Bernard, again we run into the old problem that impressions formed from informal listening may not reflect reality. In a presentation to an AES meeting on the necessity of carefully controlled blind testing, Dr. Toole emphasized the point with the comment that "If you can see what you're listening to, you can't hear it". Alan has simply described what we've learned(at least those of us willing to learn)about amplifiers. If you haven't studied it before you may find the
Stereo Review amplifier blind test report to be informative. Note among other items that a correctly designed $12,000 pair of tube amplifiers(i.e. they didn't have a flawed "tube sound")were indistinguishable from the $220 Pioneer receiver, as was the $2,000 Mark Levinson. It's also notable how the clear differences reported before the blind sessions began disappeared once the participants actually had to "trust their ears".
