Since Schw06 says not enough EEs so here is my 1st post on Agon. Specs is necessary but not sufficient for good sound. The Ears are better at deciding than the specs. My wife is not an audiophile but can tell me which one is better. Of course she don't like both for the pocket.
At the higher end electronics, most brands have similar specs like +/- 0.1dB or 0.01%....but I think its all down to preference and matching to other electro-mechanical pieces, i.e. turntable/arm/cartridge and speakers. I think this is where tires meet the road. I went from vinyl to CD to SACD and back to vinyl 1 year ago and found vinyl is more musical and fun to tweak. Who actually tweak their resistors, capacitors and ...etc on their preamp or amp PCBs..? Except those with tubes.
To answer the question, I am using ML 326S/334. Power amp is because I thought if it can do double the power at 4 ohms and quad the power at 2 ohms, it will have drive/dynamics. I always thought preamp is not significant for CD but was proven wrong. I went through 5 preamps in like 10+ years. Which specs matter? Have not figure out and stop trying after the 3rd one. I use two phono stages, the ML326s phono boards and a VTL6.5. Currently on the journey to find the one phono stage for both arms/cartridges.
Merry Christmas and happy new year. Here's to enjoy the music and the hobby too.
PS. I did built an int amp back in college days and found it meet specs but does not sound like brand names in the shop.
At the higher end electronics, most brands have similar specs like +/- 0.1dB or 0.01%....but I think its all down to preference and matching to other electro-mechanical pieces, i.e. turntable/arm/cartridge and speakers. I think this is where tires meet the road. I went from vinyl to CD to SACD and back to vinyl 1 year ago and found vinyl is more musical and fun to tweak. Who actually tweak their resistors, capacitors and ...etc on their preamp or amp PCBs..? Except those with tubes.
To answer the question, I am using ML 326S/334. Power amp is because I thought if it can do double the power at 4 ohms and quad the power at 2 ohms, it will have drive/dynamics. I always thought preamp is not significant for CD but was proven wrong. I went through 5 preamps in like 10+ years. Which specs matter? Have not figure out and stop trying after the 3rd one. I use two phono stages, the ML326s phono boards and a VTL6.5. Currently on the journey to find the one phono stage for both arms/cartridges.
Merry Christmas and happy new year. Here's to enjoy the music and the hobby too.
PS. I did built an int amp back in college days and found it meet specs but does not sound like brand names in the shop.