Is there any truth to this question?

Atmas,

No I am aware of all that. Has nothing to do with my argument. I agree why many amps sound bad with digital (compared to vinyl) has nothing to do with the level of the recording.

It has more to do with the transients in digital recordings compared to most vinyl. PLaying a record is a physical process involving mass and inertia that inhibits the ability to deliver transients. The fact is historically most vinyl rigs/record players do not handle this very well, although many more modern, high tech and expensive rigs probably do better.

Often or typically the result is a natural and perhaps even pleasant filtering of transients that makes the signal easier for an amp to deliver. The more this occurs, the easier for the amp, often with pleasant sounding results nonetheless.

DIgital involves no physics of mass and inertia. THe challenges there are different but more solvable with technology as a result. In practice, the results with modern digital is often quite good and the technology to do a good job is not expensive. That was not the case early on with digital. The cost was reasonable but most stereos put together for use with vinyl and tape prior were not up to the task. Today, they are and also for fairly reasonable cost.

Of course I cannot prove any of this but that is my assessment based on my experience and observations over the years nonetheless.

I wonder if the OP should be more concerned about sitting so close to the Vandersteens than the question at hand. The Vandersteens are fine a product and a terrific value, but I doubt one can truly enjoy all the prowess of the Vandersteens at 1.5 meters. I suspect that one would need close to 2.5 meters for proper driver integrating and all the benefits that come from the Vandersteens with such driver integration. If I recall correctly Vandersteen recommends a minimum of 40 Watts per channel for an appropriately place pair of Vandertsteen 2's.

Mapman:

Thanks for your answer.

Actually, clipping refers to when the amp cannot reproduce the input signal correctly whereby the output waveform is actually and literally "clipped" at the upper signal level. for example, if you have a sine wave input to the amp and the amp clips, then the output signal will look like a sine wave until it reaches the peak and it will then plateau and flatten out. So the input signal looks like a clean sine wave and the output signal looks like a mountain plateau flat on the top. That is clipping. proper design prevents this, but sooner or later the amp will clip if the input signal is high enough outside the technical parameters of the amp. If the amp's maximum input level before clipping is say, 2 volts peak to peak, then if you exceed 2 volts input, the amp will clip. So the designers, among other things, design the amp so that whatever the maximum input signal possible from low level sources will be, the amp's output signal will not clip. Design specifications for amp include, but are not limited to,(legal speak), maximum input signal, minimum input signal, sensitivity, input impedance, output inpedance, gain, distortion, power output into rated load, ect. But, in designing the amp, I definitely need to know what the possible largest input signal will be so that I make sure the amp's output signal doesn't "clip" at that maximum input signal. Wow! does this bring back memories from Engineering design classes.

enjoy

While I disagree with Mapman's suggestion that digital handles transients better than analog (and this is not meant to start yet another digital/analog debate) I think he makes a good and very important point about the issue of power reserves and dynamics.

We tend to focus on this issue, and how it relates to clipping, in terms of it's effect on the "sound" of the music and the onset of audible tonal/harmonic distortion as the amplifier approaches clipping. We tend to overlook the distortion of the dynamic flow of the music which is more subtle but just as important. Well before we hear any obvious harmonic distortion, as the amplifier approaches clipping there can be a diminution in the ease of the dynamic nuances in the music. There don't necessarily have to be a lot of transients in the music for inadequate power reserves to have an effect on playback. If the music is very complex as many orchestral works can be, with many instruments playing at once including percussion and loud brass, the effects of inadequate power reserves can be obvious. Sure, a good 35 watt amp can sound more pure and sweet than the 200 watt version of a similar circuit, but what good is that little bit of extra purity if (for example) when listening to a well recorded trumpet
with orchestra, it has natural and exciting speed and dynamic flow when playing pianissimo-mezzoforte (pp-mf), but as soon as the entire string section and percussion join in it sounds slow and compressed as the trumpet approaches what should be a real-life fortissimo (ff). It really puts a damper on the music, and I hear this effect wether it's vinyl or digital if the amp doesn't have plenty of reserves.