Quote:
...It's a myth you shouldn't believe, and it's a myth that for some inexplicable reason has been perpetrated for way way too long now. Every amp I've heard is colored...
its a shame - you could have funded your system to the tune of US$10k by showing you could really hear the difference between a few of these "all amps definitely have own sound" - Clark's challenge is no longer open but none claimed it in a decade
the rules should be well known - neither amp clipping (not hard with HD800 - can be driven with common op amps to over 120 dB SPL), frequency response matched to 0.1 dB over audio range (many pairing of SS amps already meet this criteria)
output impedance padding and frequency response EQing done before comparison when one amp is clearly colored to begin with - say comparing tube vs SS
then just "ears only" listening - meaning level matching, Double Blind - no using knowledge of brand, bling factor, audiophile community rep - just your ears, music and the 2 unlabeled amps
its amazing how much of what audiophiles "know", "night and day" differences fall away under these conditions
now some amps are colored, sometimes deliberately - but if you can't distinguish between some $200 amp with a few dollars of response shaping, impedance padding parts and a $2k amp in controlled listening?
Stereophile's professional reviewers failed the "Carver Challenge" - with their own choice of SOTA tube amp, their speakers, their music, in their listening room vs Carver's tweaked $600 SS amp
Blind testing can be debated in the Sound Science forum - this post is not debating Blind testing - just indicating why some still believe many amp differences are smaller than claimed by high end audiophile marketing, easily EQ'd into inaudibility