[Justice Strike]

My brother has the opinion that a amplifier's function is to amplify, to color sound (bass boost, tube-like sound), drive headphones, bring out more details out of headphones and to filter the sound for more clarity.

However i'm of opinion that a good amplifier does not color the sound (AT ALL) and that it cannot(should not) filter any sound. A good amplifier amplifies the sound as naturally as possible without coloring the sound (input == output but amplified)

It cannot make the sound any better then the input source is (thus if detail is missing in the input you won't get it in the output). And for coloring of sound you should use a equalizer (software or hardware)

what's your opinion on this.

 

[ruZZ.il]

More or less like yours. Like you say, a good amp will be 'true'er to the source. Your brother has to remember that for anything to be played on a speaker (big ones, or headphones), it needs to be amplified. an Ipod has a built in amplifier after its little digital to analog converter too. The point of using a different amplifier is that its preferably and significantly better than the tiny little cost effective ones in devices like ipods, and even on most sound cards. BUT, sometimes a little coloration is preferable to some people.. 'tube' sound, for instance, where there is often favorable distortion to a signal that makes things sound more real, musical, or whatever, is rather pleasing for a lot of types of music. My opinion slightly differs in regards to equalization though. Like you say, an amps goal, generally, is to best resemble the source. most amps don't though, and have lets say, lesser of an ability to reproduce lower frequencies as well, or even the higher ones. Some people may prefer an amp with a bit of a high end rolloff if they're sensitive to high freqs, or prefer a better reproduction of the lower and, if they like more bass. I think most 'equalization' should be more like having an amp thats built to reproduce the frequencies that you like in a better way, matched with headphones that reproduce what you like better too. There are things like bass boost in an amp with feedback, which isn't exactly equalization, which I think is a nice thing to have though

but generally, I've tried to match the amp that I use, along with the headphones that I use, to my listening preferences, and get a system that sounds like I want it to with no equalization

There are many more factors to what makes an amp better or worse than another than just frequency response though.. there's how it handles spikes (like cutoff), how linear its response is, if there is any internal switching between transistors or not, phase distortion, inter-channel crosstalk, power supply stability, slew rates, and bunches more effects, most of which I'm probably unaware of...

 

[headphonejunkie]

I agree that an amp is supposed to be as true to the source as possible. That can be boring too. I like some coloration, that is why I have a tube amp. I can change the tubes to change the sound. It is more fun for me.

 

[Justice Strike]

i do not think stuff like bass-boost has it's place in a amplifier. but then again, when bi-amping or tri-amping you could up the amp in the lower region (again, not my preference), but other then that, i really think bass-boost is something better suited for a equalizer, or actually a filter.

but basicly you also agree with the no filtering of sound and that a amp cannot bring out more detail then avaiable?

 

[ruZZ.il]

basically, yes.

Though, the bass boosts that are used in some great amps that are based on a highpass filter in the feedback of the internal op-amps in the amps voltage gain stage, which aren't exactly in the signal path, but rather an indication to the op-amp of the degree of how much is should amplify a signal, are probably a LOT less detrimental to a signal than an equalizer, which the signal goes through, and causes all sorts of different phase shifts and distortions to different frequencies. I'm talking mostly from an engineering/physics students point of view from my partial understandings of the functionality of the above-mentioned things, and only slightly from experience. music has its ways of working against what science dictates though, which is why sometimes a super-duper extra fantastic amplifier on paper, may sound like crap. probably because of our ears and brains so my words with a grain of salt.. oh, and we all have slightly different ears and brains, so with a varying amount of salt!

 

[phuque]

The question I have in mind is that the "soundstage" changes on an amplifier, where instruments are more distinct. Some may get colored (more warm) or the highs might be sharper. Does making instruments more distinct from each other "coloring" the music?

Personally, I'm looking for a headphone amp that doesn't changes the sound (or minimally) but making instruments much clearer and separate from each other. Have you heard anything that falls into this category?

 

[MaZa]

Quote:

Originally Posted by phuque /img/forum/go_quote.gif The question I have in mind is that the "soundstage" changes on an amplifier, where instruments are more distinct. Some may get colored (more warm) or the highs might be sharper. Does making instruments more distinct from each other "coloring" the music? Personally, I'm looking for a headphone amp that doesn't changes the sound (or minimally) but making instruments much clearer and separate from each other. Have you heard anything that falls into this category?

Headamp Gilmore amplifiers have been praised for their being very uncolored and transparent amplifiers, with Gilmore Lite being only slightly sharper sounding (nothing is perfect I guess, for that price anyway). Also my CIAudio VHP-2 + VAC-1 DPS combo seem quite transparent aswell, and people who have heard both it and GLite has said it to be very similar, just not as sharp. Personally I cant really pick any obvious coloration on my ears that I would pick as attribute of amplifier, it sounds different with every source I have. (unlike my earlier Meier Corda HA-2 MkII SE, it had clearly dry and analytical sound) It just gives my headphones power and control, and does so admirably.