Originally posted by psyprof1:
(3) ideally, there should be a report of the levels of odd vs. even harmonics in the harmonic distortion. You don't see that kind of detail often; sometimes in Stereophile, maybe.
BTW the reason tube amps often sound "better" than solid state, at the same price levels, is that most of their harmonic distortion is even-order.
Enough rant. Just remember, measurements like those in the Ultimate Audio report are cheap and irrelevant.
Even order harmonic distortion components also tend to cover up the audibility of the harsher odd order harmonic distortion components. Tube amps do have odd harmonics, but as can be seen from the following picture of the distortion spectra of a single ended triode amp, the harmonics fall off very rapidly, and are essentially gone by the 5th or 6th harmonic. A typical solid state amp will have distortion components all the way past the 15th or higher. These are very harsh to the ear, even if they are "measured" at .005% or so.
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