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Is there actually a difference?

Speakers sound different - that is very obvious. But I’ve never experienced a drastic change between amps. Disclaimer that I’ve never personally ABX tested any extremely high end gear.

With all these articles claiming every other budget amp is a "giant killer", I’ve been wondering if there has ever been blind tests done with amplifiers to see if human ears can consistently tell the difference. You can swear to yourself that they do sound different, but the mind is a powerful thing, and you can never be sure unless it’s a truly blind test.

One step further - even IF we actually can tell the difference and we can distinguish a certain amp 7/10 times under extreme scrutiny, is it really worth the thousands you are shelling out to get that nearly-imperceivable .01% increase in performance?

Not looking to stir up any heated debate. I’ve been in audio for several years now and have always thought about this.
asianatorizzle

Showing 2 responses by roxy54

roxy54's avatar
roxy54
8,187 posts
 

Double blind is meaningless to me. If you were to participate in a test of that type, I think it would be invalid because your brain would be racing trying to hear differences, and doubting itself. There are so many unknown variables about the way a brain processes an event like that.

I believe that there are amps with sonic differences that are very easy to hear, and others that are more subtle, but it is best to listen to any amp over a period of weeks with all different types of the music you like so that your mind can build a profile of the gestalt, and whether it is right for you.

roxy54's avatar
roxy54
8,187 posts
 
I am firmly in the "Yes, they can sound very different camp." In the past, I have switched out similar mid-fi amps on lower resolution systems and heard no discernable difference, but since I have had better systems, any amp that I use now sounds distinctly different. The differences are easy to hear, simple as that.
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