[Sonnova]

On Thu, 30 Apr 2009 10:55:34 -0700, Walt wrote
(in article ):

Sonnova wrote:

Watts is Watts. I do not share the common audiophile attitude that modern
electronics (pre-amps, amps) all sound noticeably different from one
another.
I've been privy to too many double-blind ABX tests to buy that myth. If
there
are any differences that can be noted in a real statistically consistent
way,
then I'd say that one of the amps/pre-amps under test is either broken or
fundamentally flawed.


Mostly agree, with two caveats:

1) Amplifiers *do* sound different when pushed to their limits. When
driven into clipping every amp is going to behave differently and
consequently sound different. Tube amps really do sound better than
solid state when overdriven. That said, when operated within their
design limits, there's not much difference between amps.

Of course. The idea, of course, is to never overdrive them -Tube or
Transistor.

2) I'm willing to entertain the possibility that there are subtle
differences between amplifiers that may be ascertained by carefully
controlled listening tests. Thus far, I'm not aware of any such tests
that show this, but if someday someone produces such a result, the
differences would of necessity be small and subtle at best otherwise we
would have seen it by now. In particular, the differences among amps
pales in comparison to differences among speakers - thus your speakers
make *far* more difference than your amp.

It is possible that due to differences in components that there are small
differences in the sound of amplifiers or preamps. However, these differences
are tiny and don't really mean anything significant. In fact, they are so
small that double-blind tests do not reveal them and if they do exist,
fretting over them is a lot like counting the number of angels that can dance
on the head of a pin. IOW, most modern amplifiers sound pretty neutral and
have for at least the last 20 years.