More power for better sound at low volumes?

"Better sound," as pointed out by some of the comments here, is such a nebulous concept and means quite different things to different people, depending on what type of musical experience they prefer. Notice that I say "musical," for surely the passion that music may or not display is primary to and not always related to the sound, as many people assume. In fact, mild distortion is sometimes capable of adding a pleasant dimension to the music and can add to its enjoyment. About a year ago, I authored an approach to musical enjoyment on my own website, www.tut37alive.net/ and I think I titled it "So You Want to Buy a High-End Stereo?" Though my site covers such topics as Love. Death, Morality, etc., some readers may find it interesting.

The "key" in the question posed by Rustler was: ALL 'things' being 'equal'!
Rustler, having been a sales consultant for Clevelands' premiere A/V dealer and a CERTIFIED electronics tech since 1984, 'it' really does come down to 'basic electronics'!

IT TAKES TEN TIMES (10X) THE POWER FOR A HUMAN TO PERCEIVE SOUND TO BE TWICE (2X) AS LOUD…PERIOD.

YES . . . more (QUALITY) power will provide a 'cleaner' LOW-VOLUME sound, ALL THINGS BEING EQUAL!

HOPE 'THIS' HELPS, WITHOUT ALL THE 'TWEAKY-BABBLE'!

"If not, what is the secret to better low volume sound?"

A good pure class A ss amp or a good SET amp would be half the equation. The other half would be the right speaker. Many multiple way speakers do not sound coherent until they are turned up a bit.

Sometime in your journey you should try a SET mated with an appropriate speaker. It's may not be the end of the road for you but I think will be "near" the end.

Jlance369, but it doesn't take the overuse of uppercase letters to perceive your point any louder or cleaner.

Upper case letters are clearer at low volume.

I've had giant horn loaded speakers and small bookshelf speakers...at the same low volume level they both are low in volume, and things aren't as audible because they just aren't. That's just the way it is, and one must learn to accept it. Or not.