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Is there actually a difference?

Speakers sound different - that is very obvious. But I’ve never experienced a drastic change between amps. Disclaimer that I’ve never personally ABX tested any extremely high end gear.

With all these articles claiming every other budget amp is a "giant killer", I’ve been wondering if there has ever been blind tests done with amplifiers to see if human ears can consistently tell the difference. You can swear to yourself that they do sound different, but the mind is a powerful thing, and you can never be sure unless it’s a truly blind test.

One step further - even IF we actually can tell the difference and we can distinguish a certain amp 7/10 times under extreme scrutiny, is it really worth the thousands you are shelling out to get that nearly-imperceivable .01% increase in performance?

Not looking to stir up any heated debate. I’ve been in audio for several years now and have always thought about this.
asianatorizzle
kosst_amojan
2,095 posts
 

Mostly what you're paying for in really high dollar amps is the ability for a high power, multi-stage topology to deliver the nuance and performance you get from a simple, fairly inexpensive low power amplifier. That's really, really hard to do. As for telling a difference, I most certainly can, and I don't have the most revealing speakers in the world. My listening space doesn't require megwatts of power so I don't bother with it. I use a modified Pass F5 and it makes more power than I need at a nominal 32 watts. And it does sound much better than the old 38 and 52 watt amps I was using before it, especially when pushed a bit harder. I think the skill of the listener needs to be considered, too. I don't think many listeners know the traits of different kinds of distortion so it may not strike them as vividly as someone who does. 
shadorne's avatar
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shadorne
7,333 posts
 
Correct. SS Amps designed to high specification test measurements should sound almost the same. Tube amps can be of all kinds of flavour and sound very different.
erik_squires
5,268 posts
 
Depends on the speaker. :) 

Reasonably good amplifiers driving a very neutral load should sound the same, except for distortion, which amps like Pass deliberately add. I listened to some very good solid state, linear amps and Class D and could not tell them apart with my speakers, so I sold the linear amps. :)

Some speakers are said to be "discerning" of amplifiers, which really means they are hard to drive and more likely to show up audible differences between amps with different output impedances. 

For extreme examples of this, see the frequency response charts for tube amps on Stereophile. Yes, we're talking SS but that will illustrate output impedance issues well.

Best,

Erik
audiothesis
128 posts
 
There are no giant killers in audio, only good values and products that don't perform at their value. 

Synergy and bottlenecks are the name of the game. Creating one and eliminating the other can make your system revealing of differences or completely void of them. 
gryphongryph
85 posts
 

This could be a very interesting tread, looking forward to follow it.

One thing I feel doesn’t get enough discussion is high end solid state amps for normal 2way speakers or just speakers that are easy to drive, not talking about horns and the like, often when I see discussion about high end amps ( and there is a big tread on this forum) it always is high wattage amps driving difficult to low impedance full range speakers! 

Maybe members on this forum are mostly US based, therefore having larger living rooms or space for their equipment, so large speakers are more appealing giving the full sound one needs, or could it be the US members liking more umph in the lower register;-) be as it may, in most countries around the world I think that a big percentage of music lovers have much smaller rooms where good quality (smaller) amps and speakers are more suitable.

Would say a 100w to 150w high end intergrated amp sound much different between each other ? ( excluding Class A )

And could you not get a better (high end ) sound much cheaper than many of these high end rigs we see, often in rooms that are far too small to make them justice?

Just something I think about sometimes:-) 

A disclaimer, I have nothing against people spending big money on nice big systems, have heard two that sounded fantastic, although most I find sound way to cold and clinical, often loosing the essence in the music, making me want to leave the room after a few songs.

I also often find that smaller amps sound better at low volume than high wattage amps, do others have that experience too? Would a 8 ohm speaker going down to 6 ohm need more than say 150w ?


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