How far have ss amps really come in the last twenty years?


I have owned and enjoyed my Jeff Rowland model 8 ( recently modded and upgraded by Jeff to the last version) for many years. I recently had the opportunity of comparing it ( after mods) to a few of the current ss models from Gamut, D'Agostino, YBA, Parasound, Sim audio, CH precision, Constellation,PS audio,Pass Labs  and Musical Fidelity. The results were very interesting, because to my ears and in the systems that we did the comparison, the Rowland held its own against all but the most expensive D'Ag and CH amps. Even those were only very slightly outclassing the Rowland in the areas of top end resolution...and a tad in the bottom end resolution. Now the thing is that the last revision to the Rowland 8 was designed by Jeff over ten years ago! 
So, my question for those more technically inclined than myself is...how far has the design of ss amps come in the last ten...or even twenty years? 
daveyf

Showing 3 responses by geoffkait

“I’ve come to understand from my 31 years of business experience that nasty bluster is most often a smokescreen.”

>>>>>Appeal to Authority alert 🚨
“I know what I know and hear what I hear.” 

>>>>Boy, how often do we hear that? 😬
It was a sign of the times that Curl et all went to Parasound about 20 years ago and abondonded Blowtorch preamp and the Bar B Q amp which were very high end components. I participated with Curl and Crump (TG Audio) the last year they exhibited the BAR B Q with the Blowtorch. The following year 2001 the JC-1 (scaled down Bar B Q) debuted with Blowtorch and Entec Number Cruncher DAC. I isolated the Blowtorch, Entec and four (count em!) JC-1s that year with a one of a kind double decker Nimbus and four Promethean isolation bases.