Why do my ears ring with my new amplifier?

"02-06-15: Csontos
The flatter the frequency response, the less fatiguing the amp will be. It's just that simple. Whatever other attributes/detriments it has will be irrelevant."

How could you come up with something like that. The fact that a piece of audio equipment will be less fatiguing to listen to just because it has a flat response, doesn't even make sense. And before you come back and start arguing with me, can you back that statement up with something real?

Noom, it is my experience that if you have to turn up the volume to hear one thing at the expense of something else, in your case to hear instruments in the background the problem isn't necessarily too much detail as a general lack of overall resolution of the system. As to what is the specific cause, it could be anything and not necessarily the amplifier.

A very good system should be flat and smooth enough to allow the listener to hear everything on the recording even at moderate levels. If you have to turn up the volume to an uncomfortable level this would indicate to me a balance and/or lack of resolution issue somewhere in the chain. Rooting out the problem can be a tough call and could be a multitude of issues. At a basic level it is most important for the amp and speaker to be electrically compatible with each other. Of course a good source component and preamp are most important for fully realizing the potential. It is difficult for me to separate out one thing over another in these matters as everything, including room, placement, components and last but not least cabling are all important for realizing satisfying music in the room at reasonable levels. The devil is in paying attention to all the details.

Wise words Tubegroover .
I find that some speakers do well at low volume, most don't.

I'm not interested in arguing with anybody. But just for argument's sake, how does it not make sense to you that a flat FR will be less fatiguing? The op's confirmation that the high frequencies are not the problem are a testament to this premise. Whether induced by the room or a component is irrelevant. I just happened to focus on the amp since it was his focus also. The fact is you can't add something without taking something away. It's that 'added' part that ends up like a spike being driven through your head which may be what's fooling you at low/moderate levels. Speakers have their own general limitations that smart ass amp designers think they can circumvent with their hair brained ideas on how to reinvent the wheel. "I know, lets put a nice bump in the bottom end to take care of that age old extension problem,if the guy gets a head ache, let him not listen so long". Or,"Hey, I think I'll just boost the mid range a bit, give it some added 'presence', if the guy starts feeling spikes shooting into his head, let him turn it down". The way I described an amp with a truly flat frequency response is correct. Unremarkable with like material and spectacular with like material, both of these extremes exceeding amps with less than flat response, all other things being reasonably equal of course. I find it utterly ridiculous when the tube guys declare 'excessively low distortion'. Laughable.

"I'm not interested in arguing with anybody. But just for argument's sake, how does it not make sense to you that a flat FR will be less fatiguing?"

Some people roll off the high frequencies either directly with some type of EQ or tone controls, or indirectly using system matching to deal with problem frequencies. Altering frequency response, even if its to flatten it, will make the system sound worse (to the person who set it up, not necessarily to everyone.).

"The flatter the frequency response, the less fatiguing the amp will be. It's just that simple. Whatever other attributes/detriments it has will be irrelevant."

There's so many other factors that can contribute to an amps listening fatigue, besides a flat response, a book could be written on the subject. Timbre, distortion, material components, power output, phase, feedback, are all qualities I don't see as being irrelevant. You can if you want to. That's you're subjective view on the matter. Not everyone would agree with you.