@MAB Mate you just refuted your own argument.
If we have no idea what 'warm' is to different people, then how do you know that out of 100 well performing Amps, not a single one will sound warm to anyone?
No, amps don't have a sound unless broken or really poor.
Warm isn't a thing.
They don't refute each other. Both are not things...
BTW, if you go do ABX testing on those amps with a hundred people, and you show that they statistically call an amp warm then the data would refute. Problem is, people can't hear a difference of any kind between good performing amps so long as they are level-matched, and not driven to clipping. So no difference, no warmth.
There is a loosely accepted definition of warmth, it is a ~6dB peak in the midbass. If you had an amp that had a 6dB boost in bass, that would be a thing.
But, it's a term that is most often used for speakers tuned to a sound that sells at stores like Best Buy... Not for describing an amp that has a
filter with 6dB boost. Amps with large enough boost to be deemed warm are not because of some subtle machination, it's because they have a filter. So if you want warmth like Best Buy, get DSP and add a 6dB notch at 150 Hz.
I am an objectivist mainly. And that is because over the years specifications have been something I have paid attention to when buying equipment. Amps should have very little distortion. Speakers should have good dispersion characteristics. The frequency response of speakers should be fairly...
www.audiosciencereview.com
Also, even order harmonic distortion is another fallacy of warm sound. PKLane (among other's) has some nice software that can introduce 2nd order distortion (any order for that matter). I haven't seen a study on the threshold of human perception of harmonic distortion, and if 2nd order sounds 'warm' as the subjectivist audio circles suggest. I did try the plugin, I can hear the distortion as it is increased, and it doesn't sound warm to me. It sounds like distortion, as if something is wrong with the singer's microphone, or the piano has a mic problem. 2nd doesn't sound good or add warmth, same for 3rd. Distortion just sounds bad.
Amps do one thing, they amplify a signal. An amp with distortion below the threshold of human hearing doesn't alter the signal audibly.
There are lots of info hear on the science of human perception, limits of audibility. If read, you will see that the two statements I made do not refute each other.
