Would anyone consider tubes in their digital gear?
- Thread starter caesar
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Superior is a strong word. I have heard quite a few very pleasing players and DACs with tube analog output stages from the very affordable Opera Consonance players all the way to Zandens. I already have tubes in everything in my main system now except my digital.
I own the Zanden DAC (s/hand at attractive price as the seller wanted SACD). i like it and personally preferred it to auditions with DCS Elgar Plus, ARC CD7, Krell 505, Wadia's latest reference, and the list goes on. It is not perfect (what is?) and in this age of extraordinary focus on detail (because technology has advanced very rapidly over the last 3-5 years in this area among others), i think it rates well but is not the supreme authority on definition. But where i do find i enjoy it most is when i just play music and rarely now sit down to listen to audiophile-like characteristics...i actually end up comparing different versions of Bach Cellos or Orchesteral Suites...Suzuki v Mariner.
dont get me wrong...i'm still an audiophile and will listen critically to the system! but not nearly as much in my current system as i used to before. And the Zanden was a very big part of getting me to this point. In fact, the last significant chunk of money i put was actually into music...130 CDs all cheap (3 bucks each) and generally all of the pieces of music i wanted to own, often based on recommendations from Penguin Guide to Classical where i have enjoyed exploring.
dont get me wrong...i'm still an audiophile and will listen critically to the system! but not nearly as much in my current system as i used to before. And the Zanden was a very big part of getting me to this point. In fact, the last significant chunk of money i put was actually into music...130 CDs all cheap (3 bucks each) and generally all of the pieces of music i wanted to own, often based on recommendations from Penguin Guide to Classical where i have enjoyed exploring.
There are plenty of DACs with tube output stages out there. It is deliberate coloration of the source, and not my choice, but it might make your ears happy.
Tim
Why not?... I had a Metronome CDP with tubes in the output section and liked it a lot....
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Tim-So all small signal tubes run in pure Class A circuit have deliberate colorations that are absent from the SS equivalent circuit or are you saying that designers that use small signal tubes intentionally design a non-linear circuit in order to impart a certain sound?
Caeser,
I own an Audio Research CD8. I have hosted a CD5 - same laser mechanism and DAC, but solid state analog stage. To my hears the CD8 sounds much better. The CD8 THD is less than .03%.
I own an Audio Research CD8. I have hosted a CD5 - same laser mechanism and DAC, but solid state analog stage. To my hears the CD8 sounds much better. The CD8 THD is less than .03%.
Tim-The reason to design a transparent tube output stage for a DAC is that some people prefer sound that has been amplified by tubes. I respect people who wouldn't touch tubes with a 10' pole and think that SS is the holy grail. There is something for everybody in this wacky hobby and we all need to respect each other at the end of the day. And by the way, I'm enjoying digital much better since I downloaded Foobar. I think it sounds much the better than Media Monkey and I have no idea why it should be so. I can appreciate digital much better now than I could before. I'm beginning to feel like I didn't waste my money building my digital music server.
So can deliberately choosing a particular op-amp or j-fet Tim. Not all SS CDPs sound the same either so what's your point?
I respect your preferences too, Mark, but if the output stage, tube, SS or metaphysical, creates a sound you prefer instead of reproducing the recorded signal without audibly altering it, it is, by definition, not transparent. It's not semantics to believe that a component can have a "sound" and be transparent at once, it is a refusal to accept one's choice as a preference without dressing it up in the language of objective accuracy. That is what I have a bit of trouble respecting.
Tim
I have a Monarchy NM24 which I have swapped out the 2.7uf Wima coupling caps for Mundorf supremes and use a set of Amperex d-getter tubes. The DAC has a SS output also which I use for my subwoofer output. Whatever you think of tube vs SS DAC's if the SS section was better I'd be using it. The tube output is so much better than the SS that I didn't even have to think twice about it. I also use a SS preamp and amplifers so the tube DAC is the only tube gear in my sound system right now.
Tim-By defintion, all amplifiers create a sound. I'm not talking about using tubes to alter the recorded signal, just amplify it. You are making way too much of what I said, but what you said sounds good until you realize it was distorted.
Tom,
I would bet on a cable.
Unhappily as can hear differences between cables (that I can not explain or measure) I find that although this integrated circuit has a fascinating specification it is just accurate in THD or IMD, nothing else. Although some studies have been made on the perception of high values of audible distortion there are no conclusive studies on the low values. We can use the model "the less the better" for accuracy but the main objective of sound reproduction is not just accuracy - it is very complex as it also has a subjective aspect.
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