Emotiva XBA-2 vs NHT power5

Do you mean XPA-2?

If not the NHT then maybe there's someone who's heard one of the other IcePower amps (D Sonic, Bel Canto, etc) who could make a comparison.

Not blown away by your NHT!

Whats your processor?

Nick

My instinct is that an amp is not going to fix whatever your problem is Amps should not color the sound, and should generally have a near perfect frequency response, low noise and low distortion. Mind you, I am not saying they will sound alike. But if there are differences, they should be minor.

Some people do seem to prefer sound colored a certain way. I wonder if you could play with the EQ to come closer to what you want to hear? Problem is, I heard Audyssey is not customizable. Did you try turning Audyssey off? Maybe it's EQ is not to your tastes. Or maybe changing mic positions slightly, and then recalibrating?

. Where you did not like the NHT, maybe he would. But if you are talking about your uncle needing an amp, Emotiva is one of the best values on the market.

First you say you think you were not happy with NHT, and now you say it's the speakers. I think I give up

As for amps sounding warm, I don't know. Seems a lot of engineer types claim that properly designed solid state amps don't really color the sound. Some may have more distortion than others, but it's usually pretty low. There just does not seem to be a lot of evidence of this whole concept of warm and non warm amps. I know some people don't agree with that, so that's up to you

Isn't that an ICE based amp vs Emotiva the current uprising amp brand here? Should be interesting to see the comparison...