Stop drinking the Kool Aid, compose yourself, stick around, read and try to learn.
Amps are very rarely voiced. This 2dB bass boost we saw above is exceedingly rare to see in a product. And, it is in fact, not only audible, but easily measurable. There is no voicing possible that can’t be measured to explain it. As a consequence, any decent amplifier of will be indistinguishable from any other within their respective power envelope. This has been proven time and time again with controlled, level matched, double blind test.
More Kool Aid. DACs have been a solved problem for decades now. This is typical audiophile nonsense talk.
I never said otherwise. In fact I said exactly this:
https://onixhiend.co.uk/products/ If you turn your gaze to the south of London on the map of the British Isles, you will find a small seaside town named Brighton. A famous holiday resort in England and known by many as the capital of British music and art. The soul of creativity. In the 1980s...
www.audiosciencereview.com
The point was that this seemingly typically British company is now selling Chinese products. Even if the products are great, the story is still very deceptive.
This is precisely the kind of pretentious and persnickety response I expected to receive from an ASR member who doesn't agree with me. Congrats for proving me right.
Inexperience and shallow understanding often masquerade as technical and intellectual superiority. You must be a prime example. Let's not start a flame war with virtually infinite levels of disagreements.
There is no sense in trying to explain to you that machines made for the same purpose and which achieve measurable results through different electrical means can often intentionally or unintentionally cause colorations in sound. An F1 car has 4 wheels; so does a tuned up coupe from 1999. Just because they can track the same road, doesn't mean they can handle it equally. Baseline measurements of audio equipment such as those I mentioned often miss the point. And manufacturers of audio equipment, parts vendors that supply them, and electrical engineering teams have total control over the design intent of their products. You do not. And to be honest, neither does ASR. People are going to buy audio equipment that repeatedly passes the test of listening in a showroom and a home environment. I am specifically talking about audio electronics such as DACs and amplifiers. Assume they buy two different devices that perform the same function - amplifiers.
The gain structure and amount of gain, slew rate, rise time, current and voltage handling internally, peak temperatures, types of transistors used, and a myriad of other important design choices and measurement values which include but are not limited to internal parts impact the sound quality and final tuning of all audio equipment (DACs, amplifiers). Additionally, aggressive negative feedback in an audio amplifier can directly impact sound quality by lowering THD (good) but also directly (negative consequence) increase higher order harmonics which are not good for the accurate reproduction of music and complex recordings. This is precisely how many "budget" audio equipment manufacturers are achieving such impressive numbers on a test bench.
Folks like you assume that audio technology has marched on with all silicon-based technology solutions, in very much the same way as computers, smartphones, and kitchen appliances have. This assumption is false. Even though we have GaN chargers which are more efficient, MOSFETs, VFETs, JFETs, OP amps of different grades, and ultimately optimized output stages get to decide how truly accurate or inaccurate audio equipment is. Audio equipment (DACs / amplifiers) sound different because at the most fundamental level, they are different. There's no denying this reality.
While it may be comforting for some to believe they reached the top of the mountain with audio equipment which measures well on a test bench and didn't burn a hole the size of crater on the moon in their bank account, it is far detached from the reality and how manufacturers design, build, and release their products. Many audiophiles and even pro audio folks can fall in to this numbers only trap. You seem to be an excellent, virtually faultless example of this type.
You also fail to realize that R & D teams, quality control, and the use of more parts or expensive parts cost manufacturers more money, not less. Look inside any budget audio device or specific brands that fall in to this value for the money category, and then one by one, look up the cost of each part, and the sum of all parts. Turns out, you can build this yourself if you had the knowledge and contacts at any reputable parts supplier. Additionally, most budget audio equipment is using after-stock parts (which have been in storage for a long time) which is why in many cases certain brands which will go unnamed fail quickly and often! These manufacturers who you believe are saving the audio hobby are actually just polluting it. And the larger and more successful manufacturers are selling these after-stock parts to these lesser known brands who peddle this budget gear.
It's really not a difficult concept to grasp. I have quite a bit of industry knowledge and connections, so I know that what I'm saying is true. I've been in this hobby for about 15 years, starting with a passion in College where I took pro audio courses and learned about all forms of music production, then got in to another subject entirely because audio would probably not earn me the kind of money wanted. I've read many textbooks, have lectured fellow students and even people who design electronics on the real-world know-how that I learned in school and from fellow industry professionals with double or more my experience in audio. To top things off, I can master and remaster audio at a high level without relying on heavy amounts of DRC and limiting; and have systems that allow me to hear incredible levels of detail which are simply impossible to resolve on audio equipment made for the budget segment; which are engineering pitfalls disguised as SOTA. Believing the opposite is just denying reality. If it were true, high-end audio as we know it would have died out a decade ago, and all we'd have are these budget brands that "figured it all out" while engineers who designed audio equipment with real headroom and parts made to last decades would be out of jobs. In other words to explain this more cleanly to you, if it were baseless to use discrete parts such as real power transformers that weigh pounds not grams, capacitors connected via radial bus bars rather than v-chip capacitors also used in mini PCs/budget audio gear, and real quality transistors that mirror what the best vintage gear was trying to achieve, we'd all have known it by now. Physics, material science, electrical engineering, and furthermore engineering literature in avenues such as HVAC and military plainly paint a picture that the aforementioned fields of study have EVERYTHING to do with how something performs, while measurements take a back seat. It's how we got there that matters, not surface-level measurements alone.
I know, and truly I'm sorry. It's a really tough pill to swallow.
If you don't understand this - said by William Shockley, the inventor of the transistor, then you don't understand amplification. Learn.
For now,
Do not make yet more assumptions about someone and tell them to "learn" I've learned enough, thank you very much.
And, I think I've actually taught you a lot more than you ever knew or presently are aware of in a single post; then your entire time spent on ASR and perhaps other forums.
Before you decide to come back with a retort, figure out all of the key points I've made with valid counter-arguments which support your stance and invalidate what I've written with a meticulous attention to detail. Don't be angry, just figure it out.... if you can. Honestly don't think you're capable.
You're welcome.
Kind regards.
Dillon K.
