Even-order distortion usually comes from tube amps. Odd-order comes from solid-state amps.
Absolutely right, I meant solid-state not digital, and tube/valve not analogue.
In practice there's no such thing as a digital amp.Actuallythereare, but the market indeed seems to be very small atm, they seem to be mainly used in active speakers.
No, actually it's not. As a simple google search (oh the horror) will reveal, there are well documented differences between the audio produced by digital and analogue amplifiers.
Turn up the bass, and poof, sounds warmer.
Bass doesn't equal warmth; an analogue amp may well produce less bass, but the nature of distortion (even vs odd) leads to the effect we descibe as warmth. Even-order distortion is as unique to analogue amps as odd-order distortion is to digital amps, and this is completely unrelated to bass.
I'm not saying that turning up the bass doesn't make shitty little systems sound better, because it often does. However, most shitty little systems come with shitty little speakers that tend to deal with bass badly (or are just underpowered), thereby introducing a far worse distortion.
Using an analogue amplifier can make a real difference to your listening experience, and you can still turn the bass up afterwards...
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Even-order distortion usually comes from tube amps. Odd-order comes from solid-state amps. Absolutely right, I meant solid-state not digital, and tube/valve not analogue. In practice there's no such thing as a digital amp. Actually there are, but the market indeed seems to be very small atm, they seem to be mainly used in active speakers.
It's all psychological. Or settings.
No, actually it's not. As a simple google search (oh the horror) will reveal, there are well documented differences between the audio produced by digital and analogue amplifiers.
Turn up the bass, and poof, sounds warmer.
Bass doesn't equal warmth; an analogue amp may well produce less bass, but the nature of distortion (even vs odd) leads to the effect we descibe as warmth. Even-order distortion is as unique to analogue amps as odd-order distortion is to digital amps, and this is completely unrelated to bass.
I'm not saying that turning up the bass doesn't make shitty little systems sound better, because it often does. However, most shitty little systems come with shitty little speakers that tend to deal with bass badly (or are just underpowered), thereby introducing a far worse distortion.
Using an analogue amplifier can make a real difference to your listening experience, and you can still turn the bass up afterwards...