As I said before, we could not, in fact, never convince people who trust heir ears to the point they would not try to do truly apples to apples blind comparison listening tests to prove their own points. It is a well know fact that in double blind, often even single blind, controlled (such as very tight level controlled, and no dsp, just pure analog or digital with no processing of any sort) that such claimed audible different sound signatures would disappear; and we are not talking about all amps sound the same, they don't, and won't. We are talking about amps that are very well designed, and bench tested to deliver the same performance level that would result in transparency to human beings (not going to repeat what I said about those before). Such transparent amps do include, by the way, Chinese made amps, even some cheap ones such as the $90 Fosi V3 class D chip amps, but you are right, I am not aware of any "cheap" Chinese preamps that I would consider "transparent", unless you consider the $600-$850 Topping analog preamp cheap. In that case you would be wrong, because that preamp so far has bench tests head and shoulder over many much more expensive preamps currently available. Note: Chinese made amps are design made/assembled in China or nearby countries as a whole unit, but would include ICs, and many electronic components from all over the world, designed by people also from all over the world, it is very much a globalize thing nowadays. So it is hard to generalize, and "cheap" is a relative term. Don't get me wrong, I think I know what you mean, but would still caution that people seem to get influenced/biased by/based on price a lot, again, not saying you are, but many are, no doubt, I admit I get influenced too, may be just to different extent.
Topping Pre90 Review (preamplifier) | Audio Science Review (ASR) Forum
The reviewer concluded that:
Price, aesthetic, even color, and much more are factors that could influence one's perception of sound quality, that's again facts, but no, if they won't/don't do controlled comparison listening tests, they would just continue to believe their different amps have their own sound signature, and that would be factual in many cases, just that the differences may not be due to the hardware design/build, but more often the circumstantial factors. it's all science, just different kind of science, psychoacoustic science, or pure human psychology are also science, aside from physics, and electrical engineering.
Interesting, I went to many live classical concerts, and one thing I always noticed is that very often you can see many mics everywhere on stage, so I have to wonder, "live" for those in the hall is one thing, but how about the recordings, wouldn't those live recorded music have their own sound signature, inherited during the recording and mastering process? If so, and seemingly so, then I can't imagine how people (yes that included you
obviously, could have been influenced by the electronics not under their control? And, in that case, even if there are (and I would agree there are) things not measured in any bench tests, any resulting differences due to the electronics of yours (albums, digital files, streamed, CDs, DACs, preamps, power amps, power supplies) would have been all mixed in and therefore the final results you hear will not be predictable, and those who focus on choosing a preamp, or a power amp "by ears" would naturally end up getting the "sound signature" they preferred by
random, chances!! If I have infinite time and money to go about such a route/process, it might be fun, but practically speaking, no thanks, I would just choose based on specs and measurements, and then convince myself, at least psychologically speaking, that I have made the right choice for the best "sound signature" that I could afford. I doubt there is any right or wrong in our approach, so the law of ymmv wins in the end.
