect.....I asked them to look further and do anything that they thought would improve the piece. I got the amp back after they replaced a number of capacitors, and other improved parts. They also applied a tape to the heat sinks....the result was a better sounding amp...but the circuit itself wasn't changed. (I doubt if the resonance tape on the heat sinks did THAT much). (the original "noise" prevails.)
How far have ss amps really come in the last twenty years?
I have owned and enjoyed my Jeff Rowland model 8 ( recently modded and upgraded by Jeff to the last version) for many years. I recently had the opportunity of comparing it ( after mods) to a few of the current ss models from Gamut, D'Agostino, YBA, Parasound, Sim audio, CH precision, Constellation,PS audio,Pass Labs and Musical Fidelity. The results were very interesting, because to my ears and in the systems that we did the comparison, the Rowland held its own against all but the most expensive D'Ag and CH amps. Even those were only very slightly outclassing the Rowland in the areas of top end resolution...and a tad in the bottom end resolution. Now the thing is that the last revision to the Rowland 8 was designed by Jeff over ten years ago!
So, my question for those more technically inclined than myself is...how far has the design of ss amps come in the last ten...or even twenty years?
So, my question for those more technically inclined than myself is...how far has the design of ss amps come in the last ten...or even twenty years?
- ...
- 151 posts total
- 151 posts total