Best Amplifier Sound

[lduarte1973]

In your opinion what type of amplifier sounds best , Class A tube amp or others ?

[Wavebourn]

The best that sounded on my breadboards was a hybrid amp, with augmented source followers loaded on counter-modulated current sources. It was a winter-only amp, though... Kind of sounding heater...

[nigelwright7557]

Personally I cant tell the difference between AB, A and D.

[Wavebourn]

The difference is, how well it fools imagination. If you hear a nice reproduction it is Hi-fi. If you hear as if real singers, musicians, waterfall, ocean, etc... in front of you, it is high-end.

[lduarte1973]

like most people i like the sweet sound of tubes , but shouldn´t the best amp be the one that adds less distortion and coloration to the signal ?

i have 2 amps connected to the same tube preamp and cd player , in the arcam delta 290 the sound is " warm " higs seem rolled off , the cambridge audio 740 the sound is " colder " tighter bass , " open " highs , these are obvious colorations from both amps.

[nigelwright7557]

Originally Posted by lduarte1973

like most people i like the sweet sound of tubes , but shouldn´t the best amp be the one that adds less distortion and coloration to the signal ?

Depends on what you are using the amplifier for.
If its for music reproduction then minimal distortion is paramount.

On the other hand of your a rock guitarist then coloration is everything.
Thats why most guitar music shops stil lstock valve amps.
The classis is a Marshall valve amp, loved by millions.

[lduarte1973]

i play bass guitar , those older marshalls like jcm800 are great amps for guitar , a guitarrist i played 14 years ago had one with his gibson les paul it was so good for hard rock.

But i was thinking about music reproduction hifi.

[Wavebourn]

Originally Posted by lduarte1973

like most people i like the sweet sound of tubes , but shouldn´t the best amp be the one that adds less distortion and coloration to the signal ?

Sure. And tubes are the way to achieve that. Except, not "coloration to the signal", but coloration to the sound. It is controversial, and signal does not have colorations. It has alterations that can be perceived as sound coloration, but can be not. Like, better smoothness of transfer function adds less of sound coloration than better linearity of transfer function, if in order to achieve better linearity we sacrifice smootness.

[AKSA]

WB,

Not to be critical, but how do you draw a distinction between 'smoothness' of transfer function, and linearity of transfer function?

I wrestle daily with these concepts, and I think I know what you mean, but I am uncertain. Are you referring to how quickly the curve changes direction?

Hugh

[lduarte1973]

Originally Posted by Wavebourn

The best that sounded on my breadboards was a hybrid amp, with augmented source followers loaded on counter-modulated current sources. It was a winter-only amp, though... Kind of sounding heater...

i have my eyes on Vincent Hybrid amps for a while , maybe it´s time i try one !