How Do Amps Affect Soundstage?
I'm not that technically strong on audio yet, so please refrain from mockery on this....
My DAC, premamp, and amp combo (all tube) throw a nice soundstage. If I substitute (at least some) solid state stereo amps, soundstage is constricted. If the amp is basically just increasing the signal that it is receiving from the preamp, I don't get how the size and shape of the presentation is altered materially from what the preamp is delivering. (I get that the signal could get distorted, etc.). How does the amp play such role? And do monoblocks enjoy any design advantage in maintaining the soundstage received? Thanks.
So many SS amps focus on 300 watts and don't give enough attention to the first watt. A good SS amp will have a good soundstage, but don't assume all $5k ss amps do. One amp I have verified and like it a lot because it mimics a tube amp is Kinki Studio Ex-M1+. It is chinese but has been said to have a Swiss sound. 100 wpc. It is an integrated. Jerry |
@zazouswing exactly the way to look at it. All the goodness is in the recording and the question is, can your system reproduce it without degrading it. A system doesn't add anything (good). Jerry |
Allow me to think out loud so to speak... Lower frequencies have longer sound waves and higher frequencies have shorter sound waves. This is why the location of tweeters is critical to the listening experience and subwoofers can be strategically places in the room. It seems reasonable to me that there must be frequencies somewhere in the mid range where the there's a shift away from directionality. Maybe an amplifiers (or any pieces of gear) ability to produce these frequencies is what impacts the sound stage. The relative timing from the two speakers is what creates the stereo sound/soundstage. I'm thinking that any degradation in these frequencies could negatively affect the timing leading to a more directional sound which would be expected to shrink the perceived soundstage. |
