Ultra high resolution

Chris- All I can add to what Atmasphere said is, "AMEN". This is an excerpt from the Mark Levinson site: "Another factor in Mark Levinson excellence is the array of the ultra-high performance parts that populate our balanced circuits. Even the circuit board itself is of prime importance as it allows these parts to perform ideally under a wide range of temperatures and humidity. Here, the advanced material Arlon® provides a physically inert and sonically neutral base." If you were to open up a Krell amplifier, you would see an awful lot of these:(http://www.ibselectronics.com/passive/wima_capacitors_p_1.htm) Wima has been around for a really long time, and has "high quality" film caps down pretty good. I really don't think either of those companies are skimping on their signal path parts or materials. The Krells also sport Class A, and fully complimentary(balanced) circuitry which doen't hurt the formula. BUT- If I had the money for either, I'd own an OTL tubed system!

It's good design, good parts and careful assembly. Jeff Rowland Design Group has it all together.

Dave

Chris, you picked one of my faves (Deadly Joke Sketch). Thanks.

there is no free lunch in audio. "enhanced" resolution implies that one is at the mercy of recording quality.
in addition, "high resolution" does not match the experience of listening to live unamplified music.

solid state amps which are exemplars of this property probably are not fun to audition. i see nothing desirable about owning such a component.

the brain and nervous system have an optimal level of intensity and complexity. too much resolution which exceeds one's limits is a recipe for an unpleasant experience.

beware of what you wish for., for you may achieve it and then sell the component responsible for attaining such a state. less resolution and some veiling may be more pleasant, for long term listening.

Dazzdax, as things stand today I seriously doubt that even one manufacturer is making a truly 'ultra high resolution' amplifier.

I don't expect anybody here to agree with me but believe it or not at the extreme or ultra high resolution levels you may be thinking of, I speculate that the innards though important should become somewhat less important at the extreme performance levels and areas that we greatly underestimate or completely overlook today must start to take precedence or it simply ain't happening.

Those areas I'm thinking of include but are not limited to extreme line conditioning, extreme vibration management, and extreme chassis construction (both internal and external).

Again I speculate the day will come when at least some of the internals will matter less and certain associated externals will matter far more. Obviously the industry is not there today but I anticipate this may soon change.

I think the important point here is no component (nor collection of components) is an island. For example, no 'ultra high resolution amp' would be very tolerable if it is not connected to a superior line conditioner (and every other component must be connected to a superior line conditioner as well because the AC grunge from the other components get amplified too) to cleanse the dirty AC coming from the street because of ensuing ear fatigue and even ear bleed.

On second thought I'll clarify my initial statement. There may well be several ultra high resolution amps already on the market but because of the external shortcomings mentioned above I'll bet dollars to doughnuts neither the mfg'er, nor their customers, nor their reviewers are aware.

-IMO