Most resolving, transparent amps.

Nuforce Reference 9SE Mark XII Limited Edition with the Platinum mods and Li-ion battery pack with pure silver jimmies on top and Whore-Hose power cord. I friggin'...oh noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, it's Mr. Bill! Say, have you seen my green pal, Gunbei? He hasn't been round here much lately. Don't all you claymation dudes stick together? Sorry, just yankin' your Play-Dough™ chain.

I've got a love/hate relationship with transparency. I'm ambivalent. Jury's still out, but I think I like some meat on the bones...a bit of color. But then again, that transparency stuff is like breathing in fresh country air. Can I have both?

Good thread, especially since I've been curious about both OTL and Class D (very limited and positive exposure to the former, and none to the latter).

When I consider it, I don't think I've really heard any amps that I'd consider really transparent. Parasound Halo HC1's might have come close, but in doing so, they really bored me, sounding almost 'sterile'. I don't think that would necessarily be the case with other amps being discussed here (entirely different topology), though I have not heard any of them to comment.

I will add that the most transparent pre-amp I've ever heard excels in transparency, IMO, and is very affordable: Placette passive. It's like putting nothing between your source and your amp. I'd suggest that, in this discussion, the interface of not only the speakers, but the preamp as well (perhaps even more so) would have a strong bearing on overall transparency. But, for that matter, so would all the components in the chain of the system.

Marco

How can I tell (without actually listening and evaluating synergy, especially with speakers) if an amp is in fact going to be 'transparent'? Are amps universal in application? If, when I hear a system, I judge to be less than transparent how do I know it's the amp as opposed to the IC's, cables, line stage, etc, that I'm using with it. Is there an absolute reference?

You make a good point, Newbee. I guess I'm judging by some direct comparisons within a single system using familiar music, but that doesn't take into account synergy with speakers, and there most certainly is no absolute reference. Then again, how do any of us judge any of this stuff given that it is always attached to a chain of other components, which may or may not have synergy for whatever reasons. A good reason to take everything you read with a pound'o'salt and make your own judgments in your own system. I guess this is just input and a point of departure, but I find it interesting in this discussion that Class D and OTL comes up over and over. There have been very few mentions of tube amps here.

Marco

I guess for me "transparency" is not necessarily the sound of live music, per se, but the lack of a presence of some distortion, coloration, static, noise, grunge, etc. between the recorded music and the listener. How well the music is mixed and recorded then becomes a critical criteria as to whether or not it sounds like "Live" music. No amount of transparency is going to make a poor recording sound "live". I've heard recordings where what otherwise might be wonderful nuance of detail, becomes an annoying distraction - this is where a very revealing system arguably becomes a liability.

Marco

PS I wasn't taking your post as a personal, Newbee, I did think you made a good point.

If you miss the meat then you don't have a transparent system, just a lean one.
Real transparency includes the meat.

OK, alright, you sussed me out; it's the pudding I'm after. I want pudding! I promise that I'll eat my meat, but I want my pudding too!

I've found that I tend to prefer systems that have a bit of a midrange boost, which is commonly associated with "warmth", and not so much with transparency. I wonder if both can coexist in a happy, healthy system...you know, one without the alcoholic amplifier who comes home and beats up the preamp because he had a bad day at work. The speakers always end up in therapy, and probably end up in some other disfunctional system later on down the line. So the same sad circle is perpetuated from system to system. For God's sake, we ought to lock em' all up and throw away the keys!

Marco