High End Amp Price Collapse musings

"Future generations will look at amps that are not class d or digital as dinosaur fossils . There will be no mass market makers of class A or ab or anyone to service them . I don't think I will be around when this happens but class A , AB inevitably will disappear ."

You mean those generations that prefer music from their iPhone in the form of compressed mp3's, or God forbid streaming from their "Alexa" eavesdropping device?  LOL

Eventually we will probably stream digital directly into our neural implant, but somewhere there will still be vacuum tubes glowing as life forms listen to the latest hit from the andromeda galaxies latest super-group, Faith +1.  

jimman2

You did not read my post.  My Bryston 14b SST was bought new in 2009 and had the lowest noise floor of any amp I have heard, and measured.  My noise floor on the Luxmans I have is negligible (think modern low) and distortion nonexistent.  AGE DOES NOT MEAN A THING.  Circuit topology and implementation are everything (including parts quality).  Moreover, your $3000 NAD, new is about what the going price for one of my 30+ year old amps is about these days, condition considered.  Moreover, although you might be impressed, it is your perception that gives your opinion.  I have heard current amps at $10k that do not touch the amps I have, and even better, since age is considered, I get what I want at bargain, really, since the sound is so good.  IF you think your NAD is that good; and I give this:  Class D in the bass is penultimate (again, the reason it is the best amp for subs), go out and directly compare it to a Luxman M 800, or Accuphase A 200.  No dice.  Like a lot of things in audio, once one has made the A/B test the results often present themselves.  I never thought I would of gotten rid of a near new Bryston 14b SST on the thought it was good, but in the listening, the proof was there, and I was sold.  

And in terms of amplification being science, we have proven the "Julian Hirsch Ideology" moot.  If music and sound were purely scientific there would be no art.

AGE DOES NOT MEAN A THING.  Circuit topology and implementation are everything (including parts quality). 

Agree 100% with Blackfly.
Actually very often older classc gear puts the so called "latest and gratest" to shame.

blackfly

... Class D in the bass is penultimate (again, the reason it is the best amp for subs), go out and directly compare it to a Luxman M 800, or Accuphase A 200.  No dice.

Penultimate to what? Your statement doesn't make any sense. In any event, I haven't met a Class D amp that compares with the best of the "conventional" amps. Of course, I haven't heard them all.

I also agree that Class-D is not the end all be all for subs.  They're used in subs because they are cheap and can put out lots of power.  I've owned a couple of subs with Class-D subs and one with a traditional A/B external amplifier (RBH).  To my ear it was much more natural sounding when used with music.