We often hear the term high-resolution, or that our equipment has the ability to resolve fine inner details. But how do you know if your amplifier is resolving or not? Have a question you want to ask Paul? Go to www.psaudio.com/ask-paul/
Thanks Paul for discussing the technologies, component packaging, specs, and value propositions so that we can make informed decisions for our listening system purchases. These are unique to your industry.
Hi Paul, according to your last comment in this clip, no need to worry from my side, I love to hear you clarify all different kind of questions related to audio. Your insight and knowledge explained in a way so even a amateur like me understands. I am not audio trained, but i builded my first "diy" speaker in 1974, and since then audio has been my hobby. Keep up the good work, i'm a great fan of you and PS Audio. Best Regards, John Duvall, Denmark, North Copenhagen.
Hey Paul :o) I just wanted to let you know that you are Definitely Not wasting your time doing these videos. I Love that you take the time to educate people like myself. Thank You Brother !!!! Oh and by the way, I do by your products. I have a pair of P10's and 1 P3 and I use your AC12 Power Cords to feed them power.
Hi! As the add begins to run above my writing... I thought i would just say I thought your explanation was good, without being technical. It made me start thinking of having less Caps... and that sort of thing, in terms of keeping the chain pure. Then I remembered all the amps that contain those tubes we all Love, have loads of Caps. Ha ha they always had to, or all that high voltage would come crashing through! Ha! Guess my point is, it really is in your ears. Remembering my first really good solid State amp, the Harman Kardon 430, I am recalling the loudness control was my best friend. Being in an apartment, I was not going to be able to turn it up enough to get the overall power i wanted, yet I was happy to learn my most wonderful and long lacking lows and highs could be brought out.... and enjoyed, anyway. What a great help! For me... the midrange things always found a way to be present, so they would be fine. Ha ha Yes... of course... I’m just saying all this for attention and to show you I know one or even one and a half things about amps and audio electronics. If you took the time, thanks! If not... thats fine, too. I will take this sentence to exclaim how very much I Loved that amp, to the Universe. I really learned to listen in new way. A way that didn’t force people for miles around to here my Musical choices. I thank you!
I remember back in the 70's there were only 2 amps I heard with the Dahlquist DQ10's that sounded good with them. The Audio Research D90 tube amp (I have one but it needs repairs) and the Kenwood L07 monoblock solid state amps. I'm willing to bet these still sound good compared to today's amps.
Thank you for your passion for audio Paul. I use your channel as one of many quality references. one day, I hope to afford your high-end products in my system builds.
This is Brian. This info is priceless Thank you , Paul. I completely agree. I know people with Crown amps and Bose speakers. Those are for commercial applications and the people that buy those for home use don't realize the lack of sensitivity due to their deafness from loud guitar amps, etc. Thanks again.
These kind of comments are exactly why high end audio is fraught with so much disinformation fuelled by brand prejudice and unscientific outpouring by people who haven't actually tried what they profess to know.
@@hardstuff57 This is Brian Again. Your comment amazes me. In order for you to judge me and conclude that I am unqualified and inexperienced , you must have access to all of my personal and professional information. Or you are some useless narcissist that smears people you know absolutely nothing about. And you own crappy equipment and I named it. Please, go back in your room and listen to your Deep purple records on your outdated and overpriced equipment and stop belittling people you know absolutely nothing about. Thanks for a good laugh.
While we talking the quality of sound , seemed that the sky is the limit , the problem is that our ear is so demanding but our wallet has lots limitations....lol
This reason alone is why I choose to use very particular amps in my setups whether it be a home setup or an automobile. The amps I use are very, very musical sounding where you hear every single nuance of sound at any volume level.
In my electronic music studio I use a Hafler P1500 amp driving a pair of Event 20/20's, with a 15" powered subwoofer, for monitoring. That setup seem pretty "resolving" to me. Just this week I was able to purchase a pair of Neuman headphones (demo units at a substantial discount) and am curious to compare the sound between the speaker setup and the cans when they arrive.
Yes, Brands will usually have a “house sound” however you can’t purchase a system in this manner. A dealer or good old fashioned shop is the way to go. You have to listen to equipment together to see/hear how it all works together. It’s the only way.
i have an issue with resolving, the more resolving the more issues..True i do like subtleties in my music experience. but when was the last time you went to a concert whether being amplified or not that had such a resolving or transparency that some are trying to reach with home audio?
Happy great fryday great vid and your right it doesn’t matter we won’t all agree that’s what makes us different but it does give us something great to talk about other than the weather
Audio-specific op-amps got much better in subsequent generations -- commodity chips like the classic TI NE5532s used in Paul's beloved "Neil Young" Studer recording board made using general purpose op-amps for audio obsolete. Audiophile folklore notwithstanding, nowadays a properly-designed op-amp front end is no barrier to "resolving" capability -- resorting to fancy discrete component and/or Class A circuitry for that function adds nothing but cost and "high-end" marketing hoopla.
Hi Paul, love your daily vids, do you have any idea when your M1200 amps will be available for purchase?? Could you also give an update on your new CD player as far as availability?? Thanks, and keep the vids coming! Ed.
Hi Paul I love my kt88 tube amp it’s detailed and resolved enough for me. Being disabled I spend a lot of time in doors and my music is a big part of my life and so is RU-vid it’s a pity some people are trying to spoil this for me they have nothing better to do pick up on my spelling and take the piss I suffer with dyslexia I do my best to enjoy RU-vid and try very hard to spell correctly and sometimes it is spelt wrong, they are making it so I dread leaving comments 😡I love your videos keep well my Frend
Dave Micolichek for some reason it doesn’t always work when I speak into my iPad and sometimes I miss words I tried to correct it sometimes the wrong way so all of you please leave me alone and let me enjoy my life as it is I don’t have many pleasures
If people have nothing better to do than criticise you pointlessly then let's forget those people. Never let anyone else stop you getting your point across. Your comments are far more valid than anyone commenting on your spelling. Rise up my friend and let that music flood in. Let it wrap you in joy. Happy listening and stay safe. One Love
I remember the Kenwood Integrated amps and receivers that said they were high speed. Their slew rate measured better and they did sound like the had more resolving highs. I have collected a few of these Kenwoods over the years.
For class AB amplifiers, there are sound engineering reasons why you want to have slew rate well above that required to reproduce a full-power 20KHz signal. But it's not about the highs as much as minimizing crossover distortion for mid frequencies.
@John Gladwaller Come Together is a serious test. It should make you jump !! I've got more and more into The Beatles over the years. I listen to them everyday. I remember thinking how much more Liverpudlian they suddenly sounded when I last changed my power amp. Did you notice that the lights had changed? Happy listening
@@bongofury3176 Come Together is amazing. I had forgotten how great that song was till about 2 months ago when I heard it in a brick and mortor store. Made me go home and break out my old Abbey Road album. Oh but my system isn't highly resolving
More than anything you need to find the (SYNERGY) speaker matching an amp or amp matching speakers . I have had less resolving amps overall actually pair up with better sound on certain speakers even if the amp isn't as resolving as another SYNERGY is KEY !
Does good S/N ratio I.e. above 96dB plus Great Intermodulation ratio and absolute low THD produce excellent details for us to hear all the recorded sounds irregardless whether the sonics is musical or not? Anyone with more experience on this matter?
Maybe they can measures for intermodulation distortions for various sines wfev at diffrent frquencues and voltages levels. My frend has Krell. Hers is a article.. IMD results when two or more signals of different frequencies are mixed together and additional signals are formed at frequencies that are not, in general, at harmonic frequencies (integer multiples) of either source signal. Intermodulation causes spurious emissions that can create minor to severe interference to other operations on the signal. Although IMD may affect many types of signal data, this definition focuses on sound. Intermodulation should not be confused with general harmonic distortion (which does have widespread use in audio effects processing; see THD). Intermodulation specifically creates non-harmonic tones due to undesired mixing of near frequencies. THANKES YOUES.
Brands are very important as Paul says however in my search for decent gear, audio forums have been equally as important in helping me decide what I need. Hundreds of audiophiles like Paul will give you advice within minutes about their own experiences. Try AV FORUMS and AUDIO KARMA. I wouldn't have a system I'm happy with without them!
Audio Research built the hybrid fet/tube design to increase resolve or accuracy. I personally think you have resolve when you listen to the same music over time and realize that a new or different thing allows one to HEAR things that you thought could not exist in that same disc or record.
I have an Audio Research SP6B that was converted to an SP6C by changing the cathode follower output from a 12AX7 to a 6DJ8 and I think it had a fet in series with it. It didn't sound very good so I converted it back to the SP6B and it sounded much better.
those audiophile terms are really difficult when you want to pick a component only by them. if you are not careful "resolving" will lead you to bright sounding stuff (beyer headphones and the latest delta sigma dacs are highly resolving and sound bright and harsh). my advise is to go for tone and synergy .
AKM delta sigma dacs are highly resolving and sound smooth (AK4497), geared towards Ohchestral if your into that type of music I run 2 of them one per channel
My amp resolves me not having music so I guess it's working. So they guys at the concert didn't want the great sound and went with the solid performing amp instead of the flaming amp but yet audiophiles need systems that sound just like the crappy amp? And you know when the used the crappy amp they fixed it with a sound board which audiophiles don't even want tone controls. PS, Paul, thank you for doing these videos. I watch them everyday and I wouldn't agree with some, criticize others or challenge the audiophile world if I didn't care.
Paul, do you record your videos after hours? Are you the only one in the building? Or do you kick everyone out of whichever room you decide will be today's video?
Perhaps He explains from time to time in his videos that he goes into the office on the weekend when nobody’s around and knocks out a bunch of these. That’s what happens in normal times, anyway.
Resolving starts from the source LP, CD, WAV, FLAC. Good USB cable or fiber to a good DAC. Then good quality RCA cables to a pre-amp, rca cables to a AMP, and last but not least spkr cables and Speakers. Upgrade the signal path from start to finish as the budget will allow. By the time you hit the finish line you should be able to tell how resolving an amp can be.
@@DueM example: $200 Andrew jones design spkrs paired to a $2000 front end, good excellent resolving sound. $2000 spkr paired to $300 front end mediocre sound not very resolving. These days the DAC is the most important way to resolve your amplifier
budget speakers lack the resolution required, why spend $2k+ on a front end if you won't be able to tell the difference between that or a $500 one? i use a $1200 dac/hp amp and my older dac/hp amp was $700 about 6 years ago and to be honest there's no real difference between them in sq over rca into my $4k hifi. funnily enough through good headphones there is a large difference which comes back to my original point.
I remember years ago when I started with a budget system comprising a JVC receiver, a Panasonic cassette deck,and a Goldring turntable. I then bought the NAD 3020 and was bowled over by the extra fine detail that this amp. delivered,so I can certainly relate to this video. One magazine reviewer at the time described the performance of the 3020 as bouncy. To this day,I am not sure what he was talking about,but a great amp it surely was.
Monty Monty. Are we talking about the old Nad 3020 or the newer? NAD has always been a good durable product with sound quality that lies in the middle. not bad but not the very best
@ NAD c375bee is a good slightly newer NAD amplifier in the C series. I've seen pictures of it inside and it looks well built! I've tried MANY NAD amplifiers from the 80's and 90's and owned some. Nad is in the middle when it comes to sound quality. Not bad but not the very best but a good and durable amplifier. NAD is in a way the same as kenwood and Technics were in mid-range amplifiers in the 80's 90's. I'm talking about build quality and sound quality.
"Resolving" is mostly "high-end" marketing hype. Once solid-state amps went the DC-coupled route and THD+N percentage got that first zero after the decimal point, amplification's contribution to clarity and detail became more than adequate and "resolving" capability became mostly about the evolution of loudspeaker system design and well-recorded source material.
I agree. What people percieve as resolving is mostly a combination of recording quality and speaker quality..mostly due to crossovers and their interactions with the room. That is 99% of it anyhow,.
@@Canadian_Eh_I -- Bruno Putzeys, IMO the world's leading amp designer and the pioneer of bringing Class D amplification to true hi-fi performance, is seemingly convinced that any further development in amps beyond what the best of them can do nowadays is pretty much pointless. So, he's turned his attention to solving long-standing fundamental problems with speakers and working on bringing powered speakers to new levels of performance by integrating multiple power amp modules, room sensitive DSP for crossover and EQ functions, and advanced driver designs into the speaker enclosure itself. That, it seems, is the next frontier in better "resolving" audio.
@@Canadian_Eh_I That probably explains why I cannot openly tell the difference between the sound quality of high-end separates and an av receiver these days.
There’s a post on A’gon by @whitecamaross called “My long list of amplifiers and my personal review of each!”. He talks about the BHK monoblocks with quite a bit of praise. I personally find it pretty helpful, and even though it’s someone else’s opinion, you get an idea of what the amps sound like. forum.audiogon.com/discussions/my-long-list-of-amplifiers-and-my-personal-review-of-each?
I’ve read that before: if you’re looking for a giant killer you won’t find it here. Good read, but here’s a summary - buy BHK’s (maybe)- definitely saving his unadulterated praise for the Parasound JC’s and Pass Labs amps, though.
Resolving power of any amp depends on the combination of several factors ... the first one is group delay .. the second one is phase linearity .. the third is intermodal distortion... the fourth is transient distortion and lastly damping factor ...
Anybody having problems with group delay in a modern audio amplifier has a piss poor design. We are way past that since the late 1960s. I know, I'm an RF engineer by training. Group delay is a problem in amplifiers with tens of mhz bandwidth. Not in any competently designed solid state audio amplifier.
@@leekumiega6576 did you watch the entire video? He doesn't get into any specifics on how it changes the sound or why. And I know why, just as it's called in amplifier that's all it does amplifies the signal. Speakers certainly have a different flavor. Preamps have much different designs or flavors along with digital to analog converters. And as far as sound staging and imaging the speakers in the recording have the biggest influence. Waiting patiently on your detailed reply on how an amplifier is so drastic to the sound. It is not.
@Dave Micolichek I also agree that as a whole everything makes a difference but hands-down speakers, the preamp or DAC, and they're recording play the biggest role in something sounding three dimensional or having great Imaging Etc. The amplifier just amplifies the signal.
@@ryanschipp8513 Yes in Theory an amplifier should be described as a wire with gain but unfortunately that is not the case and on a resolving system amplifiers have their own unique sound whereas on inexpensive nonresolving systems they do all sound the same.
@@ryanschipp8513 Read some reviews on Magneplanar speakers and most will mention how much of a difference amplifiers can make also did YOU listen to the hole video that Phase Linear and Crown did sound different from one another . All of Bob Carvers Designs from his various companies are highly resolving and unfortunately many brands are not.
people underestimate decent quality amplification it seems, i've used a lot of different amps over the past 15 years and i'd take your pa amps and use them as anchors for a boat before i use them in my lounge.
@@SpaghettiKillah usa.denon.com/en-us/shop/amplifiers/pma1600ne_d?varid=883795004527 would be a good starting point www.perreaux.com/products/integrated-amplifiers/255ix would be a good end point, both will destroy a pa amp in sound quality. if you're the sort who loves the sound of a pa amps fan whining in the background more power to you i suppose, each to their own.
If you cant show ”resolving” with spec then how do you you know how to build a resolving amp? For me its all in the specs like dynamic range, power, thd, noisefloor etc... all that can be measured. The bad thing is that numbers can be manipulated and also, consumers dont know how to read them and compare apples to apples.
@@googoo-gjoob Listening is highly subjective. The same person could up or downgrade the same piece of audio gear due to differences in sleep, coffee, mood, etc. The hard numbers that come from machines that look at differences between waveforms are the only ones I would trust. That being said, I would only use the specs to create my shortlist. I wouldn't buy anything without auditioning it first.
@@anonamouse5917 thats why they do their listening tests by committee. if you are here, you might be 'serious'. then determine, are their products within your budget. if they are, BUY ONE. try it for 30 days with YOUR ears, in YOUR room. if it doesnt gobsmack you...send it back for a FULL REFUND. they even pay shipping BOTH WAYS. absolutely _nothing_ at risk. if that doesnt entice you, then, you werent serious to begin with.
@@googoo-gjoob I have no doubt that PS Audio makes fantastic equipment. But I see they don't have prices on their website. That tells me I can't afford their equipment. Sadly, this relegates me to seeking higher end equipment from lower end brands. That's where I find the best 'bang for the buck'.
How.much for microwave? Bit Seriously I think what he means is a electroacoustic system comprise of Magnepan and the amp that "resolves" sound presure level increase lineary across frequencies input to output.. in some range ofcourse... in other words what aml have current capacity to drive difficult load in broad headroom.
If your set-up can "resolve" that germamium diode buzz from the guitar distortion stompbox at the start of Iron Maiden's Two Minutes To Midnight - then it is "resolving".
I'm a Mac fan, but their amps have been a little up and down in terms of detail. Their tubes amps have always been good, but not until the newer quad-differential design (like on the mc402) were their solid state amps really good. Many of their earlier solid state amps were chasing power and headroom above other factors and were only OK on detail. That said, most of their preamps have been very good, both solid state and tube. The issue there was their preamp's ability to play nice with other manufacturers as many had higher output voltages and relatively low input impedances. Then there is the Mac house sound, which I really like, but is relatively "dark" compared to other manufacturers. This likely contributes to how people perceive their amps.
Everyone keep in mind that resolution or "resolving power" is a totally subjective term, and it is slightly different for not only every piece of equipment, but probably even MORE different between any two different people and their individual ears and brain!... Each person places "importance" on different attributes about music that are "essential" or "pleasing and enjoyable" to *them* , but the next guy who comes along and listens to the exact same setup and music might not give a *shit* about those specific details, OR even notice them, because they are focusing on some *other* , totally *different* details of the sound that are more important to *them* !... So really, all anyone has to do is find an audio system equipment and speaker combo that makes YOU and your ears totally happy and one where YOU can experience the "mind blown" and "hair raising" experience of the MUSIC ITSELF that you're listening to and enjoying! (or at least *should* be!) There's NO such thing as the absolute "perfect" system in every way, with every type of music, and to everyone who listens to it, so quit wasting so much of your *time* AND *money* trying to pursue that *impossible* goal of absolute audio perfection!... Just find a system combo that actually allows and *encourages* you to actually *listen to and thoroughly ENJOY the MUSIC* that you're playing on it, regardless of whether it may (or may NOT) be the absolute highest "resolution" or whatever, because continually worrying about totally subjective and relative, sometimes even arbitrary, terms in audio are part of what is distracting you from really just sitting back and loving the actual music itself! I think many "audiophile" types are basically just big "nerds" who concern themselves too much with all of the numbers and "specs" and "ratings" of something, when the other, more artistically inclined people are already just thoroughly enjoying the music itself and potentially even reaching a state of pure bliss within their own minds, therefore getting the most benefit from the song itself, while us audiophile nerds are over here in the corner arguing amongst ourselves whether the frequency response is "flat" or the reverb timing is "correct" or if the soundstage has enough "depth" to it or not, or... any number of other "technical details" that aren't as important as the overall enjoyment and experience of the music itself in all of its artistry!... Yes, some of that stuff is relatively important to get the most out of a system, but if you are *always* focusing on all of those technical details while forgetting to actually hear the music, listen to the lyrics, etc., then there's something inherently wrong there!... You have to be able to do both!... I think quite a few audiophiles *forget* to really listen to the whole picture, (i.e. the music), and just focus way too much on the "numbers" and "technical specs" of an audio system!... Are you really listening to the actual *music* ?... OR are you mainly just hearing the *equipment* itself?... Where is your mind's main focus at?... I know where it *should* be, but unfortunately, with many audiophiles it isn't always in the right place! OK, that's enough "ranting" for now, I hope you get what I'm saying here, and just sit back and enjoy all of your favorite different types of *music* , as your audio system, no matter how good it may be, isn't *ever* going to be totally perfect in every way, so just enjoy what it *can* do, and try *not* to obsess over the minor things you can't do anything about at the moment you're listening to a song you like. :)
This was certainly demonstrated well, with Octave Records' first release, a jazz piano album. There was obvious limiter/clipping distortion in a few places on some of the tracks. Or at least, it was obvious to myself and a few others. Paul still swears to this day, that it isn't there, or isn't audible to him, in spite of some studio photos clearly showing a limiter connected into the recording setup. And I found plenty of evidence by examining the waveforms with my scope. I also ran some de-clipping software on the affected tracks, and it did a fair job of cleaning them up, so that would be further proof. Still, it seems that less than 50% of listeners can hear the distortion on the original tracks. Perhaps the most critical listeners are the blind or semi-blind. I have a friend who has severely limited vision, and his hearing is amazing. Back in my college days, he kept complaining that his Lafayette receiver had some audible distortion on one channel during warmup. I tried to hear it, but it sounded clean to me. Finally, he convinced me to take it home and run some tests, and when I checked the speaker output with a scope, I found short bursts of 500KHz low-level parasitic oscillations were occurring at the crossover points. Don't ask me how he was able to hear that! I found the cause and corrected it, then he confirmed that the problem was gone after giving it a listening test.
I get the impression that resolving quality could be measured by looking at the slew rate of the output of an amp.; i.e. how well could an amp deliver a square wave to a non inductive load, at high power. That should reveal resolving power, surely ??
If you can hear th and fff / eff sounds in vocalists and it's not hyped or distorted.... If you are listening to the music and your system disappears... and if you put on just one more album when you should be getting dinner ready.... That's resolving. Now transparency? Dunno what the hell that is.
Ah , the old Dc300 , an industry standard , , refined no , reliable very. and the good old Carver ,I remember they had a very bad habit of going dc and taking out horns at a rate that had to be heard to be believed ... but they did sound great till then.
The DC-300a has what kind of opamp? How about the uA739. Resolving...Sounds like another one of those words use to convey that one possesses supreme knowledge of the subject that is audio. Sounds like a sensitivity/linearity limitation of the power amplifier. I haven't found a single piece of silicon that sounds better with age. Its all downhill from day one. Sad... so much for burn-in other than to weed out infant mortality of components. Same is true for vacuum tubes too.
Any decent modern amplifier, even a $399 Denon AV receiver is "resolving" beyond audibility. The two factors that affect resolving ability are noise floor and distortion. Both are well below audibility in mid range and up modern HiFi audio electronics. The ability to resolve comes down to voltage change and the amp's ability to replicate it in scale free from distortion. And also a small change cannot be masked by the amp's noise floor. Speakers, microphones, even phono cartridges are another matter as they are mechanical devices. If you are worried about resolving ability I would look there and not at any modern audio electronics. What I really find hilarious are these $10,000 SET 1 watt amplifiers with distortion exceeding 10% and AC heated filament tube cathodes. You can hear the hum clear across the room. On top of that you need highly efficient speakers that multiply the problem acoustically. But surely these amps are considered "highly resolving" by the audiophile press.
Paul, A few months ago I sent you a couple emails about PS Audio making replacement Infinity magnets for Emim and Emits. It would be nice if you had the courtesy to reply sometime.
So the professional musicians are not interested in these subtle details when they’re performing. So why on earth do audio files claim that they are trying to reproduce live music?
How do you know if your amp is resolving? Answer: It isn't. Speakers can be resolving, that is their job, amps themselves are not. That said, one thing that can get in the way of resolving speakers is an amp that is mis-matched or has unclean signal or a high noise floor. How do you know if your system is resolving? One way is when you are listening to a familiar recording and you hear nuances that are supposed to be there, but you never heard them before. Like the example below. I found out how resolving my system is when I heard harmonica in a Tori Amos song in the background that was supposed to be there (it is in the credits) and there was a mess of other stuff going on, but I had never heard it on any other system I have had before. I'm a detail and tone hound, so I love that.
As a live guy. I do find it frustrating in a lot of venues flat sounding sound systems. Can be a lot of work to just to get a half decent sound. And some venues using an SM 58 just sound absolutely magical. Paul what some attributes that you’ve come across for a really nice live sound. (resolving). ps hi from Australia.
Paul mentioned Phase Linear as being highly resolving as are all of Bob Carver designs , his Carver and Sunfire amplifiers and receivers were often said to sound as good as equipment costing many times what his cost and would be a great option for vintage equipment. As to new amps and receivers one spec to pay attention to is Total Harmonic Distortion and Intermodulation Distortion THD/IM , in order to get super low numbers manufactures often use a lot of negative feedback which causes Time Smearing and that is the enemy of resolution , The specs look great at the expense of resolution. One cannot hear THD/IM of .05 % and going much below that often has a negative effect on sound Unless the Manufacturer spent a lot of time and money on design .
An audio amplifier is supposed to simply gain the input waveform to an identical output waveform (in a perfect world). When it's a power amp it means it also needs to handle low impedance loads of speakers with the voltage needed to drive them. Of course we can measure a lot of things that also cover the term "resolving". And PS Audio do their professional measurements also. I have no doubt that these guys cover both measurements and listening tests. Those companies relying on only simple consumer specifications (frequency response, THD, TIM, SNR etc.) without serious listening tests are often the ones not making "resolving" audio products. And forget about any audio company claiming that listening tests are enough...such assertion is nonsense.
maybe they can make a tests for intermodulting distortons IMD. I fouind this artilcles... There are various ways to measure IMD. In the United States, the SMPTE (Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers) standard is often used. It specifies a two-sinewave test signal consisting of a low-frequency, high-amplitude tone linearly combined with a high-frequency sinewave at 1/4 the amplitude of the low-frequency tone, specifically tones at 60 Hz and 7 kHz. When a non-linear device is subjected to a two-tone test signal, intermodulation products appear as sidebands around the high-frequency tone. The percentage intermodulation distortion is defined as the percentage THAKES YOUES AND thumbbsusp!
i love cops Yes, you gotta measure IMD also if you are serious in audio engineering of an amp. Many measurements are done on the local level inside the amp. For example, you wanna make sure your power rails don’t get noisy with ripple just because you have some typical mains power noise. Amplifiers that perform poorly due to mains power noise often have failed on proper power supply design. Thus, don’t buy the argument that an amplifier being sensitive to power noise making it turn into audible artifacts is more resolving and therefore need expensive gadgets to fix the power noise.
Dave Anderson Yes, back in the day we had to settle for the Peavey CS line of amps, and the people who made more money used Crowns and one crazy electrical engineer I knew used Phase Linear amps for PA and his home systems. Power and reliability were the important things.
I love and hate it when Paul answers these questions while showing off some of ps audios products that are just too out of reach for my budget. Jealous!!!!☹
Rob Rocker5000 All relative of course, but PS’s line goes in price (after you get past the Sprout) from “Ouch” (Stellar series) to “Boing!” with the BHK series. I saw the new Strata integrated amp as of now is 3K minus $1, so I guess that will be the bridge between the two tiers, kinda.
Agree on trust the brand. Companies that give a damn about audio tends to sound better and even if the cheap stuff measure well, they dont produce a musical or revealing sound. They simply care about specs and nothing else. Companies like ps audio and alike does take the extra step of listening and fine tuning their products even at the cost of measurement. Specs should only be a guide and not the final word in any purchase.
You said crown horrible but they use them live and are recorded unto tape then records etc.. so why so hard to duplicate this great live sound if the live sound sounds horrible fron the amps they use.. so high end reproduction does not sound live.. case closed .. my new pro yamaha amp sounds way more detail then your m 700s i own 😅😅😅😅😅😅😊❤🎉
The Crown amps not like that anymore new generation of very good Well you can talk about it in specs it is harmonics where the harmonics are lying and what harmonics are more present than others. Chord amps are very resolving so are naim maybe too much so. How is a 60 Watt naim amplifier Drive Maggie pans better than a p.s stellar?
The Naim are detailed, but not so good with large scale dynamics. If rock is your penchanct, especially hard rock and metal, Naim likely isn't your amp. BTW, since what year have Crown amps been good? I haven't heard them in a hifi setting in years, but the ones I have used (2005 and earlier) weren't worth bothering with. Have yet to hear Chord.
Dear "Obi in Thailand", (I still say these are all invented subjects and people) It seems the wise old electro-sage has failed to even define what RESOLVING even means. There are two opposing things in music. "Accord" and "discord". In music it basically means "pleasing to the ear" and "unpleasant sonic garbage". The snake oil crowd attempt to conflate that as an idiom such as (and you must rub your hands together while saying these magic words as if you are washing them in the very fabric of the cosmos) "...a highly reSOLving system" (/hand washing in the aether). What that idiom means is: "US Salesmen and cult Followers can hear it, but YOU cannot and YOU can't tell US what WE hear" Hence why Paul feels the need to buttress his bullshit with the words "TRUST THE BRANDS" as he then proceeds to mention HIS BRANDS. (lot of "quotes" in this one, quite a lot of ("parenthetical statements") as well). When a musician, a guitarist for example, plays a chord on his instrument, if done correctly there is "accord" within the strings being strummed along with the frets being held that makes a pleasing sound....we'll call it: "harmony" within those six strings. Add in some vocals in the proper "key" and you layer in even more harmony. Compare that with the person with no training or talent that picks up a guitar in a thrift store that is miles out of tune and he grabs it by the neck like a chicken wrangler and runs his dirty nose pickers across the aging strings that lets out a shrill and displeasing array of sonic evil upon the ears. We'll call that "discord" or "dissonance". So with any system, the rubber meets the road in the SPEAKERS. Before the entire community falls upon my dead body just listen to reason. The "best", most "discreet", "board full of mosfets" with a "trinity of tubes on the front end" because: (add sales pitch here) amplifier, when used to drive an old pair of Realistic™ brand speakers with a 1/8" thick particleboard box is not going to sound NEAR as good as it will when compared to any Sony, Yamaha, Denon, Marantz, Onkyo (remember "trust the brands"???) amplifier driving fine quality SPEAKERS. If you are in Thailand and you want a "resolving system", start looking for the best SPEAKERS that you can afford. Through research and word of mouth and social apps like "Facebook marketplace" or "Letgo" or "Offerup" or "eBay" you may be surprised at what's out there that is affordably priced because some guys new wife wants to "spring clean" an his old Cerwin Vega cabinets need ta GO. 😃 Then look for a name brand amp that has a total HARMONIC distortion value that allows you to drive those speakers as you listen to music slightly louder without distorting the harmony, the pleasing sounds, the accord. That's all. No need to name drop the companies he has financial ties to. I mean, if he's doing these videos purely out of LOVE and BUTTERFLIES and HEARTFELT DESIRE TO ANSWER QUESTIONS. However you have to ask yourself...."self!.....Why does this electro-sage always answer questions that require him to mention HIS products BY NAME on EVERY MORNING of the week FOR YEARS AND YEARS ????" Almost seems to be ADVERTISING HIS COMPANY. Well duh! And more power to him! However, as with any commercial, take it with the proverbial grain of salt, knowing that in the end their motivation is in what drives the P&L sheet to be yummy and happy and keeping the lights on for his employees. Diminishing returns come into play when you compare those name brands like SONY with a PSAudio single mono block amp that drives one speaker and costs more than every shack in your Thailand village. High end sound need not be derived from highly priced equipment. Guess what, what was good in the last forty years or so can still make reSOLving sounds today. There have been no real breakthroughs in how amps are made. Manufacturers are still hoarding the old bits and pieces (mosfets and tubes etc etc) that make for good sound reproduction. That should tell you something. -✌🏼
Or just buy a pair of 1970's JBL L 100 studio monitors and hear what the artists heard in the control room when they made the records- You can't top that!
@@genesmith4019 you would need a time machine in order to go back in that control room, with the monitors they used, with the same amount of people in the room, the same furniture, and younger ear drums. You are hearing NOTHING that even comes close to what was heard in that studio simply be using a certain speaker. Every processor, every tube, every integrated circuit, changes that original. You can never produce that same sound again ever. You can only reproduce it with equipment that attempts to amplify what the producer chose to mix as the music was played on that day. With liberty and justice for all 😁
