Back when I was young many years ago I could here all sorts of differences between amps. In the pre-nineties days the big amps often didn’t sound near as good as the low wattage four output transistor 60 watt class!
In those times interstate coupling caps were common and caused degradation. Around 2K many companies had adopted direct coupled designs with dc servos on the outputs. All at once amps sounded much cleaner, even the big amps were much improved. (Yes I know I’m oversimplifying!)
In recent years I found out about level matching amplifiers (within .003 volts) from Van Alstine. (Wish I’d known sooner.) Using his methodology, most modern amplifiers I’ve compared sound very similar in the mid frequencies. I think due variances in output impedance and how an amp interacts with a speaker’s modulus of impedance there are audible differences mainly in the frequency extremes.
I think those who hear dramatic differences in amp sound are using a speaker with a difficult load. I’m not surprised when Alan Shaw has no winners of the Harbeth Challenge. Those speakers are such an easy load. I suspect any reasonably good modern amplifier would sound almost identical! Good discussion.
In those times interstate coupling caps were common and caused degradation. Around 2K many companies had adopted direct coupled designs with dc servos on the outputs. All at once amps sounded much cleaner, even the big amps were much improved. (Yes I know I’m oversimplifying!)
In recent years I found out about level matching amplifiers (within .003 volts) from Van Alstine. (Wish I’d known sooner.) Using his methodology, most modern amplifiers I’ve compared sound very similar in the mid frequencies. I think due variances in output impedance and how an amp interacts with a speaker’s modulus of impedance there are audible differences mainly in the frequency extremes.
I think those who hear dramatic differences in amp sound are using a speaker with a difficult load. I’m not surprised when Alan Shaw has no winners of the Harbeth Challenge. Those speakers are such an easy load. I suspect any reasonably good modern amplifier would sound almost identical! Good discussion.