20 Year Old Amplifiers compared to 2017


Just a random thought, but I’m curious just how well the state of the art solid-state amplifiers from 20 years ago compare to some of today’s better offerings. For example, what does a pair of Mark Levinson 33Hs or a Krell FPB 600 sound like if compared to the latest offerings from Pass Labs or Ayre Acoustics?
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Following this line of logic, the Bryson 7B is as good as the 7BSST, the 7BSST squared and the 7B cubed. The Pass Labs X350 is as good as the X350.5 or the X350.8.  How do they manage to maintain this farce?
@hikmer - how did you determine that the caps needed to be replaced on your CJ? Was there a physical clue like bulging or leaking of electrolyte or did the SQ change?
@mikexxyz In regards to the caps needing replacement on my CJ MF2300a, I noticed for a long while that my lower frequencies did not sound as even or solid as I thought they should.  I did some research and found a few companies that would do enhancements to the amplifier and when I sent a photo for the insides told me the caps were bulging which is a sign of capacitor failure.  I decided to have them replaced and there was a marked improvement but I have recently acquired a newly built DNA-1 which I find much better in most areas of sonics and performance.    
Bruno Putzey said in an interview earlier this year that if Class D sounds good, it sounds good despite the fact that it is Class D, not because it is Class D. Bruno basically said that efficiency is the only reason to molest a signal so dramatically.

Did Bruno actually say this?

If he did, huge props to him. Give that man a hug. for, in class d amps..the signal is horribly molested and it is nearly impossible to put it back together without large amounts of micro levels of continual high order harmonic distortions.

These micro distortions are heard as tonality and mistaken for detail, by the ears that seek out the micro detail that they so desperately desire.

I’ve looked at such designs extensively, and done my best to correct the deficiencies. The problem came when I asked permission from the given manufacturer(s) to base a released product on said designs. They all said no. I spent almost a full year of design time energy, and even ended up creating a new power supply configuration in the process. All left on the cutting room floor. Oh well. Lesson learned. One pair of the monoblocks did make it to a show and was reported by most, as the best class d amps they’d yet heard.

Class d can be repaired but it is still a step backward before the power switch is even flipped on. Which is kinda what Bruno just said, if the quote is true....