Solid state design options...


What are the importance (to you) of these design options:

1. Zero Global Feedback
2. Fully Balanced Architectrure
3. Output Class (A vs. A/B)
4. Capacitance / Instantaneous Current Delivery
5. Dampening Factor

Any other ones that should be put into the mix for discussion?

I've been doing some reading where pundants claim these are very important considerations, and some who say they are nothing more than marketing gimmicks.

Thoughts?

I know...You should listen to the amps and let your ears guide you. That is a given, so those replies are not needed.
nrenter

Showing 1 response by nrenter

The reason I ask is because some have very stong feelings on this subject. For example, Richard Hardesty (Audio Perfectionist Journal) consistantly claims that the best sounding amps that he has heard are fully-balanced in design w/ no global feedback. However, he doesn't really talk about any other factors of amp design (at least, not yet).

Other reviewers have ranked amps of *very* dissimiar design very closely together. A Clayton M-100 is very different from a McCormack DNA-500, but I have seen them referred to as comparable. Throw tube amps into the equasion, and on paper, things get confusing really quickly. However, the confusion is usually quickly sorted out *if* you are able to do side-by-side listening comparisons (which is generally logistically difficult to do).

Oh...and I apologize for my spelling of 'architecture' in the original post.