That is an interesting thought. Today it seems more important what you say and have said in the past than what you as a person actually do or achieve....
I really like post #116. It felt a bit like asking the butcher what he thinks of eating either veal or pork. We all know class D is veggie 🙂
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Class A in itself beneficial?
I started more or less with tube amps and class-A amps from nelson Pass (Built most of the Zens i.e. when I could get the parts but my first love was with Aleph 3). Built more than a thousand amps. Searched for the holly grail. Had to learn amp design and Spice so that I didn't have to rely on others.
One of my quest was "Can I live with class-B amplifier?"
Take years to come up with the circuit and the answer. Yes, I can live with class-B amplifier. And many class-A amplifiers are actually sound horrible. Sorry, any kind of distortion is distortion.
Why can class-B be good enough?
Because the role of the speaker is even bigger. And I believe it is some kind of "mystery" as to why people like class-A. Imo it is not THD, not 2nd order harmonics. Surely not the heatsink.
I started more or less with tube amps and class-A amps from nelson Pass (Built most of the Zens i.e. when I could get the parts but my first love was with Aleph 3). Built more than a thousand amps. Searched for the holly grail. Had to learn amp design and Spice so that I didn't have to rely on others.
One of my quest was "Can I live with class-B amplifier?"
Take years to come up with the circuit and the answer. Yes, I can live with class-B amplifier. And many class-A amplifiers are actually sound horrible. Sorry, any kind of distortion is distortion.
Why can class-B be good enough?
Because the role of the speaker is even bigger. And I believe it is some kind of "mystery" as to why people like class-A. Imo it is not THD, not 2nd order harmonics. Surely not the heatsink.
With careful design class-B can have no crossover distortion too. I think class-A sounds "good" mostly because it is usually simple that it doesn't ruin the signal the way complex circuits do (feedback).
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Maybe when you live in the South of Portugal air-conditioning is more an issue than in the North of Europe. 😛
Listening to a mediocre audio-setup is what I always found tiresome...
Back to the higher order HDs then, move along please folks, nothing to see here......
No. Phase. That's at least how I came up with my class-B that I can live with. But this is also old story 😛
You know, I don't trust people ears. I think most people cannot hear subtle differences in sound. They say this amp is better than that amp but I doubt that they even know the differences.
If only people can hear better, I think amp DIY won't be this good. People build every amps because to them it sounds the same. The difference they perceive is not due to the circuit itself.
This is what I'm talking about. From the comments you can see that most say something like "Nelson Pass amp wins hands down". But I can understand this from their username such as "High Bias". Honestly I doubt that they can hear which one is which if it were blind. But I also think that the person that prefer the class-AB can hear the difference.
I accept that everyone have different taste, but my God, the class-A amp (in the recording) sounded so wrong.
Well , what does "people " mean to you , me , you and many other , or only all other , but not you 🙄
we all rely on other , only narcissistic people doesn't 😉
fact is that you don't have to accept it , they just do , with or without your acceptance 😀
.
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When we search for the holly grail, we google "best amp in the world", "best sounding amp ever!". We search for people's opinions. But once you know the truth, you'll stop. Doesn't mean that there is no one who could really hear some thing.
Yes. Searching for the best amp was difficult. Without ideas we can just build everything and anything offered for free by the designer. In the old time, good ones were not offered for free.
Accepting that people may have different tastes means that what important for other ears can be not important for my ears (assuming the ears know), vice versa.
All of these factors that I prefer, if summarized into one, it would be music. We listen because we enjoy listening to good music.
Friend in my town started an electronic hobby last year.
He told me "I want to build Pass ACA this is easy for the beginner like me ".
Few months after he call me " My ACA is ready , come to my home we can enjoy music and compare sound with bigger amplifier ".
"OK" was my response and I was sceptical about this little 5 Watt's class A with smps psu
connected to 88 ~ 90dB sensitivity speakers. Audio source was computer and audio card.
We spend 2hours, my friend changed to 200Watt's AB amplifier from time to time so differences was clearly audible.
I was shocked by high quality ACA sound and no audible fatigue but nice smooth ,
200Watt's AB amp was audio on steroids punchy but less natural and stress after 1 hour.
My conclusion: be ready to good surprise even from very modest 5 Watt's class A amplifier 🙂
With 95~102dB drivers you can be amazed 😛 Best regards
I have built ACA twice (now still have). I was talking about the YouTube recording, not the real ACA versus the Onkyo, which will depend on the speaker as you mentioned.
Yes, it is the absence of fatigue that i like the most from class-A. Almost impossible to get from class-B.
@ Diyers
Another example: I was invited to the friend Anniversary big party.
Located around the villa with swimming pool and he organized garden party and for diner was happen inside the house.
Dance party in the evening starts, local DJ bring his very electric energy efficient KWatt's sound system,
Oh my....music was so very loud and unpleasant.
After 1 hours, even worse kind of " audio tortures " or " let's hammering your ears "
For me class A forever
Another example: I was invited to the friend Anniversary big party.
Located around the villa with swimming pool and he organized garden party and for diner was happen inside the house.
Dance party in the evening starts, local DJ bring his very electric energy efficient KWatt's sound system,
Oh my....music was so very loud and unpleasant.
After 1 hours, even worse kind of " audio tortures " or " let's hammering your ears "
For me class A forever
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