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Digital amp beat them all? Audio Physic Strada .

The german magazine Stereoplay has(in its June issue) a review of the new Audio Physic Strada monoblocks.
Like most german audio magazines this has also a preferance for ranking products in a hierarcic manner.
Interestinly, the new monoblocks from Audio Physic gets
60 point (on a scale that end with 63 points), while the
mag´s former reference Krell FPB 650 M gets 59 p.
For your knowledge;Electrocompaniet Nemo gets 58 p, the same as Pass X-350.
Althought the fact that I am sceptical about ranking systems
in Audio,I find it remarkable that a digital amp allready
can compete with some of (what is regarded) as "top-flight"
amps!
The Strada monoblocks has a switched powersupply and some
innovative curcuitry,e.g. it seems to be handling signals
of low amplitude in analog way, and switches over to digital mode for higher amplitudes in some form of bridge
output section. Sorry, my understanding of technical german
isn´t splendid.
They deliver 255 W/each in 8 Ohms, and costs about 15000 Euro a pair.
What do you think? Are digital amps taking over the scene
in the years to come, or will there be a "resistance movement" corresponding to that of CD-anlog?
dinos

Showing 4 responses by seandtaylor99

seandtaylor99
1,262 posts
 
A few corrections.

RIAA equalization has been in use SINCE the 1950s. I believe it was established as the standard for the modern 33rpm LP.

Upsampling will make no difference to bass .. its aim is to ease the implementation of the brick wall filter which prevents aliasing distortion, according to Nyquist's theory of sampled signals.

The mechanics of sampling and quantizing a signal introduces quantization noise and limits the upper frequencies (due to aliasing distortion) but it does not selectively remove details or harmonics. Digital equipment also has practical limitations (jitter, DAC non-linearity) which are worth discussion.

In summary ...
We all have a preference for the sound of analogue or digital .. personally I like both in different ways, at different times and in different moods. But please, don't pretend you know what you're talking about technically when you clearly do not. It helps nobody. DOes anyone have a link to how digital amps work ? I'm interested to know.
seandtaylor99
1,262 posts
 
Well Dinos .... you question is answered. There will be much resistance due to the general hocus-pocus explanations of why digital must be bad "and so I won't even bother to audition" attitude.

For me I'd rather get a $1k integrated and pay off the house ... so it will have to get a lot cheaper. But I'm very interested in it. Audio Physic has a good reputation to lose, so I'm sure they've researched it.
seandtaylor99
1,262 posts
 
My opinion is that one should buy with ones ears. That said I am very interested in a meaningful discussion of the pros and cons of technologies. I believe most of the real answers to the analog vs digital debate lie in the realm of real world engineering and manufacture, where theoretical performance is compromised by imperfect components. For example the aliasing filter, jitter and DAC linearity in CD players, and the mass, rigidity, and acoustic isolation in turntables.

But at the end of the day I wouldn't part with either my CD player or my turntable, or any of my LPs or CDs.
seandtaylor99
1,262 posts
 
8Hz is away from the cutoff ?? What cutoff is that ? The only cutoff I am aware of is at around 20kHz for the anti-aliasing filters. I'm not aware of any low frequency rolloff in the redbook standard. I'm getting tired of these half-truths. By all means describe what you hear, but leave technical explanations out unless you really know what you're talking about.
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