Should I buy a Class A Amp.

timlub - Thank you for taking the time to write your thoughtful post (7/26 8:07am).   Many members share your concerns about maintaining a sense of respect in these discussions.  This forum stands out for the quality and generosity of its members to share their knowledge and experiences.  It's a great thing!    Every once in awhile a poster has a bad day.  The trick is to have the good sense to catch a faux pas within the 30 minute grace period for edit or deletion.   Wouldn't it be nice if we could have that same 30 minute grace period in real life for editing or deleting what we just said to our significant other.  Ha!

Don, since you enjoy the sound of your present amp,the important factor, I suggest that you keep it. Invest in improving your "sound" with front end upgrades, interconnects. "Isolation for your digital" could be eye-opening and give the best improvement for $$. Equitech and Furman websites provide info. I have been amazed by the improvements from clean AC.

I would hate to lose Ralph and I appreciate Ralph and the few other pro's stepping in and offering real guidance.

+1

My amp sounds better with some types of music than others.

I base my findings on empirical evidence and what I hear, not on theory.

I would regard this statement as 100% correct and inviable- I can say exactly the same thing about my stereo. Some music is really well recorded and its going to sound better.

I am also dead certain that I can find examples of recordings in genres that your amp does not seem to favor that would easily demonstrate that your amp can do fine with them too. Conversely, I'm also dead certain that I can find recordings in the genres your amp seems to favor that it would not do well with at all.

What this comes down to is the recording itself and the taste of the listener. Some recordings are bright- bright amps likely won't work so well with that unless the listener prefers brightness (Harry Pearson of TAS had a tendency in that direction). Some are bass shy; boomy systems might work fine with that. Some have seemingly way too much bass (not sure how that could possibly happen but I play bass) and bass-shy systems might work fine with that. Along the way a person might become convinced that their equipment is favoring a certain genre but what is really happening is its favoring a coloration that happens to exist in a number of recording in their collection. Some of those colorations might be more common in certain genres- for example rock is often bright and maybe not the best bass, but that by no means says that all rock is poorly recorded!