- Thread Starter
- #161
Same difference - unless the integrated is specifically designed to sound different.... (in which case one has to ask, is it actually high fidelity... but thats a whole different ball of wax).
An integrated, is a pre-amp and a power amp in one box - if properly designed, neither one of them will have its own "sound" - with seperates there can be matching issues with regards to load impedance (same as for speakers and power amps really) - these issues can have an impact on frequency response, etc... - so a mismatched pre and power can indeed end up with its own "sound" - properly matched that is not the case.
Integrated's are by design "properly matched" - so unless they were designed intentionally to alter the signal (wouldn't that be distortion, by definition!?) - they would not have a "sound".
Many preamps have intentional adjustment features - graphic equalisers, tone controls, loudness settings, or in the current generation Room EQ DSP's - these intentionally alter the sound in various ways.... but all preamps or integrated's that I know of, have a setting for direct straight through pure reproduction (ie disable all alterations and pass the signal through transparently) in which case they don't have their own sound.... (or should not have their own sound!).
There have been quite a few blind tests over the years, and when properly run, very few of the people who sat the tests have been able to differentiate between components... (includes preamps, integrateds and power amps, also CD players and other digital sources - does not so much apply to speakers and TT cartridges.... those are items where the flaws are legion.... )
I disagree 99% cause I can't be 100% sure when it comes to these things. I'm not even going to name them but there are some people who do reviews of these devices all the time that say otherwise for years. Are you telling me all of them are lying all the time ? I'm not buying it.