It brings up an interesting question; Possibly one area of clinical testing where the bench-side results could lend themselves as to what extent response is affecting the sound, -as they apparently did not, in the listening tests, with the Tripath architecture.
I can tell you that I have tested it on very benign, efficient, 8 Ohm speakers as well as notoriously inefficient 4 Ohm speakers, and while I prefer the sound of the former, the latter seem not to produce any sort of high frequency induced fatigue Both tweeters, (SS Revelator, Dynaudio Esotec,) are equally well known for their ability to sound extremely detailed without any stridency in those registers, and as such, make good test subjects. If I had to recklessly venture an opinion, I would dare say that, "to these ears," "on my equipment," "within my environment," the Panasonic has done very well with both examples, given the two radically different characteristics. I would say it is better off with a benign impedance modulus, but because macro-dynamics are not its strong suit, and because the latter speakers always sound best with a more-is-better approach to amp power. I would also say that the weak point of the unit is not response characteristics, or high frequency anomalies, but limitations brought on by the power supply being used.
My gut tells me that the TI chip amps can be monsters just with a better power supply alone, and that Tripath had better get into the direct digital game fast. Things are about to get really Interesting, Fun, and Positive for the sake of......The Music...... that is what this is all about, right? Fun?
