If it is as you say, then I would think that it would show up more in music with has a high dynamic range, where the peak level would be much higher than the RMS level. And then on music that’s more compressed, we would not have the snare drum attacks at the higher amplitude to begin with.
Have you noticed something like ^that^ which correlates with the bad sounds?
@holmz Yes, I hadn't thought about it in the context of this discussion, but I remember that highly compressed records (DR 5 or 6 for example) were much easier to listen to and in many cases I didn't have any trouble with them. In more audiophile recordings, for example the typical Diana Krall example, the piano notes were uncomfortable. Even in something as calm as Case of You from Live in Paris (ORG 45RPM LP) I was wincing at the initial attack of the notes. I think the compressed music was more a solution in the case with the Arcam than the Sphinx. I did have the latter for less time, but it was quite an extreme version of this issue for me.
Unfortunately, I don't have the two offending amplifiers to do measurements with, but that would indeed have been very interesting.
My issue certainly comes from a combination of things and I'm certain distortion and other characteristics play into this. What I'm not sure is whether a highly dynamic amplifier will ever be acceptable to my ears, whatever the other characteristics.
As mentioned, I'm limited in what I can try out nearby, and also in buying and selling used gear to try them out, and therefore trying to narrow down the options. But I will try to find ways of testing these hypotheses. Of course the ideal result would be that I don't need to limit myself to less dynamic, less powerful and "slower" amplifiers. The downside is that most of the options with the correct distortion profile, etc. are quite pricey, even though some reasonable options seem to exist.