I've read a few articles claiming that, while there's a lot of development in audio technology, amps have more or less remained the same over the years. I think most of them have said that amps today are just as good as (or worse than) amps that were made twenty years ago. Is that true?
gofar99 Messages: 1944 Registered: May 2010 Location: Southern Arizona
Illuminati (5th Degree)
Hi, It kind of depends on what you call improving. Solid state ones are now cheaper and in many ways better than the really early ones. However I sense a plateau on them that is about 5-10 years old. Very small improvements that are unlikely to be noticed. I doubt that there is anyone alive that can hear the difference between 0.1% distortion and 0.05%. Same for a number of other parameters. IMO there has been an improvement in tube based amps. New designs and better components have upped the game there. Cost has not gone down though.