I'm surprised Amir hasn't said anything.
I was under the impression that he had read what I had to say and didn't want to hear from me anymore
.
Just in case he does, the best way I can explain the 53 is that it is the first amp I have heard that seems to have no power limit. A little story
. When I first got into boating, I was really concerned about safety. The waters here are very cold and even in summer you can hypothermia and die in just a few minutes! So I would ask every salesman how safe the boat was. I finally got to this boat that I eventually bought and asked the salesman the same question. His answer was, "you will get scared from the waves before the boat does!" And boy was he right. Same with the 53. I have turned it up until it felt like the whole building was going to collapse on top of me but there was zero change in its character. Other powerful amps, including its $20,000 reference ML amp, would give up and cry uncle. Not this one.
I think the explanation is rather simple. In US we have anemic power in our sockets with 110 volts. There just is not enough juice there to fully satisfy the dynamics at the extreme. The 53 is much more efficient than class AB so it is able to put out more power given the same input. The power supply caps fill faster and there is less tendency for distortion to creep in (and or the protection circuit to kick in).
As you may have noted, my evaluation of amps is rather objective
. So I can't convey anything about other qualities. I look to them to do what I ask them which is keep getting louder as I turn the volume
.