Tuberoller
Divorced an Orpheus to keep his wife.
- Joined
- Oct 23, 2001
- Posts
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Having owned and listened to a few tubed CDPs and too many tube amps and preamps to mention,I have to say the path to true tube sound is easiest followed by use of a tubed preamp.I have found that a good tube staged pre can add tube smoothness to even the harshest sounding solid-state amps and cd players.I sometimes use a Van Alstine Pas 3i with an NAD amp and the sound is magical.I recently borrowed a Rogue Audio Sixty-Six preamp and tried it all my different amps.This is a sweet pre and makes EVERYTHING sound better.I tried it with a Hafler DH500 amp that I have always thought sounded awful(even when I assembled them daily) and It was so sweet sounding I couldn't believe it.Tube staged CD players have always struck me as being kind of "artificial".When I had an AH! 4000 I liked it but it just never really got me going in the way I had hoped.I just hated my Jolida tubed cdp and it never worked right anyway.I think the best tube preamps are capable of making even mediocre sources and amps sound good.That last bit of tubiness is to be found with a tube amp in addition to a tube pre, but again,I think the most tube sweetness is obtained in the preamp stage,just don't ruin things with a bad cable.