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Do AMPs actually vary in sound signature or is that snake oil? (alien.top)

submitted 1 year ago by General-Wrap-7858@alien.top to c/headphones@hi-fi.community

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I've seen people state both that they so not influence the tuning as long as they deliver the same power and others stating that they can make headphones "sound warmer" or "brighter". I don't see how that would happen though and a lot of audiophiles just hear things that I feel aren't there, like some noise difference between the Apple DAC Dongle and a 500 EUR DAC using an off the rack chip.

Take this comment from ASR:

Amps are more likely to make an audible difference than most DACs, but that certainly doesn't mean there are audible differences between most amps

I'm talking purely about AMPs here, not a DAC combination.

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[–] SchiitMjolnir2@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Tube amps will definitely have a noticeable difference than solid state amps due to much higher output impedance and the very high 2nd order harmonic resonance (depending on tubes and tube circuit)

[–] CatBroiler@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

Yeah, and that's why it's so fun to tube roll. Buy a bunch of different tubes and they will all sound noticeably different.