Warm or clinical sounding amplifiers - £500 - £900 range

hi,

k2 was kinda bright and tiring in my system -tried 3 diff  speaker cables.

brio had sime metallic harshness sometimes,and a bit uncontrolled bass, also in my set up. but found a corum where many ppl were complainig abou the same. probably bad synergy too... also some white noise and volume motor noise existed and the sound became bit distorted at higher volume...in my system

with the ki pearl I feel tighter bass and can go louder easily, feel a bit more control.

Any system cam almost be made to sound like the next, depending what mix of amp, speakers & source. Speakers making the biggest difference. All things being equal.

Question for busb,

i have a Primare a31.2 power amp driving Neat Motove 2 speakers, I am currently using a Primare i21 as a pre but thinking of changing & using an m-dac.

i notice you have both, does the mdac offer significant improvements as a pre than the i21 if you have tried it that way ?

My M-DAC replaces a preamp but all 3 inputs are digital with no analogue input capabilities at all. Your Primare could be driven directly from the M-DAC using XLR leads. I don't know how well my system would perform if I connected the DAC to my I21 with its line out to my A34.2  - it would be fairly pointless, I feel.

If you only have digital inputs, you could dispense with your I21. However, I strongly suggest you try this DAC at home (preferably a well run-in demo one) to check the combo isn't too bright for your tastes!

Thanks, I'll see if I can get a home demo from my local dealer & give it a try

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... and others dont! - Hifi News

Do you understand why some call this particular amplifier 'clinical' ... whatever that is? - Could it be that it is simply technically more adept than some others (in a similar vain to some Cambridge Audio Designs)? - Is it possible that a lack of distortion together with great stereo separation and low noise gives more of what is on the disc or whatever media is used? - This will not make it appeal to everybody but it may do to some especially if their speakers vear towards the other extreme. Similarely, wouldn't you like to know that, for example, amplifier A has high output impedance/low damping and so should ideally be paired with a speaker that has high inherent damping?

You see, things are not straight forward. That doesnt mean you have to make unneccesseraly complicated but a modicum of understanding will go a long way towards helping achieving some symmetry.

regards

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Coudn't agree more ...

'Do you understand why some call this particular amplifier 'clinical' ... whatever that is? - Could it be that it is simply technically more adept than some others (in a similar vain to some Cambridge Audio Designs)? - Is it possible that a lack of distortion together with great stereo separation and low noise gives more of what is on the disc or whatever media is used?'

CacáBr - the above is a good point. Which brings me to another point, often overlooked. Most music is now recorded digitally, has been for a long time. It is definitely at that point that the characteristics of voices, instruments start sounding digitised and getting lost. Ask anyone who has worked in a studio (my brother is an experienced acoustic musician and producer) - digitally recorded music sounds cold and clinical and doesn't capture voices/instruments in the same way tape did.

Another point is that (you can test this yourselves) music that contains synthesizers for drums / electronic sounds or even as a substitute for violins or other instruments that utilised analogue synthesizers has a much more beautiful, fuller and alive sound than music recorded with digital synthesizers. 1970's and early 1980s english electronic music in particular are good examples.

So it isn't so easy to get music sounding as it would live by the fact that they're using digital devices/instruments to create and record music. Thus I agree with CacáBr's point - certain amps that are seen as too clean / pure could simply be reproducing how it actually sounds from the first master recording.

So perhaps amps that I prefer (warmer, detailed, lots of depth) could actually be distorting digitally recorded master recordings to make them sound more like live voices and instruments (excluding digital synths!).