Anyone else constantly curious about amps?


I'll start of by saying I have a really great sounding amp, the Mastersound Dueventi. It's a class-A tube amp running in PSET putting out 20 watts of power, which proves to be plenty in my room. I have other audio upgrades that would be more valuable. I've slowly been replacing cables, a new streamer would probably have the biggest impact in my system next, I'd like a new turntable now that I've stepped up  my cartridge and phonostage... 

But I just keep coming back to amps. For some reason I just feel a need to bring in something new. I can't afford it. It won't be the most high impact in my system. I don't really have anywhere to demo several of these options. But still, I've been on a two week long rabbit hole exploring solid state class A options like Pass and Sugden. I heard a top in system this past weekend with Jeff Rowland driving the system and I forgot how great those can sound, so I'm finding myself looking at their integrated. I know Norma amps sound amazing with my speakers, so I'm always tempted to bump that up the priority list. 

Someone talk me off the ledge and help me with this sickness! 

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Showing 1 response by jrareform

@jasonbourne71 the weekly reminder from Jason Bourne for all of you dummies that think amps sound different.  Jason have you ever been in a legit treated room with multiple amps with similar distortion curves and tested them?  I'd guess not.  So please allow those who actually have used this gear talk rather than just regurgitate the ASR line of "it all sounds the same", espousing a single small scientific study from the 70s which has been disproven countless times. I assure you that your class D amp with 120+db SINAD will not come close to my Pass Labs XA30.8 in realism or imaging regardless of how it measures.  If you still feel the need to post this on every amp discussion though, do you.  It's a free country.  Just know that those of us with high end systems are rolling our eyes.

OP, yes I have this disease.  When you have a fully treated room with high end gear, the difference between amps is not subtle.  I've tested over a dozen amps in this configuration.  No amp sounds just like another.  There's a reason why Nelson Pass uses measurements AND listening tests to determine these things!  Whether everyone can hear these differences is another discussion entirely