Transients hurting my ears on hifi solid state amps

haskisoundi,

The thing I focus on regarding Luxman is the absence of ear fatigue. The offending frequencies are benign and unoffensive yet the speed and pace are outstanding.  It's been awhile since I've lost track of time, playing for hours with my attention on other things.  I experienced that with the 505.  The Pass never passed (Ha!) that test.  To be fair, the Pass at 50Wpc class A, 80 class B, did not wake up the woofers in my 90dB speakers at all (Acoustic Zen Crescendo II).  A sub, though very helpful, did not pick up the pace like the Luxman. The musicality and engagement of the 505 is undeniable yet there is some grain and loss of micro detail in comparison to the Pass.  

Thanks @wlutke for the detailed description! That sounds very enticing and I'm surprised that you find the Luxman more engaging than the Pass Labs. Perhaps it's a question of lack of power, but in any case those speakers look amazing. I think the level of micro detail would be sufficient for me on the Luxman, but the slightly less powerful and slightly more laid back presentation would perhaps be a safer bet.

Thank you.  I misquoted the power on the Pass though.  It’s 25 Wpc at 8 Ohms, 50 Wpc at 4.  The Crescendos are 6 Ohms.  The Pass is a very good amp.  It just wasn’t compatible.  Acoustic Zen recommends 50 Wpc minimum.  

I didn't indeed react to that part in detail. I have been to an ENT and although he could see that subjectively I was sensitive to loud noises, there was nothing physiologically wrong and nothing that could be done from a medical point of view. I've been more sensitive than average for as long as I can remember, feeling the need for earplugs when others didn't, struggling with headphone listening, etc. I play instruments and have been in bands.

When I had my bout of needing to see an audiologist it was a sudden onset, and it went away in a few weeks.
So I suppose if the amps that were good in the past are still around it would be worthwhile to use them to see if they are still good, or whether the hearing is now sensitive.

As said, listening on a speaker system, I never had this issue before going to higher end models and my theory was that the higher precision and faster transients translate to a higher perceived air pressure.

It is sound pressure, not air pressure.

I doubt that the amps are any “faster”, as most amps play 20kHz just fine, and nothing is going to arrive faster from a 2kHz signal, than a 20kHz signal.

And if it is grating harmonics that spray into the upper frequencies then that could be cured with the amps that were mentioned as being good sounding.

But a fishbone diagram would include things like:

• ears
• distortion signature
• clipping affecting distortion signature

so we sort of need a way to ameliorate or exonerate the most probably causal mechanism (candidates).

Once we know the mechanism, then we can determine the best equipment to use to mitigate the mechanism.
(But I do not go straight to power cords, power conditioners, now cables as mitigation mechanisms… I like to take a more direct approach than a “buying festival” to play “pin the tail on the donkey”, where I am hoping to hit the solution by accident or chance.)

Your comment that "toe-in does make the sound brighter" left me wondering if that was due to higher frequencies being more directional, as I understand basic acoustics. Being aimed towards your ears would account for the "brightness." Pardon me if this has already been suggested.