2. amps-preamps
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Preamps can color sound considerably. Surprising?

Had the pleasure of listening to 4 hi end preamplifiers this weekend. And each preamp sounded very nice. But they were different. Each preamplifier has different circuitry and within the frequency spectrum there was more vibrancy in some areas versus other areas. Amplifiers are the same way.

It takes a while to appreciate sound differences between preamplifiers. And then you got the issue of Breakin which further changes the color.

clearly designers are playing around with all the internal circuitry in a manner that hopefully will be appealing. Clearly, these units do not get out of the way when it comes to moving a signal through the box.

I think solid state is more susceptible to coloring versus tubes. Tubes color sound as well.

It's all about marketing different ways to color Music. This isn't necessarily bad but it's never really talked about this way.

 

 

 

jumia
itsjustme
681 posts
 

The only surprise, to me, is that anyone would possibly think a component would NOT color/distort the sound. If perfection was so easy, why would we need to spend more than $200 on an integrated amp?

Are designers "playing with the sound"? Hmm. I would not say i play with the sound, but i do make choices based on subjective likes as much or more than objective measures - most of which appear to be below the threshold of audibility anyway. Which only proves we are missing some measurements.....

The Phono stage is particular is ridiculously complex and difficult - it is both a precise (and multi-stage) high frequency roll off filter and also needs to do, by far, the most amplification of any unit in the signal chain - between 100X and 1500X depending on your cartridge. By way of contrast the line stage of the preamp might amplify 3-10X and a power amp (note 1) 15-30X.  That is very difficult on many counts, staring with the huge impact of even a tiny amount of noise at the input, first stage, or radiated...

G

note 1:  power amps have other very different -- but very difficult -- issues that are beyond the scope of this discussion

dynamiclinearity
239 posts
 

I had a friend, Murray Zeligman, who once wrote an article named 'Color Me Perfect'.

johnlnyc's avatar
johnlnyc
59 posts
 

 

knotscott

353 posts

 

The only "authentic" sound is what the guys in the studio heard.

Bingo....the true meaning of "Hi-fi" refers to the original sound as recorded.  Everything downstream of that is variation of some sort .... we just get to decide if it's a more pleasant variation or a less pleasant variation, and choose accordingly, but it remains a variation.  In that sense, the best systems simply reveal with as little coloration as possible,

antigrunge2
1,346 posts
 

Which is the ultimate reason for not using a pre when the DAC has a decent - and preferably analogue attenuator. DACs produce sufficient output voltage not to use a pre.

holmz's avatar
holmz
2,328 posts
 

Which is the ultimate reason for not using a pre when the DAC has a decent - and preferably analogue attenuator. DACs produce sufficient output voltage not to use a pre.

Maybe… but if one listens at a low volume, then the attenuator also has a rising output impedance, so the cables start to affect it more and more as the volume goes down. But they seem good in theory if one doesn’t scratch the surface.

And then if one has an RCA DAC and an XLR amp, there needs to be something in between. Or visa versa.

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