Are future improvements in Amp/PreAmps slowing to a crawl?

@stfoth. 

You see my dilemma. I too am curious, but he speaks in jargon that defies understanding. I don't understand how he interprets gain as "velocity". 
Beyond the problem of jargon and measurements, there are technical questions. 

@roger_paul 
You say you focus your effort on the voltage gain. How do you address the necessity of accurate current gain, which must be a high priority if one is to drive a modestly reactive high impedance load? It's not at all difficult to pair devices and end up with vanishing noise and distortion. It's a matter of how many parts you want to throw away in the process of pairing them. What you seem to describe is just a very complicated feedback and filtering technique. 
As far as my question about the perfect medium, I'm talking about the recording medium. 
I seriously question your claim that high quality imaging requires extremely low distortion. The popularity of SET amps seems to question that premise. The nature of spacial cues is distortion. Much of music is distortion. I think that the ideal of zero distortion has been tried and rejected. I'm happy to try your pre-amp out so long as I'm not in the hook for shipping or damage. My F5 is a brutally revealing amp though, and that characteristic about it is making me seriously consider a tube based pre-amp as opposed to JFETs. I'm already listening to a system who's transparency challenges my ability to listen to some of my favorite music on account of less than ideal recording techniques. Many people face that issue. I seriously doubt anybody honestly wants a stack of truly zero distortion electronics. 

I like to think that..More than anything....Nelson’s bits of screed on this subject is about avoiding the confrontational projected bias we are reading in this thread.

I refuse to make more than that -- about what he said in print.

To do one’s self a favor, imagine all the people who have contributed in this thread, are in a room with you.

To try and make one’s self behave accordingly. Only then does one put finger to keyboard.

(I can’t even use the word ’you’. Nor should I. It’s far too inflammatory. See what I mean?)

As for zero distortion electronics, not possible, all we can get to if done as well and as perfect as can be.... is a slightly slower slightly darker copy of the original. Imperceptibly darker and imperceptibly slower. Anything else is a lie.

kosst,

I seriously doubt anybody honestly wants a stack of truly zero distortion electronics

If you had a preference when it comes to watching TV would you reject the newer 4K resolution TV (as opposed to standard / HD) because it is too revealing? If your [home theater] had several boxes that once you replace them with higher quality gear - would you not appreciate a picture that was much clearer and allowing you to enjoy movies etc. with no [visual] distortion? 

With most gear you are stuck with some distortion. People are treating this distortion like it was cholesterol (having good and bad versions).

In my mind there are no "good" harmonics.  To me they don't belong there and you certainly don't get that mixture at the live concert hall.
The only good harmonics if you will are the rich natural occurring harmonics the come out of the musical instruments as part of their sound.
Otherwise just get yourself an Aphex Aural Exciter and be done with it. I think that would fall into the category of "art".

Believe me when you hear what music sounds like with no distortion - you are forever hooked.

The only thing harder than trying to develop this technology in the first place is the ability of a listener to describe it to someone who has not heard it.

teo_audio

As for zero distortion electronics, not possible

Too late. Been there - done that.

One of the biggest problems that exists in communication is mixing or confusing facts with opinions. Everybody is entitled to their own opinion - not to their own facts.

You speak as if you are certain of this.
Its not possible (in your opinion) because......why?

@roger_paul
Funny you bring up TV’s because I do have a strong opinion on those. In particular, I HATE Samsung’s big hyper-real, crazy-fast refresh rate, artificially focused, images. It’s like watching TV on drugs. Reality doesn’t look anything like a modern Samsung TV. So yeah, I suppose there is such a thing as too much contrast, smoothness, and focus.
Sound actually has it’s counterpart in the guise of movie soundtracks that don’t sound anything like real life. And those soundtracks are encouraging an entire segment of home audio gear specifically designed to replicate surreal sounds in surreal ways.
If I watched TV I'd want one that replicated looking through a window, not a portal to a different reality where everything pops and moves in hyper-smooth action. I prefer my stereo to be as realistic. If that means I must willfully inject distortion into it, so be it.