10-05-2020, 11:03 AM
(10-05-2020, 09:26 AM)Crackle Wrote: I am surprised at Andy's findings.
I would think that an amp that faithfully reproduced the sounds that the artist recorded would sound nice and as the artist/studio intended.
Mike
Unfortunately, such such an amplifier doesn't have a sound.
For many, that's exactly what we want. For some, that's not good enough - they want their amp to be like a photographic filter, imposing a certain character on everything they listen to. And fortunately for certain parts of the hi-fi industry, many of these people have very deep pockets.
What does give me hope, however, is the growing popularity of "proper" speakers. Obviously, speakers do actually sound quite different to each other so you don't have to rely on your imagination or pretend to hear differences, so people choosing good speakers is really very encouraging. By "proper", I obviously mean monitor speakers, from the likes of ATC and the various people making BBC-licenced, or BBC-inspired designs. At a hi-fi show, these speakers are a breath of fresh air after all the nonsense you hear from the "esoteric" brands.
The over-riding problem with audio is that we don't just listen with our ears.
I find myself saying this a lot, but am fairly convinced that most don't get it - but although it's a ridiculously simple statement on the face of it, it's actually very profound - the more you learn about the human hearing system, the more you come to understand that.
When comparing two very similar bits of equipment, you simply can't just trust your hearing. This is especially the case in the usual non-scientific review scenarios. If you've level-matched to within a small fraction of a dB and done the testing double-blind, ensuring there's no clipping (voltage or clipping) or any other obviously "daft" problems, and with instantaneous switchover, then subjective findings might carry some weight if the results were statistically significant. But no-one reviews hi-fi that way. Reviews are a pretty universally a description of an experience, carefully worded to say as little as possible about the actual item.
That's not to say that subjective impressions are irrelevant, but if something sounds different, the reasons for this can usually be found, and perhaps useful lessons can be learnt. But in my experience, if an amplifier sounds "different" in a properly conducted test, there's normally something wrong.
Personally, I find amplifiers pretty boring these days - it's all a bit too easy really. Now, loudspeakers: that's a real challenge to get your teeth into - especially if it's a passive crossover (active is cheating - too easy!).
