[shrimants]

I feel like measurements of class A and class AB cant really provide much insight. If you have an extremely well designed class AB amplifier and compare it to a class A amplifier that is designed like crap and obviously the class A wont measure as well.

Class A and Class AB are two entirely different complexities, and we cant really compare the basic 1 transistor vs 2 transistor measurements because it wouldnt tell us anything about the actual implementation of the amplifier. No one makes an amplifier a single transistor nowadays. I mean I can probably throw the basic circuits on wikipedia into pspice and simulate it but what good will come of it?

 

[JRG1990]

Exactly my point there is no proof class A sounds better than class AB and you can't tell which is a good amp and which isn't just by the amp class.

 

[xnor]

Quote:

Class A and Class AB are two entirely different complexities, and we cant really compare the basic 1 transistor vs 2 transistor measurements because it wouldnt tell us anything about the actual implementation of the amplifier.

Exactly that's why you measure the whole amp and not just differently designed parts of it. And that's also why statements like "class X beats class Y" don't make much sense.
 
 
Quote:

No one makes an amplifier a single transistor nowadays. I mean I can probably throw the basic circuits on wikipedia into pspice and simulate it but what good will come of it?

Some people do it anyway. Sure, to learn how things work that's perfectly fine but don't expect it perform very well outside of pspice. I guess that's the reason why many diy amps don't come with measurements, and because of the equipment needed.

 
 

 

[Mauricio]

Perhaps more important for the question of ultimate audio fidelity than the type of amplifier is where the amplifier sits along the signal path.  The demands on an amplifier are quite different if it sits before or after the crossover.