HIFI Critic class D group test.

80 years ago folks found it impossible to distinguish between an electrical recording produced thru an "HMV horn" and the real thing ...... 20 years from now audiophiles will be amazed at what we put up with now, even the best (and few - including me, sadly - can afford that).

In terms of what 99.9% of audiophiles can afford, compromise is the name of the game and we each have to make our own choices.

So slagging off class D amps (or ceramic drivers or whatever) is just plain daft - they do some things really well. Others will have different priorities and tastes. And that is fair enough.

 

Not subscribing to this publication what did they say?

I haven't listened to any of these amps other than a brief 30 minutes or so with one of the Pro-Ject power amps into my Yams. A bit soft in the bass and bit rolled off on top, but good midrange, nice and clean sounding and not bad for £150 I thought. Certainly didn't do anything nasty and the Yams usually tell you if they are. From what I understand the vast majority of them are going into the install market anyway, where an inexpensive, efficient but sturdy little box you can hide with remote switch on is exactly what you want. cute too.

 

basically they crapped them, said they could deliver dynamics but that pretty much everything else was poorer than linear competitors.

like i said earlier, nothing new in one person liking one product and hating anohter, or in this case an entire class of products.

the initial post was more to do with him having the balls and latitude to give such a no holds bar opinion.

last panning i read was some shite magnetic amp in HFN.

the flip side of the review is that i wnat to hear these now, to see what they do sound like so i can use that as a reference for all his other reviews.

 

Well fair does ... he seems to be saying it like he heard it, and in the case if the more expensive stuff ... well there's a lot of competition isn't there, but in my admittedly very brief exposure to the frankly cheap as chips Pro-Ject amp I couldn't really hear anything too much to complain about for the money. I mean in that specific case what £150, 25wpc, size of two fag packets, draws next to nothing, generates no heat power amp competition (or even trad linear competition) was he comparing it to?

 

i'd guess it would be the basement rotels, i've seen him review those.

thought to be honest dissing anything at £150 a box seems kinda harsh.

 

Unless it was terrible ... which so far as I could hear it wasn't.

 

Jerry,

It's talk of this kind of nonsense that has got us where we are today. Bland, but brilliant, hifi but no music!

 

Sorry - OK, it's a bit Aristotle-ian to break things down into component parts (others might call it a necessary part of the Scientific Method) but to me it's necessary. Just saying, that sounds real, or perhaps better - that sound 78% real doesn't seem to get us very far.

What terms do you use then? Or do you just measure the rate at which your feet tap?

 

i think they probably sound a bit 'old Naim'....lol.

 

I wasn't having a dig, Jerry.

All that stuff, to me anyway, is just reviewer talk. They have to write something so I suppose they have to break it down to fill the word quota. I mean, what the feck is bass slam? I don't remember ever leaving a concert of any genre of music thinking to myself 'wow, that bass slam was amazing'. I'm not in the 'foot tapping', head nodding, flat earth either. PRAT is just another term to deflect from a component or systems shortcomings.

IMO a large amount of the current commercially available equipment is totally underwhelming, made to impress but not of much use to the listener who wants to get closer to the music itself. With the ever spiralling costs asked by most manufacturers for this tedious equipment I wouldn't be surprised to see a return to DIY & kit building as the prominent force in advancing the art (if it's not already). This was the situation three or four decades ago, I understand.

 

Fair enough & I think 'Audio terminology' is being addressed by another current thread (which I haven't looked at yet).


But, come on SS, we need to have a common set of labels to be able to discuss things and have even the vaguest chance of knowing what the other folk think.

I sure do know what 'bass slam' is - and no it's not important to me - I'm a classical fan - and, no, I've never heard bass slam at a concert! But I've sure heard it on my hifi rig, with the right components, playing a Blondie CD . It's a fast transient solid 'shudder' that hits you in the pit of your stomach and generally re-arranges your internal organs - most kit can't do this, but I can understand that for some rock fans, it's a great trick to have! And why not? - if they enjoy it.

I could make a stronger case for needing a sense of 'soundstage' to more reflect reality and make reproduced music sound less "hifi", but perhaps I should just hook up to that other thread!

So really, just 'tween you and me SS, how do you communcate things audio?

 

Remeber what hi-fi news used to do?

Each critic listed their favourite kit in the selective price bands. So you could see if you agreed with them. That's very very useful. The most USELESS reviews are by someone who is always possitive about everything. I would question anyone who's like this.

For me WM's digital amps were some of my favourite ever (he modded them), along with my other favourites of Pass Labs X600's and the amps of my choice which are Audio Research.... (yeah I'm weird).