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Upsamplers, DACs, jitter, shakes and analogue withdrawals, this is it.

It's not complicated: lots of people like distortion


Relying on THD, THD+noise, or "SINAD" isn't the trick. Simply, THD can be very low but the various harmonics that comprise the overall result can be quite different. Thus a device that is pretty high in 2nd order distortion with maybe a bit of 3rd or 4th but very little higher orders, will probably sound pleasant to most people. Characteristically it will sound smooth, warm, and full-bodied.

Furthermore these low order distortions work well to disguise the shortcomings of other components and of not-so-great recordings, (IMO).

So it's OK to like sort of this sound: no need for apology.

However it isn't accurate to the recording which is what some other people want and like. Granted, some types of music are more demanding of ultimate accuracy than others. Classical orchestral and larger-scale choral music fall into this category, (IMO of course), vernacular forms including Jazz not so much.

True accuracy as opposed to euphonic sound requires the lowest possible distortion overall and especially of higher order harmonics. I attach a pic of the distortion profile of the Purifi 1ET440A amp module: this is very close to SOTA in terms of this criteria.

Measurements might not be everything, but checking out measurements can be narrow down the list of equipment you ought to audition to fulfil your musical tastes.







Dmitri Shostakovich


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