Amps do sound different but not nearly as much as speakers.

I am not even an audiophile, I just love music. The reason I keep watching these videos is Paul’s wisdom and absolutely sympathetic nature. It just warms your heart that in this crazy world there are still people around like Paul. Thank you!

Would love to see a video of you blind testing different pricepoint amps

Cost is not the best metric for good audio. Good passionate skilled engineering makes good audio.

Thanks again Paul ,the voice of reason in the audiophile world

... and that's why I ONLY use clippers with red handles.... yup

I repaired amplifiers for 11 years. Mostly I ran them on my reasonable test speakers so I got to hear a large range of brands and models. Some sounded a little cleaner/ clearer than others. Some held their clarity a little better at volume (such as class A amps). On the whole, not a great difference to my ears using my own test discs... except for one... Technics "new class A" amps. I could tell a difference immediately. Sometimes I would be connecting one up on the bench and I hadn't even looked at the label yet. The amp would come on and I'd say "wow". I can hear the tops that much clearer. I can hear tiny nuances that just don't seem to come through with most others. I'd then look at the front panel, see the Technics new class A label and say "ahh, right". They were not the most expensive amps but boy could I hear the difference over many of the much more expensive ones I fixed. No wonder they still go for good money when you can find one. Anyone else like that series?

I use those optivisers for jewelery making. 😆 And I just threw all my yellow tools out.

Also sometimes a cheaper amp can sound better because it is a better match for a certain speaker. As a matter of fact, matching an amplifier with speakers should be the goal. I have an expensive Hegel amplifier that 80% of the time mops the floor with my Rotel integrated. But my Rotel with one particular set of expensive speakers I own blows my Hegel out of the water.

I've tried many amps over the years and each one has had it's own character. Even with speakers that were in theory not as revealing the differences were there. Where I differ with Paul and from most people commenting is that from my experience I would recommend spending more on a better amplifier and perhaps a little less on the speakers. I find an incompetent amplifier driving a pair of great speakers generally sounds less satisfying than a better amp driving driving a pair of speakers a little further down in the line.

Of course amps sound different. All things being the same except the amp its easy to hear. Especially between my vintage from the 70s and my new digital one. Huge difference.

Price aside, some amps do sound better than others. Just last night I hooked up a pair of AR tower speakers I had set aside to see how they would sound in a room. I had recently acquired a Rotel RB-1092 amp so I thought I'd use it. My first thought was, I remember these speakers sounding better. I decided to try a Carver TFM-15CB I have and then the AR's came alive! Definitely a better sound. More dynamic for sure. I wasn't even planning on doing an AB comparison but I was so underwhelmed by the Rotel, and it wasn't a cheap amp when it was new.

Sometimes, you can easily tell the difference between two devices. But which one is better? That's depends on you preference. So maybe you don't need to care about the difference, just try to choose the right one for yourself.

A definition of "better" is open for discussion in this ludicrous audio world.

How would the $30 class D amps go compared with a 3 grand amp? I compared my Jaycar cheap class D amp with a Jaycar $300 class B amp and there was heaps of difference. The $300 amp killed the $30 amp not only in power but also quality. It's the difference in quality that was so obvious. But the difference is only really apparent with A-B tests. Before doing the test I thought the class D was "impressive". I wish I did it with a blindfold. But I expected way less difference, so maybe I did get it right without the blindfold.

There are bad matches with amps and speakers, but it's more to do with cheaper amps not being able to handle lower impedance loads etc.. Technically you can't "hear" and amp, your only hearing your speakers which the amp sends power... I think you could argue this forever but the last person that would give an honest answer or take a live blind test would be the guy selling amplifiers...

Imagine you are in an art gallery, standing some 20 meters away from a wall with two seemingly identical paintings. For simplicity, let's assume this is modern art, and both are just massive rectangles of pure red color. From a distance they look absolutely identical. When you get up close, you notice that not only does the left one have a slightly different color, but the paint isn't evenly thick, with small spots missing color completely, and with visible, huge brush strokes. The other one is like an impossibly perfect rectangle of red, like the painting was born like that and not covered with paint. The left one also has small spots of what looks like black or gray paint spattered all over it, and the outer edges are somewhat rough. That's the difference between a cheap amplifier and an expensive one. They may have similar sound characteristics when listened to for just a couple of seconds (the folly of quick A/B tests), but the more you listen, the bigger the difference gets. The cheap amp sounds thinner, with more noise, less smoothness, and the space between the notes aren't as silky black as what the expensive amp is capable of. Sound staging will often be compromised as well - width, depth and height will be smaller than what the expensive amp can muster. It's not dissimilar from how the same sound system may sound better at night - but with even bigger differences as the difference in price increases. Remember - it's the SLOW listening that matters - not the quick "is this better or that" tests that so many think are of any use. They are not. Good equipment will give you less listening fatigue and you will play more music in longer sessions.

Most people probably will not tell the difference from a 1k amp to a 10k amp, and if they could is the extra cash worth the extra improvement . No , not unless you have money to burn, or a hardened enthusiast

Having started out with cheaper amps and moving up, in general, when you pay more you get better sound quality. But there are affordable amps that sound very satisfying. You got to differentiate ... ‘Satisfying’ vs ‘Great Sounding’ too. But at times a great sounding amp may not have the sort of sound signature that we like. Some people like it neutral. Some hate the etched highs. Some like some bass. There are quite a few factors that come into play. One of the British speaker manufacturer’s forum says they are all the same. All amps are supposed to be just a wire with gain. As long as they measure flat, they are the same. No point spending on expensive boutique brand amps. Yeah right ... They even say, tubes suck. The brand owner himself says he’s produced a good product and why is it wasted on tube systems that are relatively full of distortion etc. Yeah right ...

I have tried my av amp in my Hifi set up and they certainly sound different!

All amps sound different. And very obviously so. Better, worse...whatever. Definitely different

Simple answer should be that People should simply listen and try and compare things for themselves before they invest . Only use reviews as an initial reference. Mind you if people are lucky enough that they can't hear the difference then that's great for them...as they will save a fortune and a life time of buying selling and dreaming or upgrading until satisfied .

Sometime yes as an exception.

It's true that my 10 year old, £300 Cambridge Audio amp sounds amazing!!

Good old "Optivisor" Been using them for 36 years!

The whole internet/KZfaq claims well explained, very good, I totally agree.

Sound quality is only part of the cost of amplifiers. Quality of internal parts is a factor. Reliability is also a factor. And also R&D is another factor.

It is possible but rare. The difference in the quality of the circuit boards, the quality of the parts that get put on those boards, the method of attaching those parts to those boards and the list goes on. I have listened to amps from a couple of hundred to many hundreds of thousands. Yes, there are differences but I have found the farther you go up the chain you run into the law of diminishing returns. It's not really a law but it does show a good point.

Some great points Paul you've got such a nice way of explaining things,I must thank for all the education over the last few years since I started getting your emails and watching your videos.

Over the years I believe 1 thing in regards to sound. "Trust your ears".

Thanks again Paul! You didn't get political, but you sure did get philosophical! Love it.

It’s the reason anyone buys interconnects, speaker cable, power cables, audio wall outlets and that is the purity of copper, tolerance of components, even then at certain volume a cheap amp might match the quality, turn it up and listen to what happens

at the end of day is the sum of all components is what makes the "Sound of a system." not just the amp loudspeakers and crossover components make an amp extension so its all relative.

Yeah, and some salesman on the internet that sells veery expensive amps from a company called "PS Audio" will ofcourse say that those very expensive amps sounds better than a cheap one. The truth is that many cheaper amps nowadays measures better than what our human ears can hear and those blind test prove that.

wow, I did not expect this one to go philosophical :)

I think there are a few things to point out here : 1) The definition of "Better" Is different for every listener ; 2) Amp 1 Is Not necessarily Better than amp 2...It might be Better to your ears or drive Those specific speakers you are using Better ; 3) There are non-quality related factors that Will affect price so sometimes a cheaper amp might sound Better (TO YOU) than an expensive One. For example I would pick my Harman Kardon A402 over most of the Amps that you can find for less than 1000

Well said paul, there's lot people that just do hear the difference, that's because they are just not tuned in like us audiophiles, we are a special breed, that's not undermining the people that don't hear the difference, its just the truth, but there's load of very good audiophile amps out there that are cheap & I mean cheap, so you can be a audiophile on a budget & get really good sound.

The thing is "different" doesn't necessarily mean "better". And even if it actually means "better" immediately we must address the automatic next question "better for what?" . Because some amps sound better for some kind of music and no more. There is no universally better amp.

I love the way your lab looks So mad scientist looking

Very well said! As someone already said, you are a voice of reason in the audiophile world.

Your microphone is clipping again! Thanks for the great videos. :)

It's all relative. My 3.5 Watt Audion 2A3 driving RETHMs sounded lightyears better than MacIntosh or Carver I used to have driving whatever I had at the time. The First Watt SIT3 I have now is relatively cheap in the grand scheme of things and with my Cube Nenuphar (not cheap)I think it would be difficult to squeeze another few percent improvement with a different amplifier at any cost. If I were to win the lottery tomorrow I would keep the SIT3 and Nenuphar as the heart of my system. Probably start looking at a Ypsilon phono stage and Koetsu stone carts.

Hey Paul, appreciate your videos and specially your input regarding "the truth" issue when you went to the weeds By the way, Im using a vintage cheap akai aa1030 which for me is too great to change 😂

believe your own ears. but that means ya gotta do a lot of listening.

I have two amps made by different manufacturers that have similar power outputs. The one amp costs twice as much as the other and honestly sounds almost twice as good. The more expensive amp has a higher quality built in DAC and a ton of DSP settings though. This could be the reason why it sounds better though but i'm no expert. The comparison should be between two amps with the same specs.

Thanks Paul

Why do some people say that a 4ohms can be powered by a less expensive power amp? Is it because the 4 ohm speaker is better built and can handle the cheaper amp? Can someone shed some light on this? Thank you

"Bob's gonna be pissed" Chuckle, chuckle! Love to watch these vids' Paul. lmao once again. Keep them coming!

no.voltage/electricity is what we preceived as sound.that's what we hear.

out of curiosity I priced PS audio products was actually quite impressed that a person can acquire equipment of that caliber of the stellar line for what I feel a reasonable price, not cheap but not outlandish.if I was ever to the point where I was ever going to be able to afford equipment of that quality I would not think twice of buying PS audio, and paul I think you would take the fear out of investing in higher end equipment.

What the hell is 2160p? That's really needed to just to see Paul talk?

Also It depends of quality of records that you listening. Bad digital record will be sound on expensive amp, almost bed as on cheap one. The true is parts on expensive ones are nat so much expensive to cost thousands. The brand is that makes the big difference in the price. Of course the quality end the price of parts in expensive one, are mach more, then a cheap ones.

I remember one famous youtube channel post a video that all amp sound the same, end up with shame on him.

Stereophile article on blind listening tests showing a definite difference between two amps: www.stereophile.com/features/113/index.html

I'm confused. Are yellow clippers going to give me cancer?

Some important thoughts about our society

Why are expensive Amps not cheap? There are the same parts in it. Cheap amps are only calculated. You have the transistor and calculate the resistors. Difference of the resistors is 5% . Difference over all can be 10%. Then a roboter puts it together. Now the transistor is running and changes the first two weeks. There is no precision any more, just accidently. Expensive Amps are differently produced. They take the transistors and let them run for two weeks. Then they see what they have. They calculate the resistors. They take a big resistor to get about the right resistance and a small resistor to be exact. This amp is partly handmade, so it is expensive. But can you hear the difference? Ask Paul.

Hey, Paul, thanks for not contributing to all that "rumor clutter".DC

Not sure if you reply to comments but thank you for the new fuses for my pwd. I was worried it wasnt going to turn on amymore. It worked perfect. Would upgraded fuses make any differences in my pwd dac, or the originals are plenty good. Thanks!

There are people that not only can't hear the difference but they don't want to hear that difference 😌 That's the problem

Well from now on I'll be avoiding those yellow clippers.

Taramp's HD 3000 1 Ohm Class D Full Range Mono Amplifier Lanzar VIBE452N Vibe 6000 Watts 4 Channel Mosfet Car Speakers Sub Amplifier What do you think of these what one is better?

what do I need to look for a good sound amp?

Exactly what the CIA does in Venezuela, oh the homelessness, meanwhile in California is riddled with homelessness... . I totally agree with “intentional” chaos And yes, we need to be able to think and asses for ourselves,

Do expensive cars and cheap cars are the same if you respect the speed limit ? Expensive cars will only give you more power and more confort on the road... like expensive amp will do in a system ! Why do poor people always ask that kind of question ? (the answer is in the question, LOL)

In Australia pissed = drunk... Pissed off = mad as in angry.

I guess it's like a painting. When you look at a painting for the first time, in the first 2 seconds you will know if it's just okay or if you absolutely love it. With amps, the first few seconds should tell you if you're impressed or not. If after an hour of listening and you're not sure if it's the better amp, then i didnt have an impact on you so why even bother with it?

good on you ,Paul.

Since you’re speaking of “cheap”, you’re obviously speaking of cost. So, what would you consider to be the cut-off point between cheap and not cheap. To be clear, I concur; it would be like comparing a Koenigsegg hypersport car with a Soviet-made car from the eighties.

holy shit. Now I can justify my expensive audio set up. I will use it as a demonstration in my political communication class when I explain "fake news" to the young students! excellent!!!

Only with theoretically perfect amplifiers, they'll all sound the same. Because an amplification is an amplification, that's all. Differences between amplifiers are the manifestation of signal distortion; something that is inescapable in the real world. I think someone misunderstood that and so a new myth was born.

Luckily, I grew BEFORE the internet and therefor I don't suffer from it's retardation. I trust my ears to steer me in the right direction when it comes to audio and I don't listen to anybody on that subject.

“There are no absolutes” is, it’s self an absolute. I would agree however, that there are very few.

Guys he said it. He said fake news😎🤣

What is cheap and what is expensive, now that is the question ?

Frank said, "don't you eat that yellow snow"

Audio pioneer gives comprehensive lecture on truth and deception using audio equipment as a launching pad

Wow, deep amp wisdom here ;) Who've thought :D

Just go to car audio. Listen to an alpine vs almost any of the big names like Sony or pioneer. There’s just no comparison. The numbers compare but even though I hate alpine everything else, their amps are just head and shoulders above the other mainstream brands. Well that’s early 2000s experience, but you get the picture.

all Chinese amps are just as good as anything that is hand crafted in the USA or Japan! and I am also a co-owner of a dance club with Elvis and & Michael Jackson and on open Mic nights drinks are 1/2 off for the ladies!

A good power supply is necessary for good sound and a cheap amp will have a cheap power supply.

Paying mega bucks for that extra 10% in performance, to me thats the insane part

As we say, clothes don't make the man, in other words, it's not always the expensive items that give you the best sound and vice versa

You heard him guys go get a good cheap amp LOL

Is blind pick the same as ABX test?

Thanks, Paul, you've touched on an inportant distinction here. Does Amp A sound different from Amp B? Sure. Is Amp A better than Amp B? Assuming no obvious failings like 10% THD, subjectivity is going to play a large part.

I think the real trick here is the following. Super HiFi Corp produces a new amp, lets call it the XYZ-2300. First one off the production line is Serial # 1001. Two years later XYZ-2300 Serial # 1475 rolls off the assembly line. Does XYZ-2300 Serial #1001 sound the same as XYZ-2300 Serial # 1475. Probably not. And why not? Note this is a consumer grade product not a military grade product.

Nowt wrong with a good rant!

Taking the phrase, " cheap amps" and adding the term, reputable, would add a new dimension to the question, as there are lots of budget amps out there nowadays, from Very reputable companies that could be classed as giant slayer's, so to speak, you pay for bragging rights, always have always will,,😁

this video should have been 1:30 > long

a myth? on the internet? you really think someone would just go on the internet and tell lies??

How good it sounds subjective and also controlled by rooms, placement, speakers and input sources. If I were an unscrupulous seller of cheap, crappy amplifiers, I could set up a blind test using the worst speakers and an awful $20 turntable with a worn-out stylus. A $20,000 amp won't make that pile of sh*t sound any better. Voila! I'll have a blind test that "proves" my cheap and sounds as good as the expensive rival.

MOST amplifiers do not sound good. Just look at used markets. A lot of expensive machines that nobody wants to buy for less than 50% (amps are now sold at 40% of msrp). Why? Typically, a potential buyer IMMEDIATELY goes to KZfaq (where else) to get a sense how the amp sounds. If it sounds good (most do not) the potential buyer then goes to Stereophile site tocheckon JA measurements (basically just reading his conclusion). And if he does not read something like "excellent measured performance" or "superb engineering" he will not buy. It is AMAZING that amp vendors do not have KZfaq labs showing recordings of their puppies. Maybe they are afraid. And for the reason.

There are differences between every equipment and cables. The people that can't hear the differences is because those people have very bad speaker Positioning Setups, which mask all the differences. Yes and that's a fact and I will prove everyone of those people wrong over and over wrong guaranteed. Try me and experience the differences.

What is the different in sound? What does sound better mean? Are there words to describe it?

Well said

If you play steely Dan on a cheap amp, it sounds good. If you play sex pistols on an expensive amp, it sounds terrible.

I dont care what people think, i like BOSE stuff, why? well for starters no other company can get such good and wide sound out of 2 2x5" drivers in a soundbar, and they have been around for 60 years, and the fact they are built extremely well for their price, im sick of all the childish BOSE haters on the internet they need to get a life. its MY preference and NOBODY can tell ME what i can or cant have

So 'the powers that be' are responsible for the false claims on the internet? Hmmm...

Squirrel