Tube amps and iPods

I always find it interesting when someone disparages a format that they have not used and do not seem to be familiar with. I came late to the Ipod and only used them for travel at first. Later I tried higher sampling rates and the lossless format with surprisingly good results. I now use a generation 4, 40 gig model as a portable HD on both my Jolida 102b/Sequerra Met7/Atlantic subwoofer (with an Onkyo brand dock) based bedroom system and my office TEAC mini reference system (with an eBay no-name remote dock). It really is a very convenient way to move your music to your different systems and /or locations. The quality of the sound is quite good with both systems better than or equal to most moderately priced CD players. I have not used it in my Audio Research or Luxman Tube based primary systems but only because I have not had need to. Try the Ipod with a recording from good input source you may be suprised.

An ingenious combination of iPod & tubes:

http://kurtisb.awardspace.com/

I own an iPod. iHateit. Actually tubes don't just "warm" sound; the physics of tubes makes them more direct, with more wavelengths (frequencies) with better power. I do not mean wattage by this. This is true "good engineering" - not just a nice packaging job, or a lot of knobs and functions. This is why almost all serious sound engineering is still done the old fashioned way with tubes and analog tape. Unless you're talking about people who are talentless hacks in the first place of course... But I don't much like ProTools either. The name kind of sums it up: Pro (professional) tool (quisling, incompetent, etc.).