To break the monotony of the board a bit, let's talk about amps. Specifically, class A/B amps and class D amps, which seem to be the most popular choices.
Is there any discernible difference in sound quality? Is there any difference at all aside from power efficiency? I heard many D class amps sound bad, but mostly because of a bad design. Does the quality just boil down to the manufacturer?
also posting tube amps because they look rad as fuck.
Not enough of a purist to run tubes myself but they are pretty.
Posting more tubes
i dunno, i flip the switch from a to b and can't tell much difference
bump
Class D is only ever going to be a mathematical approximation of the original signal. That's fine in the vast majority of professional applications (where room acoustics dominate and are essentially uncontrollable, transducers are going to be plentiful and optimized for low-cost, and power efficiency is critical), but the compromises are probably unacceptable in most "intensive listening" applications.
I bet you like vinyls too.
I heard they got much better in recent years and there's not really any real difference anymore.
Would you say it only matters if you're an autistic audiophile with the hearing of a dog?
Normalfags will never care. I think there is a difference but it also depends on what you're plugging in to it. shure se215 sound harsh as fuck to me if I plug them in to my phone or ruizu x02 but if I plug them in to my shchiit magni they sound almost as good as headphones. Their mainstream popularity is kind of baffling to me for that reason. AT m40x sounds way more acceptable on those sources but if there is some naturally harsh noise in the track then its much more difficult to tolerate.
That's like saying an economy car nowadays is almost as fast as an ancient sports car.
Yes, they're measuring better, because modern tools make it easier than ever to design a component to meet an arbitrary target. Everything else has gotten better too.
What's happening is that big-name companies are designing more and more class D amps because they're much cheaper to build and sell, and the trade press is following the advertising dollars by giving them good reviews.
Most will go with an aesthetic over practical, Tube Amps are an Aesthetic it's only style and wank factor.
If it's A or B or B+A it's still an antiquated design and layout is crucial to cancel anomalies.
Class D because fuck you audiophiles nothing a DSP can't achieve over your highvoltage whining amps
More like a modern electric car is just as fast as a modern fuel-based car.
Do you have any tests for sound fidelity that back up what you're saying?
Did you read what the fuck I wrote? You can design almost any audio amplifier to meet an arbitrary design target using almost any topology. The issue at hand is whether or not those arbitrary design targets accurately reflect the observed performance.
Class D amplifiers (and all of the standard component measurement parameters) rely on long-standing assumptions about how human hearing works being valid. Electrical engineers working in audio don't want to challenge those assumptions, because that would make their jobs much, much harder. It's just like how electric cars rely on certain assumptions about the availability of rare-earth metals, government subsidies, and the availability of power from the electric grid at current rates.
I use Class D amplifiers in audio all the time, because 99% of my challenges have nothing to do with the characteristics of the amplifier and everything to do with the microphones, speakers, and room acoustics, which directly effect the parameters my clients actually measure. I use Class A amplifiers in RF, because I have performance requirements that are physically impossible to meet with Class D designs.
I'm literally almost deaf, but I like the idea of plugging analogue systems into a computer and they absolutely have an aesthetic appeal. How cheap can I go without getting into "why didn't you just spend the money on some nice earbuds" land.
way to complicated, just go for a shitty dac/amp combo.
If you don't care how it sounds and just want a tube amp for appearance, look on eBay. You can buy them for under $50.
Calm down, mate.
Yeah, I'm talking about your analogy.
I don't know why you mentioned ancient sports cars when I was talking about modern A/B class amplifiers, and I don't know why you said almost as fast if now you're saying you can achieve any arbitrary design target with almost any audio amplifier. If class D amps can achieve the same as A/B amps for the same or lower price, that's all I wanted to know.
I know the subject is broad and an audiofag will come along and blow me the fuck out but back when I was installing stereos in cars all of the time (15 years ago or so) we used Class D amps for the woofers and A/B for everything else (mid range to high). I was taught this is the best way and we did good work. I don't know if a D would have worked for tweeters/mid-high range but most of the amps for that application seemed to be A/B anyway. We used D amps for the woofers because we got more sound for the power.
Sorry if all those wiggers riding around listening to rap annoy you. I had to eat.
You're either a moron or I'm being trolled. On the off chance that there's somebody salvageable reading this thread, let me restate the analogy:
You can design a Class D amplifier to meet certain performance targets, just like you can design an economy car to achieve a certain acceleration or cornering performance. On the basis of those performance criteria, you can argue that the inferior approach (Class D amplifier/economy car) is better than the superior (Class A or AB/sports car).
However, the performance criteria in question are arbitrary. The don't encompass everything that should be considered in a high-fidelity amplifier or a sports car. Performance criteria are selected because they're easy to test and easy to understand, with the side effect that they're also easy to meet. Obviously, a vehicle designed purely to be as quick and as nimble as possible is going to beat an economy car, even if the economy car is it's equal in one or two metrics. Likewise, a Class A amplifier is going to have better output performance than a Class D unit, even if the Class D design matches or beats it on a few arbitrary tests.
I'm about ready for an upgrade. In your opinion, what are some properly engineered brands/models these days for home theatre? Amp, speakers, pre-amp.
You're kind of autistic if you even think your previous explanations had anything to do with the idea you're posting now, even more so for getting this upset about it.
You could've said you can meet certain performance targets, but not all of them, or that it would be more difficult to meet all of them, than with certain other technology.
I have an amp that purposefully connects a 5-pin tube as a 3-pin. I don't really understand, but if it was done on purpose it must be amazing somehow.