Can you hear a difference in Sound between Audio Amplifiers?

[mtrycrafts]

Well, it has generated a lengthy thread, even though its all old news. ...

Yes indeed. Yet, it keeps popping up and starts all over because we still have such claims made as can be seen with follow up questioning.

 

[mtrycrafts]

... I would not consider using complex tones like music signals is a stress test. Audio amps are designed to amplify such signal after all.

Exactly. A sine wave has a 70.7% duty cycle, very demanding, whereas music is much, much less.

 

[3db]

This poll and thread is nothing but "fake news". This should be banned!!! We all know that amps sound the same.

 

[PENG]

This poll and thread is nothing but "fake news". This should be banned!!! We all know that amps sound the same.

Yes but with caveats please...

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I think the PC statement would be "most amps don't have a sound signature of their own". Whether they sound the same or different depends on many things.

 

[lovinthehd]

I think the PC statement would be "Amps don't have a sound signature of their own". Whether they sound the same or different depends on many things.

You'd still need to qualify this perhaps with SS amps vs tube?

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

You'd still need to qualify this perhaps with SS amps vs tube?

Okay, I fixed it to say "most amps"...

 

[Verdinut]

You'd still need to qualify this perhaps with SS amps vs tube?

And any difference could also depend on the speaker being driven if it is not a good match with one of the amps being compared for various causes ( Qts, low Impedance at some frequencies, weird phase response curve are examples)

 

[thedarkbird]

The biggest differences I've noticed was when upgrading earphones, headphones and bookshelf speakers. I remember starting out with 50$ Sony in-ear headphones and when I moved to Shure SE420's a few years later, YES, the difference was véry obvious. The same happened when moving from a Logitech Z-5400 surround multimedia system to a Yamaha integrated amp with ELAC B6 speakers and a Klipsch subwoofer. And again when moving from a Sennheiser gaming headset to Shure SRH1540 headphones. And last but not least when moving from the Shure SE420's to Shure SE846 in-ears.

But when I use my relatively high-end SE846's and SRH1540 to try and find a difference between (decent) amps.... I... just...can't ...tell.... And I've tried hard. As a matter of fact, I can't hear the difference between my dedicated portable DAC/AMP Oppo HA-2, Yamaha AMP headphone out, Schiit Modi Multibit DAC + Magni 2 amp or iPod 6th Gen, except of course for the difference in output power. And any difference I believe there is, is nullified when I'm blind testing.

I do consistently hear the lesser sound quality of my Samsung Galaxy S5 smartphone, where audio was clearly an afterthought.

My personal conclusion is this: save on DAC/amps and spend on speakers and headphones. My Yamaha amp was +/- 500$ and that is the absolute maximum I would ever spend on an amp. But speakers/headphones, I'd definitely spend 1000$ or more if they get rave reviews (think SVS Ultra bookshelf speakers, or the upcoming Sennheiser HD820 headphones for example),because that you can REALLY hear.

Don't even get me started on the 'difference' between 320kbs MP3, 16bit/44.1Khz WAV and 24bit/96kHz WAV (hint: for 90% of the people, there is no difference, including myself).

Oh, and one more thing that is often overlooked in these discussions: the importance of an acoustically treated room, and proper physical setup of speakers/woofers. A 20.000$ dollar system listened to in a bunker is going to sound a lot worse than a 500$ system in a well treated room.

Glad I got that off my chest

PS: I'm an electronic music producer, if that means anything.

 

[LAB3]

I use to think all SS amps would not have that warm sound of a tube amp on Klipsch Heritage speakers. I have tried many different ss receivers, AVR, pre/amp and amp combo in the last 40 years.My Hafler rack was OK but only a TUBE amp made decent bass at low volume. SS amps, I had to crank it up more to drive the woofers.. I was WRONG about amps have the same sound, Last month I purchased a mint one owner 2007 NAD C162 pre/amp and matching C272 amp for $600.00. WOW my TT and R2R have that analog warmth and open sound stage my Hafler Rack lacks. This week I will try one of my Hafler P3000 MOSFET amps with the NAD pre/amp for another SS amp test.

 

[MrBoat]

I can 'sense' some subtle differences between amps but it goes away as soon as I get used to it. They either work well or they don't. Just about all of the differences I have noticed has been with regard to power and head room. About 30 years ago, I decided I would have double the power needed for my consistently loudest listening level. That always kept decent amps well below their clipping and distortion ranges. It's worked well because I have had no complaints or real brand preference issues. After that, longevity was the most important factor.

 

[mtrycrafts]

...

I do consistently hear the lesser sound quality of my Samsung Galaxy S5 smartphone, where audio was clearly an afterthought.

...

LOL

 

[Swerd]

I can't believe this thread continues. It lends credence to nonsensical beliefs based on false information.

A former amplifier designer named Bob Cordell, in an interview on what makes for a good audio amplifier , was asked this:

Someone recently said that if not driven to clip, all SS amps sound the same. Do all SS amps sound the same?​

​

Cordell's answer:​

No, because they all misbehave differently. However, well-designed SS amps operating well below clipping, that are not misbehaving, and which have high damping factor across the band, will tend to sound the same…​

​

See the rest of Cordell's comments about audio amplifier design and performance here.
http://www.helarc.com/guru/guruscordell.htm

 

[Mikado463]

I can't believe this thread continues. It lends credence to nonsensical beliefs based on false information.

A former amplifier designer named Bob Cordell, in an interview on what makes for a good audio amplifier , was asked this:

Someone recently said that if not driven to clip, all SS amps sound the same. Do all SS amps sound the same?​

​

Cordell's answer:​

No, because they all misbehave differently. However, well-designed SS amps operating well below clipping, that are not misbehaving, and which have high damping factor across the band, will tend to sound the same…​

​

See the rest of Cordell's comments about audio amplifier design and performance here.
http://www.helarc.com/guru/guruscordell.htm

you can't believe this thread continues ??? really ??? that's like saying I can't believe there's more than one amp manufacturer !

 

[Out-Of-Phase]

Swerd said:
"I can't believe this thread continues. It lends credence to nonsensical beliefs based on false information."

I know. That's because audiophiles believe in the existence of unicorns.

 

[RichB]

Swerd said:
"I can't believe this thread continues. It lends credence to nonsensical beliefs based on false information."

That's because audiophiles believe in the existence of unicorns.

… and other things like inductance and capacitance which I can't really see when I look at my speakers.

- Rich

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Swerd said:
"I can't believe this thread continues. It lends credence to nonsensical beliefs based on false information."

I know. That's because audiophiles believe in the existence of unicorns.

But we can't make fun of them too much since we all used to think exactly like these audiophiles when we first started this hobby many years ago as teenagers, right?.

I remember hearing all kind of things from amps, speaker wires, interconnects, etc. when I was a young lad.

 

[Out-Of-Phase]

But we can't make fun of them too much since we all used to think exactly like these audiophiles when we first started this hobby many years ago as teenagers, right?.

I remember hearing all kind of things from amps, speaker wires, interconnects, etc. when I was a young lad.

That's a good reminder, but because of what we have learned over time the hard way, we owe them (objective) facts rather than (subjective) beliefs. In the (mental) kingdom of audiophile land, it's more fun to believe in something that's not really there.

 

[Mikado463]

But we can't make fun of them too much since we all used to think exactly like these audiophiles when we first started this hobby many years ago as teenagers, right?.

I remember hearing all kind of things from amps, speaker wires, interconnects, etc. when I was a young lad.

LOL, when I was a teenager I was lucky to have a console stereo to play my music on ! Stromberg-Carlson, tubes baby !

 

[Out-Of-Phase]

… and other things like inductance and capacitance which I can't really see when I look at my speakers.

- Rich

The average audiophile doesn't even have a clue of what those two terms mean. Nor does he care.