How far have ss amps really come in the last twenty years?

@mrdecibel

My interest in this is about the tension between my subjective and objective self, really. I’ve enjoyed the equipment I’ve owned (although I don’t upgrade nearly as much as the average audiophile) and that’s enough for me. Unfortunately, being an audiophile is negative status, if anything, in my part of finance. Exotic athletic achievements, massive watches, and ultra-casual seem to be the thing now.

It is indeed possible my hearing is shot. I’ve played in big bands and attend concerts every two weeks, as well as ride the subway daily.

I actually want to know if Shaw is right or wrong, whether my subjective impressions overcome or create the illusion of audible differences. The subjectivists have done a very poor job of proving him, and his ilk, wrong after 30 years, but I’m not entirely convinced yet. I want one of you guys to go for it, or go for it elsewhere - level matched, properly controlled. Or maybe you have and I haven’t seen it.

One thing that is important in my line of work - separating objective observations against your feelings. If you can maintain allegiance to the former in difficult times you can make a lot of money. I’m lucky enough to have been successful at that a few times (and less successful a few other times).

Now I observe that despite nearly $20k of available inducement, you won’t try to back up your assertions. I really don’t mean this to be snarky, but shouldn’t I view that as revealing?

@mrdecibel

I'm with you...amplifier differences are audible.  Holy Moly...20 amplifiers, why so many?  Which ones are your favorites?

ahofer, I appreciate your response. Listen, I am a simple guy, but very complex when it concerns audio gear, and more importantly, music listening. I know what I know, I hear what I hear, and, there are so many of us, as I am not a lone exception. Continue on your path of discovery, as I have been there for a very long time. Always, and Enjoy ! MrD.

snapsc, I was an amplifier junkie ( I suppose I still am ), that is why. A few years ago I had quite a bit more, but sold off many, much more of them higher end. Here is a list of what I still have, not in any order. Hafler DH 200, DH 220, DH 500, (2)XL 280, Citation 12, Citation 12 with conversion of Pass Circuit, Citation 16A, Marantz model 15, Soundcraftsmen PCR 800, A 5002, A 400, Smart Theater Systems TA 242, Crown PS 400, Rotel RB 850, Adcom GFA 535 series 2, Yamaha P 2050, P 2075, P 2160, P 2200, (2)Nuforce STA 200, ADA PF 201, PF 2501 ( my current favorite ). I might have left out one or two, as some are still in closets. My favorite amp of all time ( that did it all for me ), was the Krell KSA 50. Enjoy ! MrD.

the most important thing of all, I’ve come to find in over 30 years of looking at the technical side and the esoteric side and then flipping for another side and looking at how enjoyable the music is and how ’natural’ it is presented....

..well..the most important thing to come about is the return to what Sony did.

Which is the ’linear gain curve transistor’. In the case of Sony, the V-Fet transistor.
That’s it. nothing else matters. Just that.

Everything else is literally like trying to make rulers and measurement devices out of mold infested mud on crack.

If one is not pursuing or trying to get the V-Fet transistor (small and large signal) manufacturing process up and going, and to issue amplifiers on that vector, then IMO, one is just following market demands.

Demands which are based on ignorance. Based on lack of exposure to V-fet and linear gain in transistors... and then being ’normalized’ into thinking that BJT and FET transistors are actually doing anything that sounds like music.

The reality, unrealized, unheard and not compared...is that..THEY ARE NOT.

This was noted by a few in the late 70’s and early 80’s..but...the then emergent FET transistor manufacturing process was so much cheaper..that V-Fet died off. And the actual direction forward..was lost. We wanted peaks and the demand and desires of the middle of the bell curve ..threw it away..as they did not know what they had in hand. Money and desires for financial success..threw the way forward..into the trashcan. V-fet was too expensive. The fanfare for the common man shot the pursuit of the best...in the face... and buried it face down in a shallow grave. And no one noticed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I keep wanting to buy a new amplifier or try this or that technique in mods and such..but then..I realize again, that it is not V-fet ...and that I’m trying to move forward here..and if it’s not V-Fet ..then, I’m wasting my time. As the effort will be wasted on inferior technology, where the inferior technology all (every last transistor) misses a critical difference, where that critical difference is on a different plateau.

It’s all a circular dead end, when it is compared directly to V-Fet (on any basis).

That - there is another path.
The only thing worth pursuing when searching for the peak of audio, is V-Fets and tubes. The rest is limited by what it is. Which is..inferior in the most critical aspect. No emergent transistor technology, like Gan or class D or class D via GAN... can do this simple, fundamental, utterly critical thing..which is one of: linear gain.