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The Best Amplifier Ever ?

OK, let's get the straight scoop! Stereophile reviewers want to push the Halcro dm58 (and presumably the dm68) into a newly formed A+ category because it is the best amplifier ever. For a moment, let's assume something like a "best" can exist, at least for one person at a time. Is this the end for all other amps in the proximate price range? Paul Bolin used words like "jaw dropping" and "utter disbelief" -- Oh I know that journalists like that kind of thing, but Mr. Bolin basically says that nothing else comes close to comparison. No contest. Not in the same league. Even in Stereophile, I can't recall something quite that glowing (except maybe for the Boulder 2008 phono preamp). What do you think?
ozfly
rhagen
38 posts
 
I listened to the Thauma Turge.
paulfolbrecht
603 posts
 
The best amp ever is a Sanyo model QV-30 receiver made in 1979.

Serial #64522 only (the rest of them suck).
cdc
1,668 posts
 
Rhagen, I guess I have some auditioning to do =:-))
david12
1,454 posts
 
Bear, does that mean you absolutely equate "Best Measuring Amp" with "Best Amp"? If so, that would imply that you believe that the currently-available and performed suite of measurements is 100% sufficient to ascertain any amp's ability to reproduce music.

Quite, the only way you can legitimately talk of the "Best" component, is in the context of measurements. Assuming a component is thoroughly bench tested, you can say this amp measures better than anything I have tested before, ergo it is the best. The trouble is, everyone(or nearly everyone) has ceased believing measurements count for much in performance terms. Therefore "best" ends up being subjective in all cases and thus meaningless. Best is only legitimate in the context "This is the best amp, CD player I have had in my system". I can relate to, appreciate and find utility in that.
Sorry if I am teaching my grandmother to suck eggs(do you colonials use that expression too). Sometimes I think we need a logician to analyse these threads, a bit of symbolic logic might resolve the arguments. I would do it too, if I had'nt been a dismal failure at logic, when I was at university
mrtennis
3,295 posts
 
what is the purpose in asking a question which has no definitive answer ? each of us has a favorite component that is neither better nor worse than another person's favorite component.

asking what is the best of anything does not accomplish much.

by the way, can anyone specify what "better" and "best" mean in audio, other than to indicate personal preference ?
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