Reading this review for the first time I was struck by the fact that the D300 shows high levels low order harmonic distortion but almost a complete absence of higher order HD. Amir rightly points out that this is certainly due to the sparing use of negative feedback which, if ampily used, can reduce overall HD to negligible levels.
I'm not so sure, however, that Audio Research engineers are simply misguided or ill-informed. I don't believe that they are so naive as to not know that the D300 has rather high overall amounts of HD, nor that they don't know how to remedy that if they so choose. (Much less do I believe that ARC doesn't have test equipment or know how use it.)
To me it seems altogether more likely that the D300's HD profile is consistent with ARC's design goals for the amp. And, agree with the philosophy or not, the ARC's management and engineers purposely designed the D300 to have highish levels of low order distortion. This would stem from the conviction that most ARC users what to enjoy the euphonic effects of this sort of distortion.
True, of course, that high THD will result in output to the speaker that is less true to the recorded sound, but nevertheless it is what a many audiophiles want IMHO, (not saying I'm necessarily one of them).
I'm not so sure, however, that Audio Research engineers are simply misguided or ill-informed. I don't believe that they are so naive as to not know that the D300 has rather high overall amounts of HD, nor that they don't know how to remedy that if they so choose. (Much less do I believe that ARC doesn't have test equipment or know how use it.)
To me it seems altogether more likely that the D300's HD profile is consistent with ARC's design goals for the amp. And, agree with the philosophy or not, the ARC's management and engineers purposely designed the D300 to have highish levels of low order distortion. This would stem from the conviction that most ARC users what to enjoy the euphonic effects of this sort of distortion.
True, of course, that high THD will result in output to the speaker that is less true to the recorded sound, but nevertheless it is what a many audiophiles want IMHO, (not saying I'm necessarily one of them).