effect of tubes in cd players

I prefer german style cheesecake rather than new york style. Let me assure you the differences are NOT small.

Generalizations cannot be made on this topic IMO, any more than generalizations about SS outputs. It is very dependent on the design. Most tube designs have poorly designed power supplies and distribution, not to mention poor parts selection, so they appear to have "bloom" or HF roll-off or flabby bass. There is no reason why a tube design cannot sound a LOT like a decent SS design, and can be even better due to better dynamic linearity. It is also very dependent on the AC-coupling capacitors. Many times, it is the capacitors that you hear, not the tubes.

There are a few tubes that just dont perform well in ANY design, but there are the same analogies with op-amps and even transistors....these are the exception, not the rule.

>There is no reason why a tube design cannot sound a LOT like a decent SS design,<

That is if you want your system to sound as though it has a "decent" amplifier. No thanks, not for me. I want my system to sound like it has a "good" tube amplifier doing the duty. And that doesn't mean >HF roll-off or flabby bass<. Because that's NOT what a good tube amp sounds like. Nor does it sound like a SS device, which in most cases is definitely mediocre.

Oz

I agree with OZ, there's A-Z qulaity tube amps. A well designed/high quality parts tube amp will exceeed most every ss amp. We are talking musicality and also fatigue factor. I could never go back to ss amps.
back to "small differences in tube rolling". There is a point to be made that in some tube amps, the design (or is it also parts quality) is poor, and so has this 'signature sound". So no matter what pre tubes you use tthe difference will be over rided by the 'sig sound' of the amp. Now driver tube replacement will obviously be a greater cahnge, but the cost factor is high.
I wouldn't roll expensive tubes in a poor design tube amp.

back to the original question. "Does tubes inside a cdp make a differencea as say in a tube preamp?"

Yes the tube out on my Cayin 15 sounds to my ears more airy/musical vs the ss outs.
"small" but still noticable.

Ozzy62 - you have obviously never heard what good transistor design can do. Definitely not mediocre, also not stock. I takes a lot of mods to get transistors to sing IMO. The only tube amp that I have heard that delivers the bass tightness is the Wavac, and you know what that costs...I've heard them all.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio
Manufacturer