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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
phusis's avatar
phusis
350 posts
 
@kosst_amojan --

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. […]

Succinctly put, and a rarer sentiment, I find, in the discussion of amplifiers - one indeed that needs more attention. I mean, a "simple, fairly inexpensive low power amplifier" is in many ways the antithesis to the "highend dogma" as it has come to materialize, and one that challenges notions implicitly brought forth here; notions of a certain corruption, even. You know this to be true especially when you start questioning, to the point of superstition why or how a simple, fairly inexpensive low power amp can sound so very excellent.. 
kosst_amojan
2,095 posts
 
How can anyone argue against "two amps that measure the same sound the same"? That's just a fact. Pretty much the only way to make two amps measure the same is to build them exactly the same. We're all listening to STEREO here, aren't we? Isn't that just two identically measuring amps sounding exactly the same? And truthfully, those two amps don't need to measure exactly the same to be sonically indistinguishable. Looking at basic specs like damping factor and THD+N doesn't tell you much of anything about an amp. I'd rather have an amp with .01% THD+N with a beautiful negative 2nd harmonic than one that's .001% and all high odd order distortion. 
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
14,147 posts
 
I see. You think amps that measure the same all sound the same. But you think amps that measure worse sound better than amps that measure better. Are you listening to yourself?
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atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
7,068 posts
 
Looking at basic specs like damping factor and THD+N doesn't tell you much of anything about an amp. I'd rather have an amp with .01% THD+N with a beautiful negative 2nd harmonic than one that's .001% and all high odd order distortion.
The problem is that spec sheets generally don't tell you information like this- so it can easily appear that two amps are measuring the same when in fact they are not. I regard that as the bigger problem- the spec sheets are an attempt to make the gear look better on paper than it really is- a good example of the Emperor's New Clothes.

Actually an amplifier that exhibits a 3rd harmonic as its primary distortion component will have overall inherently lower open loop (no feedback) distortion than one that makes a 2nd.
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