With music it was more apparent at moderate to high volumes. With HT I found it harder to discern but on loud passages the difference was apparent as well. For HT I keep the Arcam at around 80db.
A problem with my Outlaw 770 and many other amps is that a significant amount of the watts specified get lost as heat. Just about every amp I have known are just not as efficient as the A1400-8. I remember reading some time ago at the Audioholics forums that the 770 is only 40% efficient or 60% of the energy gets dissipitated as heat. That means that of the 1800W they brag there really is only 720W ( 40% x 1800W) of available power or only 720W/7 = 103W per channel. There is no way it will output the spec'd 200W@ 8ohms into my speakers. Which means more clipping at peaks during intense movie scenes or in concert DVDs.
I'm not knocking Outlaw just pointing out a big problem with interpreting the power numbers thrown around by many amp manufactuerers including or especially the ones in receivers. While the lab numbers are worth knowing, without knowing the efficiency of the amp its performance will not be as much as you think.
Now lets look at the A1400-A. Because of their brilliant engineering using only Class D, it is rated at 92% efficient though because of Axioms usually understated conservative approach I questioned it and they fessed up that the efficiency is more like 96% or 1344 available watts. With all 7 channels going under the same simulataneus load, and ignoring for now the Axiom amp's unique ability to route more power to whatever channel demands it, the A1400-8 has 192W available. Also note that if you run fewer channels there is even more power available per channel ie 267W for 5 channels while the Outlaw never changes from 102W. The Axiom amp will likely do more but its limited by the typical 15 amp house circuit.
Then their is the speed of the amps. The Axiom amp has far better slew rate and rise time. It also benefits from how the capacitors are arrayed with different sized caps while the Outlaw has 7 same sized 22,600 uF of capacitance per channel (158,200 uF total). Even though the total capacitance of the Axiom is slighly less at 140,000 uF because it has different sized caps it can respond faster to the input signal. That means more clearly defined transients and higher resolution sound.
The A1400-8 also benefits from uniquely designed silicone output transistors proprietary to Axiom. On this point, I have had better luck trying to acquire a key to Fort Knox.
Anyway, the Axiom amp is a big step up in performance compared to the Outlaw. Having said that the Outlaw its a respectable amp for the price.
