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harmonic richness, subtle distortion and compression are absolutely key to what most people associate with a pleasing sound
But they are already there in natural music. You don't need a bad amplifier adding more of them.
gbj_tester-
Desirable added harmonics in hifi is a new concept for me, but that was what I was thinking. Surely the best place to have harmonics is in the recording of the guitar amp, the piano, the mic pre-amp, and then reproduce those as carefully as possible.
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But they are already there in natural music. You don't need a bad amplifier adding more of them
Yes but... when it was recorded and mastered and played back, the people who did the recording did so in the knowledge that it sounded as good as they could make it on the enjoyably "flawed" equipment of the day, not in the belief that it would one day achieve perfection by being replicated on flawless future tech.
I'm not saying that modern design, manufacture and measurement can't improve the listening experience, i'm just saying that it doesn't necessarily follow that audio nirvana lies in being the closest to totally transparent.
Edit: Well, I suppose it does if that's how you set the criteria and measure success against it without using your ears...
rodan
Dooks-Fatberg
Exactly, harmonic richness, subtle distortion and compression are absolutely key to what most people associate with a pleasing sound. That reviewer is effectively dismissing a product with having listened to it based on the premise that the closer to an arbitrary theoretical perfection your stats are, the better something will sound. It's a fundamentally nuts proposition.