2. amps-preamps
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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
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cleeds
2,065 posts
 
twoleftears
... not a huge difference between competent SS designs, despite the supposed chasms that audio reviewers like to dwell on and rhapsodize about ...
The problem with opaque criticism such as this is that labeling something a "huge difference" or "not a huge difference" is completely subjective. The same happens when others observe the diminishing returns that happen as price increases. Those relatively small, incremental improvements are very important to some, and not at all important to others. The OP asks "is it really worth the thousands you are shelling out" for those improvements. The answer is for every audiophile to decide for himself.
tomcarr
530 posts
 
+1 @
tomcarr
530 posts
 
cleeds
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david_ten
2,509 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.

Very well said, @audiothesis  

I will add that some do, and will, look a giant in the eyes. : )
analogluvr
800 posts
 
 Lots of good answers above. Yes many big dollar amps are more about hefty power supplies so they can drive difficult loads, as was said previously. My own approach is that if a speaker is a difficult load I don't want it.  Money believe is multi way difficult to drive speakers use a tiny bit of fine detail.  Speaking purely  of dynamic cone speakers. Panel speakers are another story, I can understand why they are difficult loads. 
And as well as alluded to above, the best sounding amps are lower powered simple amps, often times tube based. 
 That being said, I love running a big solid-state amp into a pair of subs for anything below 50 Hz. Off of a separate Output on the preamp. 
 But Audio is highly subjective and I'll never fault anyone for a different path to their own happiness. Just don't buy into all the nonsense that's floating around. 
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