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  1. D

    Do you need technical knowledge to consider Tube gear?

    I would go you one better. Find a dealer who has equipment you can LISTEN to. Rather than try to understand the technical details, and figure out which are hype and which are real, the easiest non-technical solution is to go listen to it and see if you agree that it sounds good and, if so...
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    Frugal Power

    There is no fallacy FUNCTIONALLY. The person's immune system acts differently because they are convinced that it will - so their mind is influencing their immune system. However, depending on the situation, their mind may or may not be sufficiently able to cause enough influence to effect a...
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    Frugal Power

    Placebo - how good is it If you believe the test results - then you are wrong. In some people, a sugar pill (or equivalent) CAN imitate the effects of an IV heroine injection. It works to varying degrees on different people.
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    Do you need technical knowledge to consider Tube gear?

    OK, I'll be entirely (brutally) honest. I happen to know a LOT about how tube amps SHOULD be designed, and what design parameters really matter. I can honestly say that I haven't looked in detail at all that many modern designs, but the majority of the ones I have examined were pathetic. With...
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    Do you need technical knowledge to consider Tube gear?

    A wire with gain I would disagree with your overall premise..... The goal of your entire stereo system (if you want to call it "hi-fi") IS to provide gain. The definition of "high-fidelity" is to attempt to accurately reproduce some "original"..... The goal of your entire chain of...
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    Do you need technical knowledge to consider Tube gear?

    A guitar amplifier is all about sound PRODUCTION. HiFi gear is all about RE-production. If a guitar amp distorts, then that distortion is "part of the instrument" as intended by the artist. If the stereo you play it through distorts, that is your equipment NOT playing the song as the artist...
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    Question about cable strategy!

    I agree with what you're saying, but I think it could be stated more concisely..... A cable can do nothing but degrade the performance of a system. The neutral cable does NOT "open up the sound stage" or any such thing - what it does is to FAIL to degrade them from what they were to begin with...
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    Question about cable strategy!

    Actually, I disagree entirely. From the description, it sounds like this thread is about "strategies for making good sounding cables". Assuming that this is indeed the case, then we must ALL accept the fact that not everybody DOES agree that there are major audible differences. To be...
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    The biggest difference I hear between digital and analog

    I agree with you in basic principle - but I think you are overstating the claim. First off, we DO have a defined maximum bandwidth - and that is the limit of human hearing. We don't have to consider 1.2 mHz noise because we can't hear it - so we can call our "bandwidth of interest" the limits...
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    The biggest difference I hear between digital and analog

    I would disagree that analog really has more bandwidth than digital...... Sure, a really well recorded LP can theoretically have SOME information up to 40 kHz or so, but there's more to it than that. First, let's remember that RIAA curve - where the high frequencies are boosted... Don't try...
  11. D

    Do you need technical knowledge to consider Tube gear?

    I have several "problems" with subjectivism.... some philosophical and some brutally practical. 1) Objectivism is quantifiable. If you and I agree that we want "a straight wire with gain", then we can compare notes and measurements. If instead, we both subjectively "want what sounds good to...
  12. D

    Do you need technical knowledge to consider Tube gear?

    Thanks very much. It's a pleasure to find a place where people pay attention :) As for the link - that seems to have something to do with the way the forum software interacts with the browser. It is "passing" the color and font information along with the link, which confuses the browser...
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    Do you need technical knowledge to consider Tube gear?

    A poll would be interesting.... and amazingly relevant to this thread. The simple fact is that, IF THAT IS YOUR GOAL, then tube amps are pretty much out of the running. And, conversely, if you start from the assumption that you do want your equipment to alter the sound, then we're pretty close...
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    The biggest difference I hear between digital and analog

    I'd have to give him the point there. At SOME level, everything is digital. With tape, each grain is a discrete entity although, as I recall, the alignment is not an either/or proposition. Each atom (or is it molecules?) has a discrete "field strength", but can still be aligned in a pretty much...
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    Do you need technical knowledge to consider Tube gear?

    If biasing worries you, then opt for either a fancy design with computerized bias (like the Doge), or a nice simple design with cathode bias (like the majority of older amps used). With cathode bias, the bias is "self determined" by the current flowing through the tubes, so you NEVER have to set...
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    Question about PLL and digital filters

    With "standard adaptive" USB mode, the computer controls the timing, with "occasional advice" from the receiving device. Basically the DAC gets to say "faster" or "slower" once a millisecond or so, which is slightly better than nothing. There is a better USB mode "asynch mode", which some DACs...
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    Question about PLL and digital filters

    Hey, I'm not the mathematician.... but the math boys seem quite sure that, unless you include a "correct" filter, what comes out will absolutely NOT be the same as what went in. Now, to me, that's the whole goal, so eliminating that filter is throwing the game. As someone else observed, however...
  18. D

    Question about PLL and digital filters

    I sort of lost the original context of what I said there.... I agree 100% with what you said, and it seems like an obvious (and not so unusual) solution to me. I've heard two arguments against doing it that way, neither of which seems compelling to me in an audiophile environment, although they...
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    Question about cable strategy!

    But the INTENT of that glass is to be as transparent to visible light as possible. I was looking to get some photographic prints framed recently, and one option was something called "museum glass". It has the same anti-reflection coatings on it that they put on good camera filters, and it is...
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    Components Specifications use and the Truth

    Hmmmmm. There's no spec for tonality..... My response is that there's no spec for it because it doesn't exist..... If all amplifiers were perfect amplifiers, then they would all sound exactly alike, and there would be nothing to discuss. If there was one perfect amplifier, and we all wanted...
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    Frugal Power

    Absolutely. In one test sugar pills were found to work 40% as well as Morphine against post surgical severe pain. Placebo effect is VERY real (although it sometimes goes by other names, like "expectation bias"). The only way to be sure about anything subtle is by a real double-blind...
  22. D

    Do you need technical knowledge to consider Tube gear?

    Hi, I'm inclined to agree with you on power amps - output transformers are simply too non-linear to NOT make some difference. I rather suspect that modern power amp technology has simply surpassed what's possible with tubes - in terms of accuracy and low distortion (and, face it, nobody is...
  23. D

    Do you need technical knowledge to consider Tube gear?

    Cute little tube amp On that note, check out the "MiniWatt". (Actually, there is the "original MiniWatt", and the model sold by the folks who apparently used to manufacture it for them but now sell it under their own name). Simply go on eBay and search for "MiniWatt" and you will find both. The...
  24. D

    Do you need technical knowledge to consider Tube gear?

    If I was condescending, it was because I figured someone who was involved in the industry would be well aware of most of what I was saying already. Now I'll be blunt..... I have a huge problem with a lot of the modern tube equipment, not because of how it sounds, but because of the...
  25. D

    Do you need technical knowledge to consider Tube gear?

    Now, I guess that depends on what you mean by "biased". I tend to run by the old definition of "high fidelity" as "accurate" and the best and most accurate electronic component as being "a straight wire with gain". I agree that "what sounds best" is a matter of opinion, but "what is most...
  26. D

    Do you need technical knowledge to consider Tube gear?

    I would still say that virtually all older tube equipment tended to have very high input and output impedances, and that a lot of modern stuff (especially the simpler designs) still does. The input impedance on a tube grid (which is what you're normally using for all but very weird tube...
  27. D

    Hello from Nashville

    Hi, nice to hear from you. Interesting coincidence that I also just bought a pair of HiFiMan HE-500's. At the moment I'm running them on a Schiit Mjolnir - which is quite nice - but it had occurred to me that something like the Mini-X would be a good match (haven't had a chance to try it...
  28. D

    Hello from Nashville

    Thanks, and nice to be here.... I would suggest, though, that sticking you fingers into even solid state gear isn't really a good idea. Big power amps often run at power rail voltages of +/- 80 volts or so - which can still give you a nasty shock. A really big amp could well have that at...
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    The biggest difference I hear between digital and analog

    No kidding.... I have nearly a dozen releases and re-releases of Dark Side of the Moon (all on CD), and every one sounds slightly different, almost certainly due to different "re-mastering" on every one. There really is no way to make a comparison in most cases. Vinyl has lots of surface...
  30. D

    Do you need technical knowledge to consider Tube gear?

    You really should read ALL the words...... I didn't say at all that ALL tube amps sound bad. In fact, I said two distinct and different things.... I will clarify in case there is any confusion.... 1) I personally don't think tube equipment is "a good deal". I find that both tube and solid...

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