@toddcowles
WOW what a question. I cant think of just one. There are so many ampifier designs out there now. Many of them are just horrible.
However I can tell you what has not been significant. Heres a list: premium capacitors, nude resistors, torroid transformers, most cable claims, premium fuses, fancy metal work, purposely colored amplifiers......
I read every amplifier review I can get my hands on. I work on a lot of amplifiers. I rarely see one that hits me on all 8 cylinders.
I think people are looking at the wrong reasons to buy a particular amplifier. John Atkinson has measured some really bad ones lately. Why does a manufacturer send him an amplifier they know will fail his tests?
EVERYONE. Read the review of the Cary SLI-100 pg 91, Dec, 2018, Stereophile. What a disaster, what an embarassment, what foolishness. Then go read the manufacturers comment. They did a great marketing turnaround, or attempted to, making it appear they want it to be that way. They believe that "specs do not tell the whole story:. Well, when the specs are this bad who cares about the story. So I guess the most significant transition is putting lipstick on a pig.
Marketing rules, appearance rules, internet chatter rules. I caution people about amps with poor specs, amps that if they fail will be difficult to repair. They dont care. The Benchmark that was widely discussed a few weeks ago is impossible for a non factory tech to repair.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but things are not looking good. I posted a thread about the MCIntosh 2300 that the Grateful Dead used. No one cares,they think it cant possibly be good, its too old. Well its damn good. Its clever, its relaible, its rugged. I dont think you can break it. Im not even a Mac guy, but I know a good design when I see one.
When I got into highend design in the 1970s we were making some great advances. Smart engineers were solving problems. I had the opportunity to work with Harold Beveridge for 2 years. There were great leaps of progress. Nakamichi was perfecting cassette decks. Sumiko and others brought us MC cartridges, GAS was making good amps and preamps, We were making great ESL speakers with direct drive amplifiers. Those were days of progress.
Sadly I see little progress now. Perhaps thats why this is so hard to answer. Its all about the looks, the review, the story these days, isn’t it?
I will continue to give this some thought.
Wondering what your thoughts are on the most significant transition/design element that has improved overall sound quality in today’s amplifiers.
WOW what a question. I cant think of just one. There are so many ampifier designs out there now. Many of them are just horrible.
However I can tell you what has not been significant. Heres a list: premium capacitors, nude resistors, torroid transformers, most cable claims, premium fuses, fancy metal work, purposely colored amplifiers......
I read every amplifier review I can get my hands on. I work on a lot of amplifiers. I rarely see one that hits me on all 8 cylinders.
I think people are looking at the wrong reasons to buy a particular amplifier. John Atkinson has measured some really bad ones lately. Why does a manufacturer send him an amplifier they know will fail his tests?
EVERYONE. Read the review of the Cary SLI-100 pg 91, Dec, 2018, Stereophile. What a disaster, what an embarassment, what foolishness. Then go read the manufacturers comment. They did a great marketing turnaround, or attempted to, making it appear they want it to be that way. They believe that "specs do not tell the whole story:. Well, when the specs are this bad who cares about the story. So I guess the most significant transition is putting lipstick on a pig.
Marketing rules, appearance rules, internet chatter rules. I caution people about amps with poor specs, amps that if they fail will be difficult to repair. They dont care. The Benchmark that was widely discussed a few weeks ago is impossible for a non factory tech to repair.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but things are not looking good. I posted a thread about the MCIntosh 2300 that the Grateful Dead used. No one cares,they think it cant possibly be good, its too old. Well its damn good. Its clever, its relaible, its rugged. I dont think you can break it. Im not even a Mac guy, but I know a good design when I see one.
When I got into highend design in the 1970s we were making some great advances. Smart engineers were solving problems. I had the opportunity to work with Harold Beveridge for 2 years. There were great leaps of progress. Nakamichi was perfecting cassette decks. Sumiko and others brought us MC cartridges, GAS was making good amps and preamps, We were making great ESL speakers with direct drive amplifiers. Those were days of progress.
Sadly I see little progress now. Perhaps thats why this is so hard to answer. Its all about the looks, the review, the story these days, isn’t it?
I will continue to give this some thought.