Don't Buy What Neil Young Is Selling [GIZMODO Article]

[jan.didden]

My understanding re amplifier bandwidth was that slew rate limiting is a source of distortion and the byproduct of a high slew rate is basically a large bandwidth.


I may well be wrong on that. I know barely enough about amps to be a danger to myself which is why tend not to screw around inside those things.

They are loosely related. You can have large bandwidth (which is a small-signal measure) and low slew rate (which is a large signal measure).

Often you see an amp specified as having say 200kHz bandwidth, and a POWER bandwidth of say 60kHz. The latter is related to slew rate.

So if you amplify a small signal at say 1W out, you'll find a BW of 200kHz. But if you increase the output level, the BW will get lower until say 60kHz at full power.

Jan

 

[Charles Darwin]

Cheers for clearing that up Jan!

So when perusing amp specs I should look for Power Bandwidth if slew rate is not mentioned directly?

 

[Einric]

Check out this review from Linus Tech Tips.
He breaks it down pretty good to what non scientific people can understand.
The actual useability of a basic player.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VQUFCCcQ4A

 

[jan.didden]

Cheers for clearing that up Jan!

So when perusing amp specs I should look for Power Bandwidth if slew rate is not mentioned directly?

The problem is that power bandwidth is often not mentioned, although you can calculate PBW from slew rate and vice versa if you know the max output voltage.
Then again, how does that relate to the sound? Most of your listening is done at a few watts anyway, and high level, high frequency components in music are relatively few. It's easy to overestimate the importance of high slew rate.

About the only thing you can say is that a BW of 200kHz is stated you can bet it's not at max power!

Jan

 

[Charles Darwin]

Some of my amps have PBW printed on the case, others give slew rates in the manual and my favourite ones do not state either.

In the end it's just curiosity and an attempt to figure out for my ears which measurements relate or seem to relate to SQ. Building my own personal set of prejudices I guess. ;-)

 

[Pano]

Copyright material deleted from first post. Please read the rules! Don't post entire articles here.
Links are OK

 

[Kando]

I buy 24-bit gear to maximise my chances of getting 16 good ones. I also like 24-bit audiophile downloads, not because I can hear the extra resolution, but because the people who make them take more care over the production and mastering.

Same here.

 

[Binely]

Good grief. And of course it comes in the highly useful "Triangle" form factor. Allow me to open the lid for my doorstop collection.

 

[bigshot]

I've had very well regarded players and $40 Coby jobs from Walmart. I did blind listening tests with the same file and they all sound the same. I did the same with high bitrate/sampling rate and redbook, and AIFF 256 VBR. All sounded the same there too.

Mixing and mastering matters. Transducers matter. File sizes don't so much.