Tbg just to clarify some points, you are right, I'm not a fan of the THD spec. I feel that it does not matter how much distortion an amp or preamp makes **so long as those distortions are not found objectionable to the human ear**. By the same token I feel that it matters *a lot* about the distortions that the ear *does* care about. IOW its all about the Rules of Human Hearing, which I think are the most important things in audio- everything comes from that. For more information see
http://www.atma-sphere.com/papers/paradigm_paper2.html
The debate about 'objectivist vs. subjectivist' which has been emerging on this thread has been an aspect of the Voltage vs Power Paradigms. You might think I am objectivist due to the way I have been challenging Roger, but I feel the Rules of Human Hearing are what are important, and not trying to make an amp or preamp conform to ideals that only exist on paper.
What we are talking about here is that there can be specs on paper that don't matter to the human ear- the old argument about how you can hear things but not quantify them. What I have found in the investigation of the paradigms is that all that is really happing is that we are simply not measuring the things that are important. If we did, the specs on paper would tell us how a product would sound. Its really that simple. The point is- one way or another, it really is all measurable if you know what to look for and do not limit your investigation to the blinders of the Voltage Paradigm.
The same is true with Roger. He could *easily* measure what he is talking about. After all, did he not devise his Doppler Effect detectors? They are, according to his website, able to correct the behavior of his circuit to eliminate or substantially reduce the phenomena. If they are able to modify the operation of his preamp, then they are also a tool for measurement. Where I see his arguments failing is that anyone in possession of such devices would be *acutely* aware of this fact. That he maintains that the effect is *not* measurable: Occam's Razor then suggests that these 'detectors' do not actually exist.