What they love to listen..... distortions!

[destroyer X]

Now i have a scope, as you know...and i have invited three friends to my home and i have asked them to adjust the volume to their taste.

They had agreement into the volume... they said that way was not distorting and the sound had "body"... was loud and clear.

Well..i was the only one watching the scope...they could not see the screen..and the audio signal was clipping.

They are audiophiles, or they think they are...well... they use to search the perfect sound and use to spend money buying expensive amplifiers and speakers...they felt good the clipped sound.

We know that clipped waveform generates a lot of harmonics..this was that "body" they told...that's what they like.

So...had strong suspections things would be this way..but i decided to test with those ones... at least with those ones i found they would prefer distorted sound..clipped and generating harmonics.

So.... the good amplifier for them is not the most powerfull amplifier that never clips... the one they will love will be some 20 watter amplifier entering the clipping...alike NAD3020.

So.... our search for low distortion, seems to me, will not be good to a lot of folks....instruments will be happy...and they may buy your amplifier.

regards,

Carlos

[nigelwright7557]

I think there can be a lot of snobbery around hi fi.
Some peoples like to think spending many thousands will get them the best sound.

Sound is a very personal thing.
I like the sound of valve amplifiers and these clearly distort the signal.
My own pre amp uses an ECC83 and this gives around 5% distortion in the configuration I am using.

[audio-kraut]

I like the sound of valve amplifiers and these clearly distort the signal.

yes, but the concept of HIFI is just that - high fidelity. Which distortion ain't.

[nigelwright7557]

Originally posted by audio-kraut


yes, but the concept of HIFI is just that - high fidelity. Which distortion ain't.

I agree but why pay thousands for something that is little better distortion wise than a standard amp?

[destroyer X]

...to understand (and believe and learn) that completelly.

And there are several folks that thinks low distortion numbers as the main target.

So wrong they are.... a pitty that.

regards,

Carlos

[blueskynis]

Everyone has it's own taste. Someone likes amplifier which generate a lot of distortion and someone does not. It's like we are discussing someone's taste for music. There are two teams around here, those who design low distortion, high OLG and neutral amplifiers and those who design low OLG, musical (non-neutral) amplifiers. It's not right to pity those people who strive to low distortion designs and vice versa. We have to respect each other and to cherish our diversity.

[destroyer X]

designers are producing low distortion units...what for?

For the ones loves that sound (instruments)

regards,

Carlos

[destroyer X]

solution to that issue.

Nice audio quality belongs to the ones believe it the most and believe it the longest (Pearl Harbor movie - the revenge)

regards,

Carlos

[DcibeL]

How badly was the signal clipping when your friends said it sounded good?

My thoughts are that constant distortion is a lot more perceivable than perhaps a clipped peak in the music that occurs for only a blink of an eye, maybe too fast for someone to notice. I think that if the waveform clipped every cycle it would (should) be very obvious, constant high order harmonics in the majority of the audio. But, unless the signal is way above the capability of the amp, clipping always, that in music the transient that pushes the amp to clip will only be a small portion of the sound that is being heard.

Say for instance that you take an unclipped music signal, and using computer software intentionally clipped the sound for say 20ms (as much as the signal is clipping in your test). Do you think your listeners will be able to determine when in the music this happens if you do not tell them? I think it may be difficult.

Perhaps the goal should be low average distortion over time? It can be high for some transients for short period of time, but as distortion is low on average, the sound will be perceived as good. This of course will mean that distortion performance at low power of only say 1W is most important! After that the power capability of the amp only determines how loud you can crank it before the average distortion over time is high enough to sound bad...

[destroyer X]

more intense..having more body...beeing more solid.... sounding louder.

Interesting that i did find it good too.....oh!... what a shame!..do not let forum people read this.

Seems we have enormous tollerance to clipping and some distortions are nice...do not know what kind of distortions are those ones..H1, H2, H3, H4, H5....well...i do not know how to measure...this may be the answer.

A good friend, told me years ago that some of them are likely to be nice, and others not.

regards,

Carlos