Why would anyone want class AB amp when class A always sounds better ?


Cost ? Heat? Reliability?
inna
"I don't think that liking good sound and liking good music are always in conflict."

Agreed

I average approx. 4 hours a day of listening to music through my system when life is "normal" for me. I have not been able to do that for the last couple months due to other priorities, but plan on getting back to it again soon. My amp is an AB (Magnus Audio MA400) & I love it. I've had class A's, other AB's, Triodes, Pentodes, SET's (both tube & SS), & class D. They all sound different & have their plus & minus's. This one connects best with me & my system.    


Schiit Audio 20w Class-A Aegir stereo poweramp made it into the A rating in 2021 Stereophile’s Products of the Year.
https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/stereophile-s-2012-products-of-the-year
Cheers George

Inna, I believe you to be quite sincere in your threads and posts which is why I'm responding now.

Whether it's class AB or A, or tubes or SS; the purpose of the equipment is to reproduce "music". As I previously stated, utilizing high quality parts, one would need the hearing of an "Irish Wolfhound" to tell the difference between A and AB. If you have it, fine, maybe it's worth the additional expense; I don't.

The reason for this post is to separate equipment lovers from music lovers. First, in order to qualify for that distinction, (The ability to separate the two) one must be an Audiophile with at least 30 years of experience, and I'll explain why that's  necessary.

In the beginning, we started with our favorite music on the radio. And then we advanced to our own fundamental rigs. They were SS rigs because tubes were too expensive. Those who are still into SS are there because they simply followed along that path to better SS without comparing that to tubes. Or, they decided tubes create distortion.

If you compare the reproduction of a 1K hertz tone, using SS and tubes; SS would win, but that's not music. Music has a certain "Essence" that can only be reproduced by tubes. People who are exclusively into SS are not even aware of that "Essence"; that's because they're not true music lovers. They buy music to hear their equipment, while music lovers buy equipment to hear their music.

Clarification on the above post; SS is OK for power amps; that's because tube power is very expensive when one needs a high powered amp, but tubes are still the ultimate. Here again is the question; can one actually hear "the ultimate".