The opening paragraph of a recent stereophile review of the DartZeel NHB-458 by Michael Fremer caught my attention:
This goes against my own personal experiences where I have always found higher end well designed gear to approach to what I consider an increasingly more neutral and accurate sound. Of course I have not heard nearly as many components as Michael. What are your experiences and do you agree this is something to celebrate???
"A recent (unpublished) letter to the editor argued that the reference for audio perfection is the sound of real instruments in a real space. The writer claimed that, since the art and/or science of audio is advancing, and because it is a "scientific truth" that the closer you get to perfection, the less divergence there is components, that therefore there should be less difference in sound among the components listed in Class A of Stereophile's "Recommended Components" than among those in Class B, much less Class C. This should be true of loudspeakers, he said, but even more true of top-rated amplifiers, since "they inherently have less divergence."
Over the last few years I've reviewed a number of truly fine amplifiers, including the Musical Fidelity kW and Titan, the VTL MB-450 Series III Signature, the Soulution 710, the MBL Reference 9011, and now the darTZeel NHB-458. I can assure you that, while each is a Class A performer, all sound very different from one another. We are a long way from approaching the sonic uniformity predicted by the letter writer, and that's something to celebrate."
Over the last few years I've reviewed a number of truly fine amplifiers, including the Musical Fidelity kW and Titan, the VTL MB-450 Series III Signature, the Soulution 710, the MBL Reference 9011, and now the darTZeel NHB-458. I can assure you that, while each is a Class A performer, all sound very different from one another. We are a long way from approaching the sonic uniformity predicted by the letter writer, and that's something to celebrate."
This goes against my own personal experiences where I have always found higher end well designed gear to approach to what I consider an increasingly more neutral and accurate sound. Of course I have not heard nearly as many components as Michael. What are your experiences and do you agree this is something to celebrate???