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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? 
128x128daveyf
maplegrovemusic's avatar
maplegrovemusic
1,113 posts
 
https://www.dagogo.com/audio-by-van-alstine-abx-comparator-review-part-1-audio-store-wiring/

This reviewer had a difficult time differentiating between amps when level matched 
daveyf's avatar
daveyf OP
2,920 posts
 
Folks, while I very much like my high powered Jeff Rowland ss amp, it really isn’t as resolving as the Jadis tube mono blocks that I use as my main amplification source. The two amps sound pretty different, and are a different ‘flavor’...easy to hear. I suspect those that don’t believe that amps sound different, one to the other, really don’t have enough of a resolving system to hear the differences.(and no, it is more than volume matching, as I am able to do this with exactitude in my system).
zavato's avatar
zavato
1,405 posts
 
Where I think amps have advanced the most are in the realm of modestly priced amps. Expensive amps 20 years ago already sounded excellent but budget amps 20 years ago never let you forget they were budget amps. It’s in this area where I think great strides have been made 
ahofer
225 posts
 
@maplegrovemusic  yes, I read through all of that some time ago. He claims to have gone 7/8 and 8/8 on other comparisons, but I don't think he bothered to have it witnessed, did he?  That suspicion aside, I admire his willingness to execute the tests and try not to rationalize the results away.
daveyf's avatar
daveyf OP
2,920 posts
 
 @zavato  I think your post would seem to be very correct..although I think it applies perhaps a little more to ss amps than tube. For example, I think the new KT 120 and KT150’s are a superior sounding tube to the old KT88’s and 6550’s utilized by most manufacturers.
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