Best amplifier in the world!

Status
Not open for further replies.
Jump to Latest
J

jerryo

Member
Joined 2007
#1
With the enormous amount of skill, experience, intelligence and shared knowledge that exists on this forum, how come as a group you have not collectively created/designed the best amplifier in the world?
When I say "best amplifier in the world" I mean the best possible topology that gives the highest objective and measured sound quality, and that can be scaled for output power and handle all but the most difficult loads.
I know, I know there are a million different opinions on this, but the largest electronic companies in the world will never be able to pool the resources together that are available on this forum for r&d (unless of course that is what they are doing.........data mining!)
Does everyone just disagree about what would be the best amp in the world because of their own subjective opinions? Will the argument never be settled or is there a new technology waiting in the wings that will sweep away everything that we currently believe to be state of the art?
🙂
 
#8
To agree about something like the best amplifier design, you first have to define the goal,

If the worlds best amp is the one with the sound you like the best, then we probably will have millions of best amps sounding pretty different.

If the goal instead is to create the amplifier that reproduces the input signal to a higher voltage level as accurate as possible at all into any realistic load, we might get close to some agreement on this issue after all.

Which technology and design will be the superior one could be exiting to find out.

My bets are classic class A with discrete NFB design, challenged only by class D with huge amounts of negative feedback, but still sounding pretty different from each other.
 
#9
Yah what he said- define the goal.

I like the sound up where the conductor stands at the podium. Some other guy here has front row center as his signature. Then there is that guy who sits center section about row 5-10. Last but not least is the guy in the back with the planar speakers. Add to that a guy who likes the "musicality" of single ended triodes...distortion. He likes it so it suits him well.

So I am the clarity guy. That little speaker you see there on the left... 14 amplifiers for that one cabinet. Yes clarity and low distortion the likes of which few have heard. But that shoe sure does not fit everyone.

I remember listening to the Audio Innovations tube amp. Wow it sounded good. Good bass, tonal balance... it seemed to have everything going for it so I left it in the system for several days. Then I was listening to the music and the violin was so lush, so beautiful, so magical I just could not believe it having "played" with expensive ($$$$$) violins a lot. So I switched back to my "clarity and smoothness" solid state amplifier. Oh, 5 violins. You can argue with that but there is not percentage in it. My goal is clarity with smoothness- standing where the conductor stands. Hearing what the conductor hears. If there is someone who tells you the conductor balances and directs so the sound is good in the audience then that guy has been fooled. The conductor makes it for where the conductor stands. I like it too.:yummy:
 
#10
There is another serious drawback concerning this issue: Just take the "best cd-player", the "best amplifier", the "best loudspeakers" and the "best cables". Connect everything properly, let it warm up, and you have a great chance that the whole thing sounds like crap.
Why? Because it is THE CHAIN what matters, not the single component. It's a matter of system synergy. One source might be absolutely great with a certain amp, but not necessarily with another amp, and so on...

That's at least my experience.
 
#12
jerryo said:
With the enormous amount of skill, experience, intelligence and shared knowledge that exists on this forum, how come as a group you have not collectively created/designed the best amplifier in the world?
When I say "best amplifier in the world" I mean the best possible topology that gives the highest objective and measured sound quality, and that can be scaled for output power and handle all but the most difficult loads.
I know, I know there are a million different opinions on this, but the largest electronic companies in the world will never be able to pool the resources together that are available on this forum for r&d (unless of course that is what they are doing.........data mining!)
Does everyone just disagree about what would be the best amp in the world because of their own subjective opinions? Will the argument never be settled or is there a new technology waiting in the wings that will sweep away everything that we currently believe to be state of the art?
🙂
Click to expand...

ckeck out this thread where you may find some of the world's best models:
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/pass...audio-power-amplifiers-100-000-600-000-a.html
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/pass...s-basic-description-italians-400-000-amp.html
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/soli...ter-reference-amplifier-schematic-wanted.html

Basiclly I don't recommend to find absolutely an amplifier, that must perfect sonic behaviour at the full audible spectrum without error resp. unwanted sonic characters. Even by the most expensivest devices of the world this is not possible to 100%.

Therefore I prefer and recommend different amplifiers for each frequency rail (Bi-amping or multi-amping).
For the low frequency transmission e. g. you need perfect dynamic Character and high damping factor without compression of the power supply. Crossover distortions - typical for output power stages that have low idle currents - are irrelevant, if the crossover point below 200Hz (maybe even 500Hz).
For the upper frequency range single ended (like ZEN/Aleph) or pure Class-A (push pull output) power amps like Hiraga/'l monstré (low damping factor, output power ~10W/8 ohms) must be selected.

But the disadvantage here is follow: In opposite to the use of only one amplifier the method "Plug and Play" is no longer possible, because appropriate changes to compensate different voltage gain factors must necessarily be made. Nevertheless, it is cheaper than a $ 100,000 amp (including the working hours of professional employers).

By the way, there are two great advantages over a wife (refer post #3 from Mr. Nelson Pass);
1) The amplifiers you need are not taken
2) You can marry more than one (any number, if you want)


If you tell me more about your loudspeaker system, I will let you know, what models for you suited (by a suited wife I cannot let nobody know which is the most appropriate - sorry).
 
Last edited:
#15
Best Amp in the world, my experiance is system synery like cables and source.

Best wife, you should read the manual that comes with it. Lifetime tuning and tweaking. They all go to the same school.

Cheers.............Raj
 
#17
Hi,
my thinking on amplifiers is that they are supposed to just amplify......and nothing else. If an amplifier has a characteristic "sound" then this implies that it is adding or subtracting something from the input signal. This applies to tube amps of course with their warm sound balance.
We could make this comparison:
If you want to look at an oil painting hanging on your wall (listen to music), you need a good supply of diffuse natural daylight (accurate amplifier) to observe all the subtle nuances of the colours and brush strokes (music) The light should not be to dim nor to bright (listening level not to low nor to high) To low and you fail to see/hear the full details; to high and your eyes/ ears are incapable of making sense of what you see/hear.

An amplifier that just amplifies the original signal is equivalent to the diffuse daylight of the right brightness. An amplifier that has a "characteristic sound" is equivalent to looking at a painting with light that is colour shifted away from natural daylight.
This is not what I am after; I wish to see the original in all its glory as the artist intended whether it is good or bad.
So this is what "I" believe to be the design goal of the perfect amplifier. A perfect reproduction of the original waveform, only amplified.

"a straight wire with gain"
 
#18
jerryo said:
Hi,
my thinking on amplifiers is that they are supposed to just amplify......and nothing else. If an amplifier has a characteristic "sound" then this implies that it is adding or subtracting something from the input signal. This applies to tube amps of course with their warm sound balance.
We could make this comparison:
If you want to look at an oil painting hanging on your wall (listen to music), you need a good supply of diffuse natural daylight (accurate amplifier) to observe all the subtle nuances of the colours and brush strokes (music) The light should not be to dim nor to bright (listening level not to low nor to high) To low and you fail to see/hear the full details; to high and your eyes/ ears are incapable of making sense of what you see/hear.

An amplifier that just amplifies the original signal is equivalent to the diffuse daylight of the right brightness. An amplifier that has a "characteristic sound" is equivalent to looking at a painting with light that is colour shifted away from natural daylight.
This is not what I am after; I wish to see the original in all its glory as the artist intended whether it is good or bad.
So this is what "I" believe to be the design goal of the perfect amplifier. A perfect reproduction of the original waveform, only amplified.

"a straight wire with gain"
Click to expand...

Yes, a good comparison. This goal must always be approximated. Unfortunately this goal will never reach 100%.
If for your oil painting hanging on your wall only white LED light or neon light instead natural daylight available (real push pull AB amplifier), yellow/red LED (Pass Aleph/ZEN) or blue LED light (Class D amplifier) all the subtle nuances of the colours and brush strokes you cannot discover. Therefore you must find the right mixture of different LED colors to try a nearly 100% imitation of daylight (based on sunlight) to reach approximately this illusion (bi-amping resp. multi-amping for two-way or multi way loudspeaker system)
But you must accept always certainly compromises regarded residual values of unwanted coloring.

BTW - LED modules that have the lowest difference to daylight, you will get there (newest developement not on this website):
http://www.lanz-audio.de/
info@lanz-audio.de
 
Last edited:
#19
Designing amps is in fact a process of pushing together of several contradictory entities. One of the entities demands a single stage RF-fet or tube amp for the best highs, other votes for multistage deep NFB amp for best bass. Every amp designed in the world is a compromise between these two entities. None of real amps can be equal to single-stage in the highs domain (even taking into account a number of solder joints). So, absolute winner does not exist. But, common sense defines some limits of highs, mids and bass quality, that are enough for most audiophiles, sometimes this "enough" is a bit individual. At this level a person feels an audio as a live event. In this sence, there are already a lot of amps that are the "best" (in connection with definite speakers).
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom