2. amps-preamps
  3. 161911-76532

Honest Amp Reviews: Impossible?

So, I’ve noticed a flood of class D junk hitting the market over the last several years. They come from many different brand names from people you’ve never heard of before like "VTV", to popular Internet-in-the-know brands like PS Audio to famous names like Marantz. One thing they ALL have in common: the complete inability to find honest reviews online for these products.

For example, let’s take for instance the Stellar series from PS Audio. Class D junk with the usual attempt to improve euphonics with some kind of input stage. They call this scheme class AD, I guess to differentiate all the other brands that do something similar. However, you’ll never see a review site point this out; they’ll comment briefly on the design and then dutifully call it class AD afterwards as if it isn’t just a class D amp like many others.

Next, the reviewer will invariably lie about the sound. This lying usually takes the form of lying by omission. They’ll gush about how beefy and controlled it is, how neutral it is, how wide and natural the soundstage is, etc. What they WON’T mention is how lifeless, flat, boring and ultimately fatiguing they ALL are. The buyer who doesn’t know any better has to find that out for themselves while he slowly grows to distrust anything a reviewer has to say about anything. So, the only way to actually get value out of a review is to see if a certain amp has the positive attributes you are looking for while trying to painstakingly research any problems it might have because the reviewer won’t mention them.

In addition to the lies of omission, there’s the usual con of giving certain gear to certain reviewers who will appreciate / like the piece. That Stellar will NEVER be put up against a Dan D’agostino or a Pass for example. This could be valuable to the buyer to see how a lesser amp stacks up against a high end one, but it’s not, apparently, useful to the reviewers. Why? Why is telling the whole truth about amps -- all gear really -- taboo?
madavid0

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hoganpc
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I sold high end audio fo many years part-time, including Metaxas, Meitner, Mission, B+K, Musical Fidelity, Adcom, and many others.  Although none of these were in the rarified atmosphere with Krell, Boulder, Audio Research etc., my observations will serve the purpose.

Many buyers approached the purchase with a preconceived notions usually based on reviews or advice form alleged audiophile friends.  Rarely would they bring along vinyl or Cds they knew or worse ones with a limited frequency range, e.g. rock music.

My mainstays for demoing were well recorded female vocalists, large symphonic works, pipe organs with bass down to to 32 hz, and "fast" persussion, all to demonstrate the full frequency spectrum. Amazingly cosmetics played a major role with many buyers.

Those that made wise decisions understood the importance of balance, micro dynamics, timbre, and the ability to transport the buyer in to the performance which can happen with less expensive gear if properly matched to the rest of the system.

And then there were those who dismissed out of hand any design type or brand they had been told was inferior or assumed it was. Like our OP.

My, what fun it was
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