I am not a fan of Harbeth speakers so it is not surprising that I wouldnt agree with his take on many things audio.
How far have ss amps really come in the last twenty years?
I have owned and enjoyed my Jeff Rowland model 8 ( recently modded and upgraded by Jeff to the last version) for many years. I recently had the opportunity of comparing it ( after mods) to a few of the current ss models from Gamut, D'Agostino, YBA, Parasound, Sim audio, CH precision, Constellation,PS audio,Pass Labs and Musical Fidelity. The results were very interesting, because to my ears and in the systems that we did the comparison, the Rowland held its own against all but the most expensive D'Ag and CH amps. Even those were only very slightly outclassing the Rowland in the areas of top end resolution...and a tad in the bottom end resolution. Now the thing is that the last revision to the Rowland 8 was designed by Jeff over ten years ago!
So, my question for those more technically inclined than myself is...how far has the design of ss amps come in the last ten...or even twenty years?
So, my question for those more technically inclined than myself is...how far has the design of ss amps come in the last ten...or even twenty years?
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@mrdecibel What a strange request! I don't know him any better than you, but he's quite available in those forums. Sounds like you aren't completely serious. Set it up yourself. I'll do you one better - I'll bet you another grand ($1000) even odds you will fail (you wouldn't have to pay if you can't agree on set up). But only you can negotiate the terms with Alan. Maybe at the next expo where there's a Harbeth booth. No, in my limited experience, I often don't hear the difference between amplifiers (with the exception of underpowered or tube-bloated amps), and I resent it when someone tries to convince me that the new power supply they just swapped in makes any perceptible difference at all. I sort of want there to be a difference in my heart (I own some expensive gear), but given a review of the actual evidence, I'd have to *bet* that 95% of the people on this forum, and of the dealers I've met, couldn't pass a properly constructed blind or ABX test (to a reasonable confidence level) of level-matched, properly-powered amplifiers. I may be missing something (point it out to me), but there's almost no convincing evidence out there to support repeatably audible differences between high quality cables or amps (I assume this list is reasonably complete - https://www.head-fi.org/threads/testing-audiophile-claims-and-myths.486598/ ). The only people who claim to have done this consistently seem to have been by themselves when it happened. In fact, there's only scant evidence that audiophiles can tell the difference between levels of digital resolution (and I have an extensive hi-res collection!!). See Archimago's repeated tests - https://archimago.blogspot.com/ This is unpleasant stuff to acknowledge about ourselves, but I don't think the hobby does itself any favors by wishing it away. Let's disprove or confirm it! Nothing to lose and everything to gain. So I'm in the enviable position of both being willing to bet, and kind of hoping I lose. |
https://www.dagogo.com/audio-by-van-alstine-abx-comparator-review-part-1-audio-store-wiring/ This reviewer had a difficult time differentiating between amps when level matched |
Folks, while I very much like my high powered Jeff Rowland ss amp, it really isn’t as resolving as the Jadis tube mono blocks that I use as my main amplification source. The two amps sound pretty different, and are a different ‘flavor’...easy to hear. I suspect those that don’t believe that amps sound different, one to the other, really don’t have enough of a resolving system to hear the differences.(and no, it is more than volume matching, as I am able to do this with exactitude in my system). |
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