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In Reply to: RE: Modding Tympani IV- basses? posted by kuribo on December 17, 2014 at 05:30:47
Ljudtekniska Sällskapet (Swedish Audio Society) uses blind listening tests, comparing the input signal with the output signal under load (minus gain). Very small differencies can be detected if you have a high resolution audio chain. Still, no Class D amp has passed without signal degradation. Lower frequencies is less of a problem but higher ones are. This is not a listening test isolation the amplifers contribution not how it fits in a chain of audio devices. So far just a few power amplifiers have passed without being detected.
Follow Ups:
Tests mean nothing when it comes to personal preferences. Some people clearly prefer various class d amps to various other class a or class ab amps. It is subjective, ultimately.
try it! you know you want to!
That is true. If you are looking for a neutral/transparant piece of equipment as some us are, it is different. If you want a colouring amplifier you will have to try many of them with your equipment. Sometimes some kind of tone controls are better/cheaper for adjusting to a prefered tonal colour etc.
Has it occurred to you that what you think sounds neutral/transparent may not sound so to someone else?
try it! you know you want to!
Neutral is not transparent.
You can have a "warm" sounding component that is very transparent. You can have a "neutral" sounding component that is not at all transparent.
Neutral relates to freq domain. Meaning flat FR and preserving flat FR at different output levels.
Transparent relates to transient detail and tonal (harmonic structure) and texture aspects. But not necessarily so much to FR response being flat. E.G. an equalizer or tone control can be "transparent".
Good clarification Satie!
How would you describe your listening experiences with the UCD? Which model was it? And with what equipment?
I have not had the chance to hear an up to date UcD and did not hear the early one I came across at any conditions to pass any sort of judgement.
I was interested in trying an Ncore amp till I saw the paper you linked describing how it works and implying that the sampling rate was not increased. Now I am (much) less interested.
I have a modified Nuforce amp that I used for midrange duties for a while but have "retired" it a few years back and one of them is broken at the moment awaiting repair at Nuforce (2nd time now). Very neutral transparent through the mids, great dynamics, slight grain in the highs increases the higher up the freq of the music and harmonics goes. Resolution is not really there - the difference between digital and vinyl is much reduced indicating that it is not as transparent as it seems through the mids.
I had one of the Crown XLS for 1 day. Need I say more?
"I had one of the Crown XLS for 1 day. Need I say more?"
Many on audiocircle are having a much different experience. That shows how subjective audio can be.
I haven't heard it so I can not comment-not that anyone's opinion really matters. It all comes down to personal preference.
For the price, it is hard not to give it a listen.
try it! you know you want to!
I know about it, that is why I tried it in the first place.
Well for me the first word that comes into my mind about Hypex is actually "neutral". I've heard quite a few amps, and one the best was my latest Luxman L505. Even though Hypex UCD costs only about 1/5 of it, I thought that it was on par with the sound quality. Not exactly the same, but pretty much as good as Luxman, both being musical but also very neutral with acoustic music.
But hey, can anyone give answer on this; which tubeamp can handle the 2-3 ohm resistance of the ribbon?
Tube amps for 2 ohms: Most of the KR audio amps. Some of the Beards, Audio Innovations has 2 ohm taps on some versions of the model 1000. And there are others. Besides you can put an autoformer between the amp and the load.
I appreciate the L505 and unless your source is restricted to redbook digital or entry level vinyl you are likely to not lose much in going for an Ncore or Wyred 4 Sound, or Bel Canto class D amps, or Nuforce whatever you want to call their amp type. It also depends on your speaker. My Vandy 2C would never have shown up the difference. My JBL Centuries would never have shown it either. With the NS1000 berilium tweeeters I put in them they definitely did show up such differences. E.G. I bought a Rotel Pre and Power amp and borrowed the integrated from the same series. I kept the integrated and returned the separates since I could not find an interconnect that made them work better than the integrated. The dealer suggested an interconnect that cost nearly as much as the power amp, I didn't even try it.
The designer of both the UcD and ncore has said repeatedly that his priority and design goal is neutrality-that the amp should have no sound of its own. The ncore is brutally revealing; what many have thought were flaws with the ncore are in fact issues upstream. Some prefer a more "musical" amp.
try it! you know you want to!
Obviously some people are impervious to some aspects of audio performance, while some are hypersensitive to some aspects.
That is why I don't read the reviews for whether the device tested sounds better or worse than another or "real music" but only to the description of how it altered particular aspects of audio performance.
Crown has actually approached the issue of low switching rates and have a juxtaposed switching scheme technology for some of their class d amp series. So I would be more inclined to expect them to perform well.
That said, the main thing that audiophiles do badly is match power to speaker loads and sensitivity. Thus the amp that was exquisite with a Klipschorn is a mess of distortion on a Vandersteen. Many have tried underpowered amps that reviewed well to push their lead diaphragm infinite phase speakers. Then they pick up a cheap well designed pro amp and are blown away by the performance. It was the first time they had enough power on their speakers.
So I read the reports carefully to weed out equipment mismatches, serious weaknesses in the signal path. Some reviews and shootouts reveal more about strengths and weaknesses of other components in the system. One review convinced me to buy a component because the reviewer subsequently reviewed something else and was unaware that he ran the analog output through an AD/DA loop. I bought the HTP he was using.
Since I am triamping I get to test each amp that comes through on each role (assuming it is safe to do so) and have some idea of where the amp falters or outperforms or simply doesn't match the others.
I have not done well with a crown XLS or Nuforce amp on the tweeters, the grain and loss of resolution is obvious. Mids did well with the Nuforce, less so with the XLS - unless I took down the crossover below 5khz. I returned it to guitar center the next day (it was used on stage and looked it so I was not worried about breakin).
I prefer how the linear Crown Macrotechs do bass over the the XLS I tried. I use a Crown 5002VZ for the bass.
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