If you go back and read some of my posts from many years ago, you'll find that i've always been a major proponent of "speed" aka excellent transient response in components. You can't reveal subtle nuances, drastic shifts in peak ( positive OR negative ) amplitudes, sharp changes in pitch, etc... without speed.
Greater speed assures natural linearity WITHOUT the need for copious amounts of negative feedback. In fact, it is the lack of speed that forces designers to utilize TOO MUCH error correction aka "feedback" ( positive or negative ). Due to the lack of response time and the associated delay and overshoot / ringing that accompanies a slow circuit, designers turn to this "band aid" approach. The end result is something that measures better in certain areas but worse in others.
This is why i've encouraged those interested in such things to learn how to read ALL of the pertinet test results and not just concentrate on those that we've been force-fed to believe matter most. A few spec's can only tell a part of the story, leaving you to guess at the rest. Since most spec's are inter-related, the more that you know about spec's and interpreting them, the easier that it is to "guesstimate" how the component will perform in normal use.
High amounts of negative feedback result in the hard, glaring, sterilized reproduction that sounds "sharp" and / or "lean" on many bandwidth limited SS components. Get rid of most of the negative feedback and you'll get rid of much of what many people complain about. Only problem is, the "slow" / "non-linear" circuit will now have gobs of distortion because it simply can't keep up with the music.
As such, a well designed "fast" component or system will have detail. It will also preserve the natural tonal balance of instruments AND have good "PRAT". That's because the "speedy" componentry not only preserves the proper pitch of the instruments, they deliver each note in the proper time / phase, regardless of frequency, amplitude or duration. In effect, speed is what "coherence" is all about.
"Faster" components will have a wider operating bandwidth than a "slower" component. The wider bandwidth allows one to hear a higher level of harmonic overtones, which can lead one to think that the system is "bright" and / or "lean" depending on one's perspective and references. If the overtones and the dynamics of instruments are trunctuated, for instance due to inductive speaker cables of a high impedance, much of that speed and the "airiness" that accompanies proper harmonic structure, speed and wide bandwidth, are negated. This is why i've always stressed "proper power transfer characteristics" aka "impedance matching" wherever possible. Properly matched impedances reduce the potential for time / amplitude / phase induced problems. The end result is more natural sound with lower loss / self-induced distortions.
As mentioned above, linearity is improved as speed is increased, so long as stability remains consistent. Some products run into problems due to being very fast and capable of wide bandwidth, but that's a subject for another thread. Sean
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