How did you find the iTron compared to the 300b in terms of dynamics? (Especially on big orchestral stuff)
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so many brands, so many opinions. All I can say is that nothing is killed here
Hard to say. I think the iTron is more dynamic because of its ability to start and stop within a millisecond
Didn't hear the new Uno SD G3 with Itron, only 300B. The Itron I heard with the bigger speakers (Duo GT and Trio). What I can say is that with older versions of Duo and Trio, the best I heard them sound was with Thomas Mayer tube amps and AudioPax tube amps. Any time I heard AG with their own amps it was, IMO, a disaster.
Very forward. aggressive and dry. Also what I heard in Munich this year from Itron Trios.
iTron maximizes speed, resolution and detail (sonic attributes that are low on the list of sonic attributes I personally care about).
These don't go together, if you feel like something is analytical, dry and forward that's noise, artifacts from particular amplification devices, impure conductors and basic alloy connectors, and maybe odd-order harmonic distortion. The impression of detail and speed is false and due to high frequency noise and accentuated leading edges. It may seem detailed but it really isn't. This is where "High Fidelity" gets it's negative connotations from, but that's the result of misapprehending flaws for detail.
Genuine resolution is had by eliminating noise and artifacts, with the overall character being relaxed and non-fatiguing. Instead of forward the sound should be at the plane of the speakers and beyond, dry is replaced by realistic timbre and the overall effect is the opposite of aggressive. However, it's also not warm or slow sounding due to excessive warmth and/or even order distortion.
One can like or dislike the iTron (I love my speakers driven by a tube amp) but the iTron itself is NOT noisy / grainy and the soundstage is deep IF it is in the recording. This is my experience (but have to admit, to my ears) having heard iTron in all present models. ITron is solid state, perhaps the best implementation of this, but it remains solid state.
I like your post, Dave. I’ve been trying to distinguish between detail and resolution for a while in my writing, but you articulated it very well.
Basically, I have always thought that a highly resolving system resolves the information that is on the record recording. The best systems I’ve heard are indeed relaxed and non-fatiguing. They are highly resolving with a lot of detail, but the detail is presented naturally and does not sound emphasized or spotlight. I agree that that is an indication of distortion and other problems.
Yes, that's right, there are many brands and many options, but it should be taken into account that most 2a3, 300b tube amps, like Airtight, were not designed for horns with a sensitivity above 100 dB, and Apart from the negative sound effects of using NFB in Airtight circuit, Airtight has low HT voltage in power supply can cause noise especially when paired with high sensitivity horns, which make any noise much more audible, and also if your HT voltage is too low for horns the tone will suffer, and the sense of body and musical engagement can be significantly reduced.so many brands, so many opinions. All I can say is that nothing is killed here
I know some audiophiles who, like you, had their first AG experience with Airtight and were satisfied at first, but later, when they got a proper SET designed specifically for high-sensitivity horns (Viva,Thomas Mayer, Triode lab, Misho Myronov..) they realized how noisy, lean and toneless the Airtight sound was with AG.
I don't know about your hypotheses for everything
But they do go together. I hear from iTron the dryness that Brad is talking about.
Even Class D amps are very fast and have this fast transient response feature that you mentioned, but many of them are still not dynamic, for instance, they're super quick on cymbals and vocal consonants but fail to deliver the full weight or slam of a kick drum orchestra crescendo, it leads to dry and fatiguing sound over the long run even though it's extremely fast and precise.
The iTron amp can easily produce depth. A person came over this past Sunday for a listen. We started with the Unos and then went into listen to the Duos. WIth the Trios, he kept commenting on the layers and layers of informaiton and the depth of the presentation. His comment was something like, I can hear stuff 20 or 30 feet back. (This is not the depth where the sound is simply stuck to the wall.)
Kozak170, I realize you are speaking about classD amps in general and making a point about transient repsone. But, since the conversation has been back and forth about iTron, I would like to clarify that the iTron is not a class D amp. It is a 3W per horn, Class A current amp with no negative feedback. The things that gives the iTron its speed are: 1. there are no passive crossover parts in the signal path smearing the signal and 2. It is a current amp which directly couples the current to the voice coil.
The older AGs driven by AGs own outboard amps/preamps were sounding similar….why they have championed SS with their speakers I will never understand. Engineers mindset rather than listening perhaps??
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