[Beagle]

Salt and pepper. Cheese on broccoli. Some food just plain taste better with seasoning. Could we use this analogy in audio?

I know, I can just hear Chef Mike Walker exclaiming "YOU MAY LIKE IT THAT WAY BUT THAT'S NOT THE WAY BROCCOLI IS SUPPOSED TO TASTE!!

But are things like tube sound and pleasant colorations perfectly acceptable for enjoying music. I think they may very well be. Is accuracy sometimes hard to swallow?

Thoughts?

 

[KR...]

As long as you are happy, I say add as much color as you like!!!

If you want to listen to the real deal, go see them play live.

And there you go

 

[Tim D]

Definitely...but sometimes people don't want too much seasoning. Or sometimes the seasoning masks other tastes of the food. For example, fries doused with ketchup sometimes tastes more like...ummm ketchup instead of fries.

IMO...there is some food that tastes better without extras and would get ruined by seasoning. And some food needs it. Like a salad...probably tastes like crap to me without a strong dosage of seasoning/dressing.

IMO a lot of good recordings really don't need extra seasoning...but I guess there is music that I could easily put in the iceberg lettuce category.

 

[bootman]

BAM!

I happen to like things spiced up.

 

[BenG]

The worst seasoning is the stuff they put in recordings(compression, overdubs, sterile environments, sound booths, multitracks, DSP) - that can be like dumping a whole bottle of salad dressing or a whole bottle of cheap BBQ sauce over prime rib.

Tubes can add a nice dash of dressing in limited doses though(ie. one component in the signal chain like a preamp or headamp).

But remember the Saturday morning cartoons commercial about "Don't drown your food"

 

[dhwilkin]

I think bootman wants to KICK IT UP A NOTCH!

And not to start a food war or anything, but... broccoli is like those boy bands... it doesn't matter how much seasoning you put on it, it's always going to be horrible! IMHO.

 

[jmpsmash]

i thot cables are the spices. or are they just the side dishes?

 

[Tomcat]

Tubes the equivalent of food seasoning? No. But it is well established that solid state devices are the equivalent of a TV dinner: There might be all the ingredients - you just don't recognize them any more.

 

[evilcthul]

Tubes in some cases are the equivalent of a heavy classical French meal or a traditional British winter roast...

They're just so lush, round and fat you just can't resist having more and more...

Solid state would be the equivalent of a standard meal it can taste really good or really bad but the food (sound) isn't masked by a heavy cream sauce so you still get the natural flavour (transparency)...

Fortunately, tubes aren't detrimental to your health...

Well that's the best way I'd describe tubes vs solid state in terms of food...

Now you've all made me hungry...

 

[Beagle]

Quote:

solid state devices are the equivalent of a TV dinner: There might be all the ingredients - you just don't recognize them any more

Well said...full of preservatives.

 

[DRCope]

TV Dinner? LOL. Let's give sand amps the benefit of the doubt. They can be almost as good as Chicken McNuggets. (You know what mystery meat is, Jimmy?)

Tube rolling within a fixed design to optimize the sound of an overall system might be considered seasoning. Tubes as opposed to transistors is not.

As in most things, stereotypes are not very useful in audio, and they're usually perpetuated by people who either haven't heard what they stereotype, or have heard badly designed or implemented examples. The range of sound types possible with tube-based circuits is huge. There is no such thing as a monolithic "tube sound".

Push-pull circuit topology is one thing. Single-ended another.
Pentode tubes/wiring is one thing. Triode another.
Transformer coupled output is one thing.
Parallel feed transformer coupled another.
OTL yet a third.
ZOTL a FOURTH (yes, it uses a transformer, but at RADIO frequencies!)

Mix & match the above major themes, Throw in huge variations in power supply design, tube and parts selection and you've got a fully stocked kitchen to work with.

This'll either make you THINK or get your PANTIES in a KNOT:

The power supply in my preamp is tube-rectified AND regulated, besides the output being tubed. My DAC has tube output, and I'm about to spend $400 on a KIT to upgrade its PS from SS to tube rectified/regulated, based on the stunning improvements made by moving up one model in the same pre-amp line. Then again, my power amps, which use an output tube that was considered passe before WWII, have a well-designed solid-state PS and sounds incredible.

Keep an open mind, and open ears!

 

[Tomcat]

"Keep an open mind, and open ears!"

That's probably the best advice anyone can give.

 

[Dusty Chalk]

I would like to think of tubes as more of a key ingredient than as simply a spice. I mean, the headphone amps won't work without 'em, right?

Well, you could design a headphone amp without them, but that's different...that's like saying "meat" is a key ingredient, but you could make a meal without meat...

 

[rohorn]

I tend to believe that tubes are the sonic equivalent of*food poisoning.

 

[DRCope]

Like lots of seafood, if you get a bad one, (tube, design, implementation),
it can be pretty bad. On the other hand, if everything is just right, it can be
incredibly good.

Based on thirty years of building, selling and listening experience,
I find that solid state tends to be like fast food. Consistent,
and with rare exception, fails to rise above mediocre.

Chacque un a son gout . . .