I would never say that all electronics sound the same, though I do believe that all electronics that are competently designed and built should sound the same.
I hear this statement often. I personally don't know if it is true or not as I have not taken the time to test hundreds of amps against each other. But know of someone/entity which has done that with some rigor. That is Ing. Öhman who is a designer and reviewer in Sweden. He has created an interesting test jig for amps. He takes the output, runs it through a high-power voltage divider simulating a cross-over load, and then takes the reduced output and after level matching, compares it to the input. If the amp is 100% transparent, there should be no audible difference in the test. To be sure, there are some issues with his test but overall, I think it is a credible effort. He calls this "bypass testing." His writings are in Swedish and google translation can be challenging to understand. Fortunately, they ran into an interesting test with a Bryston amp which has been translated professionally into English:
http://bryston.com/pdfs/07/Swedish14BSSTReview.pdf
Here are some key quotes:
"The outcome of the second Bypass Test became different
from ever before. To explain how, I have to start
with explaining the normal procedure, and results: A
“normal” Bypass-listening test typically involves 3 to 6
listeners, listening to the two alternative signals, B (Before
= bypassed) and A (After = the test object is inserted
into the signal path).
This is first done openly, i.e. all listeners knows which is
B (before object) and A (after object), and that opend
listening is often done for a longer period of time. During
this listening, people are allowed to talk to each
other about what they hear or think they hear. Thus, it’s
possible to “learn from each other”, and vague characteristics
that take a long time to identify for one listener,
typically get identified very fast, due to the crosscommunication
of experiences.
When the blind ”verifying listening” thereafter takes
place, it is still an option to talk to the other listeners, but
of course it is difficult to draw any conclusions since it is
no longer known which one is B or A.
To sum it up, normally there are lots of views, ideas and
opinions regarding the character of the tested amplifier
after the open listening.
That was not the case this time.
We were sitting in open listening for well over one hour,
and no one mentioned a single word about any differences
they either imagined or heard. Actually, that’s the
first time ever something like that has happened.
...This is the first time that none of the listeners
even believed that there was any audible difference
what so ever between input and output of the amplifier."
Pretty compelling stuff in my book
.
