UNIQUE TOPIC - Good things about VALVES from SS fans and VICE VERSA !

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trittya

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Greetings All,

Most of us here have, at some time or the other,
(and in varying magnitude, of course)
been subjected to the eternal
Silicon aka solid-state (no, not THAT silicon, Gents:lol:)
V/s
Vacuum tube debate.

There are about half a doz amp topologies based on each, if not more, not to mention the HYBRIDS. There's relativity and there is perception. The aim of this here thread is to contribute, discuss and talk about the good things that the two sets of believers have to say about each other. The mere fact that there are HYBRIDS around suggests that there is a bit of good in both, RIGHT?:D;)

Feel free to talk about single-ended, push-pull, OPTs, OTLs, Class D, Tripath, pre-amps, buffers, DAC combos, analogue vs digital, blah blah etc and whatever and what have you. . . .
BUT lets keep it KOOL and objectively positive, no negative vibes please, thats X-order distortion, NO?:rolleyes:

All-righty then, lets roll . . . .

WIDE DISSEMINATION AND PARTICIPATION SOLICITED PLEASE . . .
 
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not exposed to many topologies (luckily!) i am inclined towards SS amps for that they reproduce whole of the freq.band faithfully and with proper simple design they can be made to give out neutral sound with no fancy artifacts....u know what i mean.
for casual listening next is t-amp in my list for it could be run with 12V (any crap chinese smps will do!) at hardly 3A, ofcourse given the speakers have sensitivity higher than 90dB.
 
soundnovice said:
.. i am inclined towards SS amps for that they reproduce whole of the freq.band faithfully and with proper simple design they can be made to give out neutral sound with no fancy artifacts....u know what i mean.
Click to expand...

The thread is entirely on opposite topic than what you said. If you are SS guy then in this thread you are suppose to say something good about Tube :)
 
koushik said:
The thread is entirely on opposite topic than what you said. If you are SS guy then in this thread you are suppose to say something good about Tube :)
Click to expand...
well there is a VICE VERSA in the thread title! and Trittyaji asking to 'feel free' to talk about many things apart from just tubes. :rolleyes:
 
I can admit to some prejudices against valves, and they date back to the era when even non-hifi radios and record players were valve, because it was all there was. In those days, I did not have exposure to such refinement as the Quad amplifiers (7 years younger than me) that we heard at the Chennai meet, because family and friends were nowhere near rich enough, and my family would not have prioritised music listening for spending like that anyway.

After the Chennai meet, I'm even less sure what this "valve sound" is supposed to be about, because the valve kit there, ancient and modern, just sounded ...good!
 
Over the (y)ears having heard SS with the mellowness of tubes and tubes with the SLam/detail of SS, believe it is the topology/design and component quality which matters more
But still for Low level amplification like Phono/pre etc i would feel the SS fares better as it is able to keep the ground noise really low while Most (not all) tubes have the hiss

For power amplificiation the harmonics of a tube add a richness when compared with Most (not all) Ss which are cleaner but less rich.

..and also there are expections to every one of the above.

is this the start of the neverending debate on how richness means disortion and cleaner means more neutral ? :D
 
Some thoughts - mostly stuff I learned along the way.

At lower budget levels it is easier to design a better solid state amplifier than a Valve amplifier especially if you aim to create one with ample power.

At higher budget levels, the sound quality completely depends on the design. There are very open sounding Valve amps and dark sounding solid state and vice versa - and they all come in all forms of colors. Stereotypes dont apply.

At price no barrier levels you can achieve the highest levels of fidelity with either.
 
Having leaned both ways, here is a couple of lines on both schools of music reproduction.

Dynamics and musical impact are Solid State specialties. Not saying that Valve based systems cannot do it. The valve systems I have used did not specialize in this area.

Mellowness, Richness and an intimate, seductive quality - almost organic in nature - is the Valve specialty. Whether it is the human voice or a rich Violin orchestra, a good Valve based system shines through and enraptures the listener.

Which is better is a question for the ages. Money is immaterial I think. It is about which way you are inclined. Which signature you pine for. What sort of music gets you moving or sitting still...so on so forth.
 

The Road not Taken:

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

~Robert Frost, 1920 (Some words just hold true through the centuries :) )
 
Well, if you are looking for the road less traveled by (especially nowadays) then Tubes it is!

Theoretically though you could travel on the two roads at the same time. Have a tube pre-amp and an SS power amp for example. Of course, it is only a mish-mash...a mixture. But make of it what you will :)
 
SS amps can be made to sound as good as Valve amps.
What remains is how much efforts can a diyer put. getting parts. Usability and capability of service in case some thing goes wrong.
 
trittya said:
Most of us here have, at some time or the other,
(and in varying magnitude, of course)
been subjected to the eternal
Silicon aka solid-state
V/s
Vacuum tube debate.

The aim of this here thread is to contribute, discuss and talk about the good things that the two sets of believers have to say about each other.
Click to expand...
There can be no generalisation that A can do this which B cant and vice versa but generally speaking, both do certain set of things better than the other so it all depends on which things you value more than other.
 
I use a SS amp but I like the looks of tube amps in general. Glowing tubes somehow look more inviting than a dark heavy box (SS amp).
 
I liked most of the tube amps I've heard so far better than the SS ones. Maybe I just have not heard too many good SS amps till date...
 
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