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When did you last here a distinct difference between amps?


chn68b

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2 minutes ago, Joecoulson said:

Primaluna, McIntosh, Rogue Audio, Carver, 

but I have not had ears (except for Axpona) on SET amps for long periods. 
 

 

but the distortion to me probably sounds perfect to others. 
tubes have a liquid-y type sound that I’m not fond of. But many are. 

different strokes

 

Duly noted. We all like what we like.

 

 

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10 hours ago, jimjimbo said:

Since you have money to burn, go with Mcintosh MC30 monos, or an MC240 with an MX110Z preamp.  You will be happy.

Haha ok not quite that kind of money. I'm thinking more along the line of $3k-3500 all in. 

 

But I'd be lying if I said I haven't been looking at the Mc page here lately lol. I do want American made (assembled) electronics. Which is why I've been looking at Schiit so closely. I thought I had my mind made up until it came to my attention that they have a new and more powerful class A monoblock amp on the way (Tyr). So now I'm kinda waiting on that to be officially revealed. 

 

I do want a Freya+ pre though. 

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6 hours ago, CoryGillmore said:

Haha ok not quite that kind of money. I'm thinking more along the line of $3k-3500 all in. 

 

But I'd be lying if I said I haven't been looking at the Mc page here lately lol. I do want American made (assembled) electronics. Which is why I've been looking at Schiit so closely. I thought I had my mind made up until it came to my attention that they have a new and more powerful class A monoblock amp on the way (Tyr). So now I'm kinda waiting on that to be officially revealed. 

 

I do want a Freya+ pre though. 

Was thinking about the schiit ageir for my uppers until i came across this custom made tube amp for about the same price. Ill have to check out the tyr. 

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I have been listening to my new (1950's) tube amp for two days now. I am prepared to say it sounds different than my solid state 2020 amp. I could easily pass a blind test because between songs I can hear just a touch of background noise. I do not care about this noise as I cannot hear it when the music is playing, unless I stick my head right in front of a speaker. I like the tube amp better for 40's through 60's jazz and big band. I like my solid state amp better for loud rock. The only way I can describe the tube amp is "smooth." My daughter says it sounds "more viscous", as in water is less viscous and oil is more viscous. She means this as a compliment.

 

I do not plan to take any blind test. They sound boring.

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I also struggle to find differences among preamps, to me they are switches and pots that sometimes tend to get dirty and noisy, and differences among different preamps are subtle.  Preamps are boring when not troublesome.

 

Amps are an entirely different story, to me they contribute greatly to the sound, although not quite as much as speakers of course.  Also, it is very important to match your speakers with amps (or amps with speakers ?) that complement each other, or play nice with each other.

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Literally everything in my system(s) influences how I hear it.....and different combinations give different synergies.

Speakers, preamp, amp, DAC, tubes, interconnects, speaker cable, room treatment and most recently I discovered (and was surprised) that even different power cables influence the sound quality.

I don't have a vinyl/turntable rig but that's a whole nuther can of worms right there.

Like someone had mentioned, if you can't hear these differences consider yourself lucky.

But seriously......not being able to hear the difference in preamps? That's the biggest one right behind speakers LOL.

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Hmm, interesting.  Well, for me, preamps are important as a user interface.  The feel of the volume and balance pots, and the flexibility of the tone controls and switches drive my preamp priorities.  

 

Recently discovered the power cord on my amps have an influence on the sound.  I roll my own wires, and never noticed the power cord changes much.  Then recently upgraded just the wire quality on the amp cords (cheap copper to much better silver plated copper), kept exactly the same format, gauge and plugs.  Was stunned by the change in bloom, dynamic character of the sound.

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Agree.  Of the few preamps I've tried, the volume control was always different.  Some were not so linear, they had a flat spot.  The size, feel of the knob also oddly important to me.  Also whether just variable, detented variable, or stepped volume control.  

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Not so freaky.  As you mentioned, various synergies at play with different combinations.  

 

Interconnect story:  I run three, 1 M, 1 M, and a 2 M preamp to amps.  Read somewhere they should all be matched and was able to find a 2 M length to match my 1 M 's.  Was happy for a while, things were totally transparent.  But then too transparent.  Swapped back to my original 2 M and that added back some color that I found a little better.

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I do something similar with my interconnects. Blue Jeans LC-1's are my go to cables. Full, rich and pleasant. Sometimes I feel the need to have some Mogami's in there. Less full, less rich sounding but with some amp/preamp combos they work.

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I like the AQ, got some mid line Topaz for the 2 M run.  Able to roll my own speaker wires and power cords, interconnects with shielding seem a bit more of a challenge I'm not quite up to yet.

 

The old Distech Silvers 1 M s I have seem totally transparent compared to the AQ Topaz, I have a box full of those (AQ) I picked up on the cheap.

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Oooohh, pro amps, always wondered about those big monsters.
Pro-amps in a second system for when I really rock out. Keep em in a second system so yer main system always sounds better/best. [emoji39]

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