What about damping factor? I heard that for CXR200 it's about 100. And C298's damping factor is more than 800-2000.
Some audiophiles would keep trying to find reasons for why they heard a difference between their compared devices even when all available bench test results indicate there should be none audible/detectable to human. So they would pick and choice from things like crossover distortions, slew rate, damping factor and anything else that may not look the best relative to the best measured devices. Scientific facts seem to indicate that while DF could be an important factor, it should not be hard for an amp to have DF high enough to get pass the point of diminishing return.
Here's a good summary on the topic:
I got a chuckle when I saw the title of Dr. Toole's "Damping factor and damn nonsense". As usual, he rarely bother commenting on electronics as he knows full well modern electronics usually wouldn't be the elephant in the room, but the speakers.
People can perhaps debate if 20 is high enough in general, but I would say 100 is pretty good and safe for golden ears while 20 within the audio band would likely be close to the magic number.
Benchmark has a nice article on DF too, and their worked example would show (my own interpretation) that 150 should be high enough for golden ear class and >20 should be enough for most. That's about the effects on frequency response, for the actual speaker driver damping, even DF of 10 may be high enough.
Myth - "Damping Factor Isn't Much of a Factor" Myth - "A Damping Factor of 10 is High Enough" Myth - "All Amplifiers Have a High-Enough Damping Factor" Where did these Myths Originate? These myths seem to trace back to a well-known paper (PDF) written by Dick Pierce. His analysis shows that a...
benchmarkmedia.com
