https://www.whathifi.com/forum/hi-fi/li ... -yamaha-rx
So I just came back from an HiFi store, and I compared the differences between my set-up (...)
This store allowed me to switch "live" between amplifiers so that there was no gap whatsoever when switching, just instant switching while music is played. I brought a friend who controlled the switchboard, so that I did not know which amp was playing. I just stated when I thought something sounded better or worse. (...) The source was my USB stick on a similar priced Marantz tuner, so the DAC remained constant.
Interestingly enough, not knowing which amp was playing, I could not give consistent answers to what sounded better or worse and in which way. I have read a whole bunch about Marantz being on the warm side, NAD being on the bright side, but in this test, they were all VERY similar. The receiver being slightly more forward than the others, which made it sound a little less sophisticated to my ears. But I repeat all the differences were VERY VERY subtle. I would say they would be totally inaudible if the switching was not done "live".
In the past I have tested Marantz, NAD and Rotel on B&W speakers, but not blind, and I thought I really heard the NAD being brighter than Rotel, Marantz being warmer than Rotel. This time, blind test, after two hours I could still not tell which amp was which.
Then I tried playing on some serious SPLs. Here I noticed that especially the RA-1570 had some more energy than the RA-12, and the RA-12 got rather hot, while the RA-1570 remained pretty cool. Still, I could not say that certain combinations sound awful and some wonderful, it was still VERY similar. Also I did not find any of the amps incapable of driving the speakers.
I find it interesting to share this, because when reading about amplifiers and their pairing with speakers, people tend to describe that different amps sound like day and night. I really really have to disagree with this after today. The differences are there, but extremely subtle, and certainly not worth investing an extra say €1500 (to me).
Some people might think/say that I am just not able to hear the differences, which I highly doubt, or people might say the speakers are not revealing enough, which might be partly true, although it would not make sense to connect €20000 euro speakers to a Rotel RA-12.
Impossible pour moi de ne pas avoir un sourire fendu jusqu'aux oreilles en lisant ça...
Parfois, y a rien d'audible comme différence parce qu'il n'y à rien à entendre comme différence. That's it. Ampli, pré-ampli... Bof! Tout cela était sur un DAC commun en plus, alors dans toute cette histoire d'électronique il ne reste que le DAC à tester en aveugle je pense.