I think I could stick a quieter fan in my QSC amp, but I only use it for live stuff (generally driving a pair of monitors) and in that application it's fine...but maybe mine has a louder fan than necessary, or a badly designed fan, or a faulty fan...but it's too loud for recording anything when it's on. I have extensive experience with PA amps as I do pro sound work, and I think QSC GX amps generally sound somewhat better than the inexpensive Crown amps...the higher end Crowns sound fabulous, but for hifi I think there are better sounding amps out there, as long as they're not too old with leaky bits...as bargains go B&Ks always sounded great, I loved my Forte' Model 55 (one of the last of those) and various Adcoms...used a 535 as a studio monitor amp for years, and the second model of those with normal binding posts is a smooth sounding amp. I owned an Acurus A250 that needed work from time to time (warranty so no cost for me) but kicked ass.