What measurements number in the dashboard leads to a "warm and intimate" sound vs "colder more technical/clinical" sound?

[barrows]

For ancient solid-state amplifiers this may well be true, but in modern 'accurate' solid-state amps all harmonic distortions are orders of magnitude below what is audible. Now tube amps on the other hand are often designed with intentional high harmonic distortion for a euphonic sound.

While I agree that a lot of SS amplifiers do exhibit the behavior you are talking about, I suspect these harmonics are audible (I can hear references tones at -90 dB in my system on a quiet night):

Not wanting to disagree, just pointing out that I feel their are some exceptions to the idea that all contemporary SS amplifiers feature inaudible levels of harming distortion.

 

[tuga]

Here's another example:

Ayre AX-5, THD+N (%) vs frequency at 8.9V into: 8 ohms (left channel blue, right red), 4 ohms (left cyan, right magenta), 2 ohms (green).

Ayre AX-5, spectrum of 50Hz sinewave, DC–1kHz, at 50W into 8 ohms (left channel blue, right red; linear frequency scale).

 

[SIY]

Not wanting to disagree, just pointing out that I feel their are some exceptions to the idea that all contemporary SS amplifiers feature inaudible levels of harming distortion.

Note that @Speedskater said "modern 'accurate' solid state amps," which excludes the tiny fashion audio niche. The late Dave Kimber used to wryly observe that finding bad performance from electronics usually means either very, very cheap or very, very expensive.

At that, I'd guess that the distortion of those two rather poorly designed amps is likely not audible.

 

[March Audio]

While I agree that a lot of SS amplifiers do exhibit the behavior you are talking about, I suspect these harmonics are audible (I can hear references tones at -90 dB in my system on a quiet night):

View attachment 55442

Not wanting to disagree, just pointing out that I feel their are some exceptions to the idea that all contemporary SS amplifiers feature inaudible levels of harming distortion.

Well of course not all amps are created equal. Whilst @barrows may have been somewhat generalising, I think "decent" SS amps will have significantly lower distortion than this particular example.

 

[barrows]

Well of course not all amps are created equal. Whilst @barrows may have been somewhat generalising, I think "decent" SS amps will have significantly lower distortion than this particular example.

Certainly agreed.