Distortion measurements are almost if not totally USELESS in judging how an amp will sound. The great distortion race among Japanese amps in the 70s produces some truly awful sounding distortionless amps. There are some tube amps with even order harmonic distortion of several percent which have reputations for good sound. Only the terminally naive think that they can tell the sound of a component from a spec sheet.
Rising distortion curve
A while back someone keenly pointed out a good criteria in measured amp performance. Look at the rising distortion curve as power approaches zero. This statement came back to me when listening to 300wpc Mac monoblocks. The meter showed they were running at .3 watts for normal listening levels.
Many amps rise very quickly while others like the See Fig 1 Parasound Zamp is quite gentle. Not to say the Zamp is any good.
Thoughts, comments?
Many amps rise very quickly while others like the See Fig 1 Parasound Zamp is quite gentle. Not to say the Zamp is any good.
Thoughts, comments?