Jan
Did you see many young guys buying Pass amps? I think that this is a lost war already...There are prefferences among generations...partly due to lost hearing, partly due to musical tastes, but a clear cut answer to all problems at once...Now would you have liked better to mention a car sound system 20 years old guy evaluating the amps , 60 years old John Moffett or a 25 years old musician?
Did you see many young guys buying Pass amps? I think that this is a lost war already...There are prefferences among generations...partly due to lost hearing, partly due to musical tastes, but a clear cut answer to all problems at once...Now would you have liked better to mention a car sound system 20 years old guy evaluating the amps , 60 years old John Moffett or a 25 years old musician?
Last edited:
I don't think preference for amp types are age depending. I know plenty of young guys in their 20's buying ACA kits or clones and building them and loving them. Just like they are always on the hunt for cheap but good tube amps (hence the popularity of brands like Prima Luna and Line Magnetic who have those at doable prices). The first time i heared an ACA was from a then 22 years old collegue, who wanted me to design high efficient speakers for those for him. He lost his amp and the speakers i did design for him in the floodings this summer (he lived in Pepinster, the Belgian village that was almost totally destroyed by the flashfloods in Juin here) but a new one is on top of his list when he got his insurance money and a new house.
And i also know quiet a few who like the tpa ao chinese chipamps and play with those. A lot depends on what kind of system they have and their musical preferences and financial situation.
But Pass Labs and First Watt is mostly above their budgets, so no, they don't buy them. Their financial situation and financial priorities are elsewhere. Those amps are mostly bought by older people who already own a house (or more than one)), and raised kids and have enough financial reserve to afford such expensive amps. But there is more on the market than those brands alone, and class A can be cheaper, especially diy.
And i also know quiet a few who like the tpa ao chinese chipamps and play with those. A lot depends on what kind of system they have and their musical preferences and financial situation.
But Pass Labs and First Watt is mostly above their budgets, so no, they don't buy them. Their financial situation and financial priorities are elsewhere. Those amps are mostly bought by older people who already own a house (or more than one)), and raised kids and have enough financial reserve to afford such expensive amps. But there is more on the market than those brands alone, and class A can be cheaper, especially diy.
Rich old men have daddy's rich kids too...yet they get a lamborghini with a very powerfull (bose, kenwood, B&O) car sound system that will damage their ears in a few years and they'll never get to make a valuable choice or review so i'd stick to my 25 years old muician.By the way a 25 years old musician usually started his musical education when he's around 6...7 years old so he's already a bit deaf playing loud instruments 8 hours a day for 2 decades yet very knoledgeable in appreciating how a piece of music should sound so i'd say that we met our paradox already and real public reviews and quality assesements of audio amplifiers are almost imposible to be done by ear so MEAUREMENT are still the norm and if so...most class D amps are an order or two worse than the best class A...B, yet I already had a a very bad experience with a fantastically low THD Devialet class D system and i stick to my reasons around THD meaning total HARMONIC distortions and i'm not sure why the digital world wants to get rid of something that's Harmonic to the listening material when we have tons of same "knoledgeable" old audiophiles showing off with their 0.1% H3 Tapes and vinyls. By the way...that very low thd of the Purify amp is mentioned at 100w.What's the same THD below Nelson's first watt?
Agreed 100%. I run a stereo Purifi 1ET400A build with a Neurochrome Universal Buffer in front, and it has an absolutely pure sound.
I don't think it is measurable. And at any rate the FW at 1W is relatively high so the point is a bit moot.
Jan
Few month ago, I design two class A amplifier 15W/8ohm and 40W/8Ohm for a friend. It is using blameless topology with TMC compensation. I already design similar amplifier but class AB. The distortion already low. But for class A, harmonic profile of the distortion is monotonic. Even at 20kHz.
A month ago, I went to my friend home and listening the amplifier. It is very good sounding amplifier. The 40W version is better, more airy. The 15W is enough, plenty SPL in the room.
A month ago, I went to my friend home and listening the amplifier. It is very good sounding amplifier. The 40W version is better, more airy. The 15W is enough, plenty SPL in the room.
What's "FW" ? I see lots of unknown abbreviations lately...Is there a new "audiophile elite's language" put in place just to make other people feel too stupid to ask what the hell is the "elite" talking about?
Last edited:
You certainly weren't but if everyone is going to abbreviate any single thing written here for at least two times we'll soon get no communication whatsoever.Believe it or not , NP work isn't well known everywhere in the audiophile world as well as many other valuable designs including Hiraga's.Seeing a lot of people who never liked neutral amplifiers as well as other who never liked vacuum tubes makes me think that in the end it's pointless to say that one design is superior to other in a world of 14 billion ears where not even one pair of it has identical sensitivity in both channels 
