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differences between tube and solid state designs

this topic may have been beaten to death.

however, my experience attending ces shows has demonstrated to my eras that the differences between push pull tube and solid state amplifiers sound very similar.

i notice today's tube amps, e.g., contad johnson, audio research, wolcott audio, etc., do not exhibit many of the classic colorations associated with tube designs and sound a lot like solid state, especially with respect to frequency response, i.e., spectral balance.

there may be still be slight audible differences between the 2 formats.

has anyone perceived a narrowing of sonic differences between the two designs and if so if differences are slight, why buy a tube amp.

note, i have deliberately excluded class a and single ended amps, at low wattage, from this discussion. some of them have more of a vintage or classic tube sound, especially relative to bass and treble response.
mrtennis
tvad
9,467 posts
 
05-14-06: Bartokfan
"slight differences"...not sure which amps you are listening to. Take any Cayin tube, put it in a room with any ss amp, even 3X's the Cayin price. Then come back and post a comment.
The results of that comparison will no doubt depend on the music being auditioned and the associated gear. And, if someone were to post a comment that was less than favorable about the Cayin, would you willingly.accept the opinion as another valid viewpoint?

My observation by reading these threads is that few proponents of specific gear are ever open to opposing opinion, and it keeps people from reporting anything that might ruffle feathers. You may not fall into this category.
biomimetic
252 posts
 
Has anyone read the article in one of the hi-fi mags this month that asks: can audio ever really sound "real"? I haven't yet. It seems that the answer is probably that it can sound "true", but based on the fact that it is standing in for another component made differently and physically different, probably no, it can't sound "real" in the same way. This is why I usually aim for a "trueness" in my system.
sogood51
2,157 posts
 
"slight differences".

Like everything in audio...one persons "slight difference" may be another persons "blown away" by the difference.

Dave
woodburger's avatar
woodburger
143 posts
 
If you want real - not that you can have it - you need dynamics. That leads in one direction. Foe speakers and amps.

Some go in another, with the fast effortless acceleration of electrostatics.

As for amps, I found the ARC VT100MKII sounded very good and kept me happy for years, but I got so much more out of the NuForce 9.02s in terms of lack of bloom (which I would call compression, not bloom, even at reasonable levels) and corresponding dynamic swing, that I went with the NuForces.

But the "High Fidelity" logic above is tainted. All cars that go 150MPH are not the same. Same with "High Fidelity."

Bob Wood
http://www.GreatHomeTheater.com/stereo.html
jea48
2,944 posts
 
Here is a good read. I pulled it from a thread running on AA. Near the end of the article note what is said about bench test measurements of amplifiers.
http://www.theabsolutesound.com/newsletter/147/tubes_vs_trans.html
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