I'm not into that technical stuff: so what exactly - and how exactly - is a $ 3000 amplifier better doing (stage, layering, blackness of background, resolution, dynamics, attack/decay) than a $ 100?
I simply understood the amplifier gets the signal from the dac and simply amplifies it.
It is just current, information, moving electrons at the end? If a $ 100 amplifier one got enough "reserves" too power a headphone (this heddphone for example) , without distortion, noise etc. what exactly is another one doing better?
If you tested such inexpensive and expensive ones: You listened to it while normalizing the sound, 60, 70, 70 etc. dB for example?
Thanks!
Look, this isn't the proper thread for this sort of question. Take it to an amp thread.
To put it simply though, you are missing a step, a crucial one: the amplifier gets the signal from the DAC,
adds noise, and then amplifies it (well, then it also attenuates it). That addition of THD+N is where you get a lot of the differences between one amp and another. A cheap amp
might measure well enough that you think it shouldn't sound any different than an expensive amp, but that makes one big assumption: that the THD+N output for a single sample tone, say 1kz, will effectively measure the output THD+N for all frequencies
in real music. There is a section on how these measurements are taken
here.
Moreover, while many such tests are objective, that doesn't mean that they actually reflect what sounds good. Here's something analogous: Let's say you are trying to determine the most attractive person and you use the objective measurement of BMI to find people within a range that is deemed ideal. While the measurements of BMI are objective and accurate, they don't necessarily correlate with beauty. Maybe you throw in age, height, physical symmetry, etc., but you still have the same problem. Worse, which measurements do you privilege over others? By establishing a hierarchy of traits, subjectivity sneaks in. Ultimately, beauty is not something that can be reduced down to an impressive set of measured specs, with people or with amps. People like what they like. If you don't share that opinion, cool. But, don't be a dick about it. I absolutely love my very expensive amp and never had to do an A/B test to determine that. The difference between it and my previous gear was obvious, immediate, and breathtaking, and I couldn't care less whether other people agree.
