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As I have said repeatedly, I have been told that the LSA and Peachtree amps use the same amp modules. They have the same lack of post filter feedback. This leads to a frequency response dependent on load regardless of devices, switching frequency, etc. I don't like frequency dependent designs. We have moved passed this in class d.
Your requirement is logically flawed and impossible to satisfy. An amp can't create "the sound of live, unamplified music in a good acoustic space". All an amp can do is take an input and make it larger, as accurate to the source as possible. The recording, source, the room acoustics, and all the other electronics in the chain play a part in modifying and converting that signal before it gets to you ears, and from there, your own perceptions further interpret the signal. It's an interdependent system. If an amp does anything to modify the signal, it isn't an amp, it's an effects box. The best we can do is to take the source and make it bigger. If the result isn't what you consider "the sound of live, unamplified music in a good acoustic space", there are innumerable possibilities why that is so, from the source material to room acoustics, to distortion in the signal chain. Today's amplifiers produce so little distortion, phase shift, etc., that the problem is almost always somewhere else in the chain, either because of interactions or where distortions are many magnitudes greater.
Right, again I agree with you, an amp should be as neutral as possible. But since an amp has many different ways to accomplish this, you need some kind of real life reference in order to spot-check to see if neutrality is actually achieved. For example, let's assume for a minute that your assertion that the new GaN amps are load-dependent. Obviously nobody wants to have anything fluctuating based on load. Again, let's assume this is true of the GaN amps, and we know that it's NOT true of the Hypex amps, because we can see it in the measurements.Now, people listen to both amps and decide that the GaN sounds better. How can that happen? To me, this would suggest that the thing being measured (load dependency) has less effect on sound quality than some other factor that the GaN is actually doing better. There's something not being measured (but should be), and the GaN is getting this other area right and the Hypex is not. This is how you can have an amp that measures better but sounds worse. It's not a call to dismiss people's feedback as 'subjective' and thus not to be taken seriously. Rather, it's a call to try to investigate and see what one amp is doing better than the other amp that's not accounted for in the current measurements. That's the only way to actually know if your amp is any good or not. Otherwise you just end up in an echo chamber where anyone that criticizes your design is excoriated and dismissed out of hand for the heresy of actually criticizing the amp.
For example, let's assume for a minute that your assertion that the new GaN amps are load-dependent. Obviously nobody wants to have anything fluctuating based on load. Again, let's assume this is true of the GaN amps, and we know that it's NOT true of the Hypex amps, because we can see it in the measurements.Now, people listen to both amps and decide that the GaN sounds better. How can that happen? To me, this would suggest that the thing being measured (load dependency) has less effect on sound quality than some other factor that the GaN is actually doing better. There's something not being measured (but should be), and the GaN is getting this other area right and the Hypex is not.
Sigh, I am clearly not getting through. OK, let me try this again. Here's a hypothetical for you. 2 amps measure the same, but they sound different. Which one is correct and what method would you use to determine which amp was the more correct amp?
Give me an example of two amps that measure identically and sound differently in the same system.
I have contacted Peachtree to ask to respond to a series of questions regarding the Gan400.
That's why it's called a hypothetical. It's hypothetical. Hypothetically, 2 amps measure the same, but sound different. How do you determine which one is correct?
Why would Peachtree be the best place make technical inquiries on an amp module they source from a third party? "Peachtree uses the GaN Systems HEMT and Elegant Audio Systems is listed as one of their partners. If you go to the GaN Systems website, they have reference boards and detailed information about their reference designs. If you look at the pictures in the reference designs, you will see that those also are from Elegant Audio Solutions."
your hypothetical question has multi flawed hypothesis- those being 1. that there are two amps that measure identically but sound different, and 2. that sounding "different", a subjective opinion, can be objectively verified.
Load dependent frequency response vs load invariant frequency response. Which is Purifi and which is the GaN amp module said to be used by Peachtree and LSA?
I'm not hypothesizing anything. I am proposing a problem and I am curious how you would go about investigating and solving it.
Your problem, as defined, can not be tested since 1) there are no two amps that measure identically and 2) "sounding differently" is an example of qualia which does not lend itself to a scientific third-person analysis.
So remind me again, which one sounds better?
Your words:"For example, let's assume for a minute that your assertion that the new GaN amps are load-dependent. Obviously nobody wants to have anything fluctuating based on load. Again, let's assume this is true of the GaN amps, and we know that it's NOT true of the Hypex amps, because we can see it in the measurements."I just showed you that my assertion is true, you don't have to assume anything. You just said: "Obviously nobody wants to have anything fluctuating based on load." so you tell me how it sounds, since you have dismissed it above.
I could argue that you are simply being obstinate to try to avoid answering the question in an honest manner. OK, let me try a different track.Lets say you develop a new way to measure an amp. Some amps measure very high on this new measure, and other amps measure very low on this new measure. How do you determine if this measurement has any correlation to an amp's sound?
Perhaps you should spend some time reading the research of Dr. Floyd Toole and many others who have attempted to correlate audio phenomena with human perceptions, i.e., psychoacoustics.
