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Forget cables as snakeoil. There's a new snake King in town.

There are a few owners of relatively well-known companies that have such ridiculous amplifiers beliefs, that it boggles the mind. These people are owners of different companies. Not a complete nobody.

Think all cables sound the same? Well I'm here to inform you all amplifiers sound the same too (according to these company owners).

Ryan Charpentier (owner of Ascend audio) thinks an AVR is as good as any other amplifiers and to even spend more money on any dedicated amplifier would be a waste of money. In his words, the noise floor is too low for most systems to distinguish between AVR and another amp.

Dylan (owner of Buckeye) thinks all amplifiers sound the same when "properly designed. To add more context, he thinks his Hypex class D is perfection. Perfect in the sense that it is "100% true to the source material" and cannot be improved any further. Even 500 years from now. 

We have gone from all cables sound the same -> all amplifiers sound the same.

I have nothing else to say because I'm simply speechless.

samureyex
cherbib
61 posts
 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Carver

audioman58's avatar
audioman58
4,616 posts
 

A good hearing test should be scheduled ASAP for him !!

jderson
27 posts
 

I had to chime in on this one. I usually don’t. 
Give a chef, or even just ten regular cooks 10 ingredients and the dishes they prepare will all taste and look different!  Ten different amplifier designers using basic amplifier technology, and implementing the parts in different ways will do the same thing.  It will sound different, how could it not?  
I’ve been doing this for over 30 years,  they sound different!  
Speakers sound different!

I realize that people hear what they hear, which is really the best example that things sound different. I don’t see how anyone can’t dispute that?
 

 

thecarpathian's avatar
thecarpathian
6,128 posts
 

When evaluating what you read, one must always consider the source.

tomrk
158 posts
 

@jderson

I think your analogy is pretty good about chefs and how they tweak thing.   But it does beg the question as to whether we want perfection or just what’s to our taste.

Ultimately the limit is the recording.  And no cable, amplifier, speaker or DAC can be any better than the recording itself.  They may change the sound of the recording, but they can’t fix it.

As to your last point, While you can measure a lot about sound, you can't measure what you hear, so it leads to a lot of subjectivity (and arguments).   I have a setup that I love, but there are some days when it doesn't sound quite right.  Nothing has really changed except my brain.  So that's why I'd rather spend money on music rather than trying to change phantoms in my equipment.

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