Is there a point of diminished returns with amps and Harbeth 30.1s?

An easier upgrade route might be to sell the M30s and buy the M40s.

Few would argue it's not a clear upgrade.

Alan Shaw has long welcomed any debate on his opinions regarding cables and amps. 

In fact he once even offered a pair of his top of the range M40s to anyone that would be willing to undergo an unsighted amplifier comparison test.

Level matched of course. 

Unsurprisingly, despite the endless online amplifier hullabaloo / advertising / promotions etc there were no takers.

There were no takers.

I would suggest the dear reader should let that sink in to their long term memory for easy recall the next time they come across some casually penned blowhard review extolling the unique quasi mystical properties of another routine amplifier.

@whipsaw ,

"In other words, can the listener simply and consistently distinguish between components, irrespective of which they may prefer."


This seems to be the main problem the anti blind listening test brigade have.

No one has regularly managed to distinguish sonic differences between amps, cables and digital sources.

Therein lies their problem.

@whipsaw,

As far as I know there has not been a single example of a blind listening test where differences between cables, digital sources or even amplifiers were identified.

Even in the best case scenario, subjectivists et al might want to acknowledge this rather sobering fact.

Not even one case??

Perhaps there are some good reasons why Toole, Olive and co only bothered blind testing loudspeakers at the National Research Council (NRC) of Canada in Ottawa, Ontario?

@jjss49 ,

I was referring of course to published tests, ones that could be verified.

If you could successfully repeat your experiment I'm sure there would be an awful lot of interested parties willing to assist you in your groundbreaking demonstration.

No end of reviewers, magazines, websites would be very pleased to have just a morsel of evidence to back up their printed proclamations regarding sonic differences of amplifiers.

Heck, they might even start conducting their own.

Why not consider publicly sharing your groundbreaking research for others benefit? 

@whipsaw,

Perhaps I should have been clearer in stating that no one has been able to consistently identify sonic differences between 2 level matched solid state (sand) amps. 

With valve amps all bets are off, though even there it's been noticed that better measuring valve amps tend to sonically converge, not diverge, with their solid state counterparts. A straight wire with gain as Quad's Peter Walker once said. Didn't he also claim that he didn't need to listen to his amps? The measurements alone told him everything he needed to know.

And then there was the infamous Bob Carver Stereophile challenge which surely anyone with any amplifier interest should be familiar with.

https://www.bobcarvercorp.com/carver-challenge



@troidelover1499,

Fair enough, but don't you think such a groundbreaking discovery is worthy of a public repitition?

Just imagine how many magazine editors and reviewers would come racing to plant laurels around the head of this much welcomed harbinger of glad tidings?

Of course no designer of any digital product, cable or amplifier has ever claimed or even attempted to demonstrate the sonic superiority of their product, let alone subject it to a blind listening test.

I wonder why?

So why not go ahead, and make their day if you can?  I think we'd all be curious as to what exactly these so called claimed differences actually amount to.