Eh... people drive and use old stuff for sentimental reasons, not because they have any superiority.
If the transistor had been invented first, I doubt tubes would have ever existed. They have low gain, lots of noise, and consume tons of power. They severely limit the ability to construct complex circuits due to their size, power consumption, and unreliability. They just wouldn't have been much of a thing outside of specialty uses like CRT's, magnetrons, and other devices that require their unique characteristics. |
@viridian
I'm pretty sure if CD came before vinyl nobody would ever take vinyl seriously. |
What would be so sad about a world without vinyl? Technically and sonically it doesn't hold a candle to digital lossless or 7.5ips tape. I've never understood the fascination so many have with audio technologies that predate the invention of the telephone. |
@atmasphere
Sorry man, but vinyl is the absolute most compressed and limited medium on the market. There's plenty of albums out there arranged just to accommodate the technical failings of vinyl. Like, for instance, the lousy bass response near the middle third of the record. Personally I've never heard a record or turntable that had the low noise and garbage of a compact cassette. Maybe they're out there, but my cellphone has a lower noise floor, less distortion, and better dynamic range than any turntable I've ever heard. You're not going to find a guy less sold on vinyl than me. I've heard it. I genuinely don't like it. I hardly grew up with it and never learned to look past it's glaring failures to see redeeming virtues. I'll never look at anything but lossless digital as the best. |
@atmasphere
I'll have to look up the albums specifically mixed to avoid bass heavy material in the middle of the platter. And we shouldn't be confusing how a piece is mixed with how the format performs. I can't find any source that says vinyl does better than 80dB, while CD does about 96dB, and high quality digital does over 140dB. In fact, from what I'm reading, 70dB is considered by many to be optimistic for vinyl. And of course the medium degrades every time you play it. I just don't like it and there's plenty of reasons not to like it.
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@inna
You are, in fact, dragging a rock through a groove made of plastic with force equal to hundreds of psi. The rocks wear out. I'm pretty sure the plastic does too.
And this is kinda why I don't take vinyl fans too seriously. It's common knowledge vinyl is worth about 50 plays before it's lost noticable quality.
And then there's the obscene expense in just competently playing the things, as you pointed out. What's a halfway decent DAC cost? A few hundred bucks? A couple Grand for a really nice one? For distortion and dynamics that absolutely destroy vinyl.
As for tubes...
They're material and labor intensive to make. Nobody would have developed the technology if something smaller, cheaper, and more efficient had come along first.nobody is developing vinyl or tape anymore. And why? Because digital is better. When superior things are born, inferior things die. Like punch cards. Like floppy disks. Like horse and carriage. Like typeset. Nobody will ever again develop a new kind of tube, except Korg for whatever reason. Those are kinda cool. I might like to build a pre-amp with some of those. |
@atmasphere
My understanding is that your typical stylus is tipped with some sort of precious stone such as a ruby or diamond. Ortophone brags about the diamond rocks they use. Ain't no piece of plastic in the universe that's that hard. I simply don't understand how one can conclude that dragging a diamond through a plastic trough doesn't cause wear. It defies logic, physics, and study. One of the reasons you want to use sufficient sylus force is to avoid the premature wear of the record caused by the stylus "surfing" over the topology of the groove in an inconsistent way thus wearing more details more than others.
As for the difference between tubes and transistors, I big problem with comparing the two is that transistors and tubes don't have too many analogous parts. JFETs make curves very similar to a triode, but big power JFETs are practically extinct. MOSFETs kinda act like pentodes, but all too often people implement those in topologies not intended to exploit their characteristics. BJTs just don't act like any kind of tube, and those are primarily what people want to base their comparisons on.
There are ways to get clipping characteristics out of a transistor that are similar to a tube. It's just not done often. Besides, if it wasn't for transistors we'd never have had those massive, meaty, chest pounding sounds you get from a Moog or a big console synthesizer. |
@atmasphere
Correct me if I'm wrong, but it's a SIT just a big power JFET? And I may be wrong, but I think IXIS makes some. I heard somebody talking about how to make a MOSFET produce triode-like curves at BA, but I can't remember who or when.
I think it's safe to say, in any event, that if an amp sounds like this or that gain device, it's not a particularly exceptional amp. |
I don't consider changing light bulbs particularly artful, nor would I consider changing tubes artful. Many would, including myself, argue the ultimate form of art is form following function. I don't see the appeal of gain devices that burn out like light bulbs just as I wouldn't find any appeal in caps, resistors, or inductors that burn out. |
I'd make sure your curtains are pulled tight at night. God only knows what Kaity is capable of. You don't want him busting out his teleportation tweak on you and showing you his magic pebbles. |
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His magic pebbles aren't real impressive anyways. His pebbles are tiny and his sack is small. He shows them off on his website with them taped to things. |
What!?!?!? You simply must! I show it to my friends at work when we need some good laughs. The first time I went there I laughed until I cried. It's hilarious. I think he's got an upgrade to his clever little clock, and the personal hifi systems are a riot! His choice of graphics is great too. Lots of vintage sci-fi artwork. It really puts him into perspective. |
