MG HEAD OTL (ROLLED) VS. Gilmore

[Jon7]

These are the two I am deciding between. I have never heard a tube amp, my dad says they provide a warm fuzzy smooth sound that does not sound like live music instead more like an overly romantic interpretation of it.

But he has not heard a tube amp for 10 years and has not heard them through a Headphone amp.

Do you agree or disagree with this interpretation?

Anyway, I have a $500 budget (like the other guy who just posted) and I am wondering.

2* JJ 84 Tesla's+ Sylvania triple Mica Black Plate (if I can get one, if not a GE, RCA, Tung Sol or Raytheon)+MG HEAD OTL+ Cardas Cable+ HD600

VS.

Gilmore + Cardas+HD600

Yes I know the Gilmore option costs more than $500 (I already have the headphones), but anyway.

So anyone heard both, which is better? In your opinion ofcourse

 

[Nefarion]

" I have never heard a tube amp, my dad says they provide a warm fuzzy smooth sound that does not sound like live music instead more like an overly romantic interpretation of it. "
"Do you agree or disagree with this interpretation?"

I disagree. The tubes amps ive heard, in comparison to the solid state amps ive heard, are usually more laid back and warmer sounding yes... But their accuracy in musical reproduction, IMO, is no worse/better... Its all about personal preference and system setup. Maybe with one pair of headphones a solid state amp would sound the most "true"... While another pair would sound the most "true" with a tube amp. Same goes for interconnects...Cable replacements...etc...etc....

Amps in todays world, tube or solid state, can very accurately reproduce the true sound of music if matched with the right ears and the right cans.

My preferences so far (im still a virgin

) always point to tubes. You also gota love the versatility of being able to change tubes to get different sounds...

The only way for you to find out which you will like better (gilmore/mg) is try them both to see. If you are unable to audition them (which is likely, unless you can find a headfi meet) i would go with the more "for sure" less gamble combo... For me it was the MG...

 

[wallijonn]

yes and no.

a tube amp, to me, tends to have a slightly better overall sound, only because, to me, they sound as if there is slight cross fade. this can be attributed to the signal to noise ratio and the amount of channel separation. tubes tend to filter a lot of high frequency noise (the gas in the tube) and therefore to many sound sweeter, or at least less harsh than solid state. but solid state itself has better engineering, able to supply prodigious amounts of voltage and current at low source impedance outputs. so certain solid state equipment will sound better with certain cans (or speakers), by providing better damping control and higher slew rates. but again, a tube amp can be made to rival solid state if it is in class A, triode, mode.

just as each tube has a certain sound, so do every opamp and transistor. the Burr Brown op amps tend to sound just as sweet and warm as tubes (with the right design). solid state may have better transients, but tubes don't tend to clip like transistors, so you're more likely to get a better sound from a tube (sometimes mushy) than from a solid state (which sounds distorted).

then there's the problem or advantage of being able to produce signals clear all the way up to 100KHz. the greater the capacitance of the interconnects or cables, the more attenuation of the high end. so solid state may be better in this regard.

it's all a matter of correct design. and your personal preferance. me, i never want to get back into tube rolling. but here i am thinking of replacing bridge rectifiers with high slew rate diodes. it never ends.

I have heard Matt's Melos and Greg's SAC. Which do I prefer? neither, as I can't afford either. so i bought a Monarchy SM70 class A amp for my K1000 and all of my other headphones. I want to make a passive preamp to interface with my Onkyo dvd player with Burr-Brown DACs. Meanwhile, someone here must own a CD player with tubes in it. supposedly marrying boith into a hybrid tends to give the advantages of both. I used to have a Dynaco Pas2 tube preamp driving a Dynaco solid state amp (I had all three of their amps, both tubes and solid state), and eventually went with a Pat4 preamp and a Dynaco 400 solid state. what can i tell you? i thought bigger was better. went from Klipschorns to Magnaplanars. I should have just bought JBLs).

 

[Sovkiller]

The MGHead is a wonderful combo and a match made in heaven for both, why going for a more expensive amp, if you can get an extraordijnary sound from the MGHead..???
on the other hand, in the case of the MGHead this is applicable but in others amps is not, that they will change the sound with the tubes, the RKV has reported to be tuberolling ignorant, it will sound the same with all tubes tested to the date on it, so some other amps, servinginecuador could testify that to you guys....talking about the distortion, most of the times tube amps have more distortion than solid state amps, even 10 times more or so, but people seems to like it, that is maybe part of the "tubey sound", but you can find good ones in both worlds, and as Nefarion said, the match is not only a question of tubes and cans, IC and the synergy in the the whole rig also counts...

 

[Jon7]

Has anyone heard both the Gilmore and the MG Head and could define some of the differences.