Anyone has a reference system where amplification is SS ?

transparent is all of those things if those things are in the recording. Transparent means the output is audibly indistinguishable from the input other than the gain. If one wants some additional seasoning then euphonically colored amps are an option. But so are DSP simulators that do it better at a fraction of the cost with greater flexibility and the option to turn them off.

@scottwheel

no, transparent is not enough.

i respect that unless you directly compare various solid state amps in a revealing system you might assume ’transparent’ is enough, and that transparent assumes other musical attributes. unfortunately that is not the case.

to illustrate my point here is a review of a very respected solid state amp, scroll to the bottom of the page and read the conclusion (final 3 or 4 paragraphs).

https://www.stereophile.com/content/boulder-amplifiers-2150-monoblock-power-amplifier-page-2

>>>"By comparison, my reference monoblocks, darTZeel’s NHB-458s, don’t grip quite as tightly as the Boulders, nor do they achieve the 2150s’ levels of transparency and solidity. What they deliver so well, especially for solid-state amps, is music’s liquidity and natural flow—due to their more generous sustain. You can’t have everything."<<<

when we look for alternatives to tube amplifiers, it’s not trivial to retain musicality and flow. these attributes come from simple elegant low parts count circuits, zero negative feedback, and amazing build quality. solid state but not strangling the music. these things are not absolutes, but there are solid state amps that are more or less musical while also being transparent. in my experience darTZeel is the most musical solid state.....in the context of this thread it’s the best tube alternative.

do you think Boulder 2160 owners think their amps are not musical? no, but have they compared them to a more musical alternative in their system?

just my 2 cents. YMMV.

“no, transparent is not enough.”

Then you want added colorations. A perfectly legitimate personal preference. I like them too. But I use DSP for that so the transparency remains an option. Once you color your playback with a colored amp it puts that stamp on everything you play. 

“ I respect that unless you directly compare various solid state amps in a revealing system you might assume ’transparent’ is enough, and that transparent assumes other musical attributes. unfortunately that is not the case.”

if the amp is transparent, which most modern SS amps are if they aren’t clipping then all of the musical attributes encoded in the audio signal will be passed through to the speakers. By definition that’s what transparent does. 

“to illustrate my point here is a review”

and that’s where you lose me. Subjective reviews from Stereophile or other similar publications laced with vague flowery language are of no real interest to me. 

if the amp is transparent, which most modern SS amps are if they aren’t clipping then all of the musical attributes encoded in the audio signal will be passed through to the speakers. By definition that’s what transparent does.

@scottwheel

so you are an ’all modern solid state amps sound the same’ guy if they are not clipping? and that means they are transparent? so class A, class A/B. Class D. Global feedback? zero negative feedback? 50 pieces in the signal path? 10 pieces in the signal path? heavy protection circuits? not much protection circuits? heavy chassis? lightweight chassis? my 2 channel mono blocks? and my pair of 8 channel Home Theater amps?

all solid state. not clipping. all the same?

and let’s assume they are all driving a speaker with an appropriate load and impedance for the amplifier power. so we remove the speaker variable from the question. but might different amps sound different on different speakers? or would each amp sound the same assuming the power was sufficient?

just wanting to make sure i understand.

scottwheel defines transparency not in a positive way...He believes in double blind test only, for sound qualia definition , then he defines transparency only in a negative way: Below a distortion limit if someone could not hear a difference this is transparency and all the rest is useless distortions or subjective illusions ...Any tube lovers is out for sure ...

I myself defines transparency in a positive acoustical way instead  : it is the way the gear/system/room/ears let the recorded acoustic live event be correctly and convincingly translated from playback to your acoustic conditions ( with more or less some kind of distortions nevermind )  ... My definition is relative ...

Transparency in a negative definition by double blind test is absolute, because it ask for a threshold of distortion so low no human can hear it ...Said otherwise the best amplifier dont add anything by itself to the signal...

It is the way objectivist define a good sound without need to refer to acoustics, psycho-acoustics but only electrical measures of the gear ...

it is not even wrong ... It is why objectivism in audio is preposterous ideological position being not even wrong ...

But the great acoustic discovery in the last decade is about the way any stereo system  is flawed by the crosstalk destructive effect on the spatial qualities of the recorded information of the live event for the ears ... Than transparency will be also related to a way (BACCH filters ) these spatial information could be translated in our room/ears for our brain ... Transparency is then not only and mostly an electrical notion about measured distortion it is mostly also the way the recording is translated in a room without loosing any of  the recorded acoustic information even if some distortion is added 😊 ...

Scottwheel must know better then , he own the BACCH filters ...😁

«A non paradoxical man does not exist»-- Anonymus thinker🧐

if the amp is transparent, which most modern SS amps are if they aren’t clipping then all of the musical attributes encoded in the audio signal will be passed through to the speakers. By definition that’s what transparent does.

“so you are an ’all modern solid state amps sound the same’ guy if they are not clipping?”

most. Not all