Too long to read all this over such an easily answered question. Cause it sounds good bro! 🙄
If Warmth Is a Distortion, Why Do So Many Audiophiles Still Defend It?
Hi everyone, this is my first post here. If it stirs some emotions — that’s not a bad thing. It means we’re all still passionate about this hobby.
As AI becomes capable of recreating any sound signature — warm, tube-like, analogue, ultra-wide, hyper-detailed, and everything in between — I’m starting to think the real future of audio lies in neutral, transparent, dynamic, and accurate hardware, while many of the “flavours” we chase may soon become software choices.
Over time, a few things have stood out to me:
• Warmth is pleasant, but it’s still coloration.
Beautiful, yes — but not accuracy, not transparency, and not always the artist’s intention.
• Warm gear enhances some tracks but softens accuracy in others.
Especially vocals, piano, violin, guitar, and other acoustic instruments. Some people hear this, some don’t, and some just prefer it that way.
• Modern Class D deserves more respect than it gets.
Many older audiophiles dismiss it based on outdated assumptions. But the latest designs are already extremely neutral, fast, and precise. I’m not sure how much longer Class A/AB will remain relevant beyond nostalgia and brand loyalty.
• Price reflects real quality only up to a point.
Beyond that, it becomes about branding, house sound, and personal bias. Preference is fine — but preference isn’t the same as absolute fidelity.
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⭐ Why I May Not Respond Immediately
This post is meant as a sharing of thoughts, not a debate I plan to defend point by point.
If I don’t reply right away, it’s because I’m taking time to read, think, and learn from others’ perspectives here.
Posting in good faith — looking forward to all views, supportive or critical.
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@kevemaher I’m not exactly sure what you are asking about here. I wanted to see what would happen if the entire circuit was balanced/differential from input to output. So no single-ended circuits; the signal pins (2 and 3) of the XLR connection drive a differential amplifier in both the phono section and line stage. The Circlotron circuit is the output of the line stage. We use a servo to detect any DC Offsets and correct them. The servo is not responsive anywhere near audio frequencies. In this manner driving low impedance inputs has no effect at all on the preamp’s ability to play low frequencies. The advantage of using differential amplifiers is you get noise rejection; if there is noise (perhaps a buzz) to which the interconnect cables are subjected, that noise is common to both the inverting and non-inverting inputs. So the differential amplifier has a property called Common Mode Rejection Ratio (CMRR), which is measured in deciBels. Noise introduced to the interconnect cable tends to not be amplified, unlike a single-ended connection. In addition, differential amplifiers also have immunity to power supply noise. FWIW a balanced circuit that isn’t differential has no CMRR at all unless the input is transformer coupled. Circuits like this are simply two single-ended circuit duplicated, one for each phase. They really do require at least double the parts. |
@kevemaher No worries- happy to help if I can. |
- 205 posts total