Room, different levels of hearing, monetary investment, system synergy...so many factors go into this topic. I have 8 mid-level amps and none are significantly different to me. Number 9 just showed up and it may prove me wrong. Too soon to tell and my "measurement system" is 100% subjective.
Let me end the Premp/Amplifier sound debate ...
I'm old enough to remember Julian Hersch from Audio magazine and his very unscientific view that all amplifiers sounded the same once they met a certain threshold. Now the site Audio Science Review pushes the same.
I call these views unscientific as some one with a little bit of an engineering background as well as data science and epidemiology. I find both of these approaches limited, both in technology used and applied and by stretching the claims for measurements beyond their intention, design and proof of meaning.
Without getting too much into that, I have a very pragmatic point of view. Listen to the following three amplifier brands:
- Pass Labs
- Luxman
- Ayre
If you can't hear a difference, buy the cheapest amplifier you can. You'll be just as happy. However, if you can, you need to evaluate the value of the pleasure of the gear next to your pocket book and buy accordingly. I don't think the claim that some gear is pure audio jewelry, like a fancy watch which doesn't tell better time but looks pretty. I get that, and I've heard that. However, rather than try to use a method from Socrates to debate an issue to the exact wrong conclusion, listen for yourself.
If you wonder if capacitors sound different, build a two way and experiment for yourself. Doing this leaves you with a very very different perspective than those who haven't. You'll also, in both cases, learn about yourself. Are you someone who can't hear a difference? Are you some one who can? What if you are some one who can hear a difference and doesn't care? That's fine. Be true to yourself, but I find very little on earth less worthwhile than having arguments about measurements vs. sound quality and value.
To your own self and your own ears be true. And if that leads you to a crystal radio and piezo ear piece so be it. In my own system, and with my own speakers I've reached these conclusions for myself and I have very little concern for those who want to argue against my experiences and choices.
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I could tell electronics that were rated & tested similarly sounded different in high school w/ my large advent speakers & Pioneer vs Kenwood vs Marantz receivers. The extreme example of this is tube vs solid state power amps. Even though the tuned amp rated more or less the same as a similarly spec’d transistor unit, we all know they will likely sound quite differently. Generally speaking the tube may suffer a bit in the frequency extremes the really good & often expensive ones often don’t) but have a richer & fuller midrange with more air & space which could be called imaging. If measurements were all that mattered in sound reproduction, then why should anyone buy anything more expensive than the Benchmark line of nice & reasonably priced solid state stuff? John Atkinson says these measure as good as anything he’s tested, especially their preamp. My theory of product value in most things is you don’t always get what you pay for but you very rarely get what you don’t pay for. |
@clearthinker When he said that, apparently no 'well designed amplifiers' existed- they all sounded different! On top of that, the 'straight wire with gain' thing is false! Starting in the late 1950s with Mac and EV, there has been a move to drive loudspeakers with a voltage source. This is the idea that an amplifier that can make constant voltage regardless of the load impedance. This was done to improve 'plug and play' since prior to that speakers had level controls to adjust the speaker to meet the amplifier's voltage response (those controls were not there to adapt the speaker to the room). A straight wire (regardless of gain) cannot do this. So 'thanks' Peter Walker, for creating one of the longer standing myths in audio. |
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