The review of the new Benchmark amplifier has got me thinking about how hifi as a hobby relates the the ever escalating technical standards in our signal chain. Some would argue that amplification has been a 'solved problem' for some time now, but that argument is even more persuasive with amplifiers such as the nCore and Benchmark and a handful of others which offer 150W+ power, have high end DAC-like distortion and noise figures, and are agnostic with respect to the load they drive. Amplifiers have traditionally been chosen due to their sound, which by definition must mean that they deviate from some ideal in some particular way, with some deviations being preferable to some, and some deviations being preferable to others.
This raises an interesting question for me, however. Audiophiles have generally liked being able to make small adjustments to their system to dial in a particular sound they like, but the products we have now, and will be seeing more of in the future, are so hi-fi that they probably won't sound that different. Can we really say different top tier dacs sound dramatically different? Or now, amplifiers?
I've been thinking a lot recently about phono cartridges, which affect sound in many ways. The distortions they introduce are complex, with each cartridge offering different soundstage, detail character, frequency response, and so on. Is it that crazy to think that these devices can have a sound signature which makes music more enjoyable, and easier to listen to, to the individual who chooses them?
Are transducers the final frontier? Or will someone design a box which enables people to dial in the sound they like? A little noise here, a little crosstalk there, a little H2 distortion here, a little dynamic smoothing there?
In other words - when our hifi is perfect, what do we do when we don't like how it sounds?
This raises an interesting question for me, however. Audiophiles have generally liked being able to make small adjustments to their system to dial in a particular sound they like, but the products we have now, and will be seeing more of in the future, are so hi-fi that they probably won't sound that different. Can we really say different top tier dacs sound dramatically different? Or now, amplifiers?
I've been thinking a lot recently about phono cartridges, which affect sound in many ways. The distortions they introduce are complex, with each cartridge offering different soundstage, detail character, frequency response, and so on. Is it that crazy to think that these devices can have a sound signature which makes music more enjoyable, and easier to listen to, to the individual who chooses them?
Are transducers the final frontier? Or will someone design a box which enables people to dial in the sound they like? A little noise here, a little crosstalk there, a little H2 distortion here, a little dynamic smoothing there?
In other words - when our hifi is perfect, what do we do when we don't like how it sounds?