aj,
You may be missing the point of the tube line buffers. Think of these units as running the signal through a high quality tube preamp (that lacks a volume control) and provides a better impedance match with the amp. If you really think about this it is very easy to see how the sonics would be affected.
Maybe people don't use these units because they don't realize how much improvement they can make. But look at it this way, you can buy a good used muscle amp for well under $1000 then combine it with one of these inexpensive tube line buffers for $100 and have a combination that will perform as well as many much more expensive audiophile amplifiers. I can demonstrate and back this up very easily.
You may be missing the point of the tube line buffers. Think of these units as running the signal through a high quality tube preamp (that lacks a volume control) and provides a better impedance match with the amp. If you really think about this it is very easy to see how the sonics would be affected.
Maybe people don't use these units because they don't realize how much improvement they can make. But look at it this way, you can buy a good used muscle amp for well under $1000 then combine it with one of these inexpensive tube line buffers for $100 and have a combination that will perform as well as many much more expensive audiophile amplifiers. I can demonstrate and back this up very easily.