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Soundstage & Imaging - Why the differences between amps?

Having spent some more time with my new Quickie (which is sitting in an unfinished, taped together wooden base and accompanied by a hastily-soldered headphone jack hanging from some scrap wires), I keep going back and comparing it to my SEX amp. There are things I really like about the Quickie, but the soundstage and imaging is definitely a bit different compared to the SEX, even using the same headphones and DAC. My SEX amp has a cavernous, HUGE soundstage that makes me forget I am wearing headphones. The Quickie doesn't. More "intimate" is a way of describing it - the image is much more forward and closer to the headphones compared with the SEX (which is C4S'ed, but otherwise stock). I'm aiming to get the same imaging from the Quickie, since it's now my headphone amp for my iMac (the SEX is with my main setup in the living room).

Which makes me wonder - what, electrically speaking, accounts for the difference between amps in terms of imaging, spaciousness, separation between instruments, etc? I used to think that noisefloor and harmonics were the key, but that obviously can't explain everything, as most sold-state amps I've owned or have heard seem to have a flat, lifeless "image" compared to the almost holographic "sound picture" I get with tubes - and solid-state usually has a very low noise floor and few added harmonics to obscure any micro details like positioning cues. I'm trying to get that same imaging from the Quickie, starting with some plate chokes in place of the 4k resistors. C4S boards really opened up the sound on my SEX, so I'm hoping the chokes do the same for the Quickie. Any other ideas?

Also, do coupling caps really make a difference in terms of sound quality, and especially imaging, separation, soundstage, etc? Or does the circuit not "care" and simply needs to see a certain capacitance to electrically couple the tubes to whatever they are hooked up to (in my case, autoformers)? Half of what I read says boutique caps are snake oil, and the other half is comments from people claiming to hear differences between things like Solens, Auricaps, Jupiters, and so forth. Any thoughts?



Edits: 10/12/09

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Topic - Soundstage & Imaging - Why the differences between amps? - Dr. Toobz 20:32:13 10/12/09 (5)

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