[peaceful1]

whats the deference between tube amp and solid state amp
where to use each of these amp's?
does it depends to the impedance , power output,..., of the headphone or what?!
Is it good to have both type or....

 

[Skylab]

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f5/sol...s-more-481847/

 

[nikongod]

tube amps use tubes, solid state amps uses solid state parts.

 

[superjohny]

what does hybrid sound more like? tube or ss？

 

[nikongod]

Quote:

Originally Posted by superjohny /img/forum/go_quote.gif what does hybrid sound more like? tube or ss？

What do tube amps or SS amps sound like

Seriously, they generally sound more like what people expect tube amps to sound like but there are exceptions.

 

[cswann1]

Uncle Eric once wrote that audio gear is fashion for men.

We sometimes spend way too much time and energy (oh, and money) on equipment in hopes of removing the tiniest bit of perceived flaw. We love to discuss and compare our rigs with our fellow hobbyists and many times, the reason for it all seems to get pushed aside. I'm as guilty as anyone of wanting to try new things, when I'm perfectly happy with what I have, so I'm not knocking our community.
Once you start to want to acquire quality audio gear, you're on a slippery slope and reading forum discussions is infectious, and can make you lust for things that you'd otherwise never even hear of and could be perfectly happy to live without.


OK, speech over....


Now, as to your question. Tubes have a sound that many like and offer folks the ability to easily tweak their signature by simply changing tubes, like you would a light-bulb. From a pure performance standpoint, they are generally inferior to solid state amps. But one thing that tube amps do that is considered superior to SS, is in the way it they handle distortion.
I don't understand all the science involved, but from what I understand, when tube amps are pushed, the type of distortion that they exhibit is much more tolerable to the human ear. When SS amps begin to show distortion it is obvious and even small amounts can ruin the listeners enjoyment.
With tube amps there are different ways that they are designed and some of the less expensive designs (Output Transformer-Less or OTL) are not recommended for lower impedance cans. SS amps of any quality will usually drive whatever you plug into them pretty well, if not very well.

All in all, if you just want to listen to good quality reproduction of recorded music, I recommend SS amps. But don't let me deter you from tubes. I have exactly one amp that I use for music listening and it is a tube amp. I love it and I don't care to "tube roll" or fuss with it in the least. It drives all my headphones well, and that's really all I ask of it.


Happy listening

 

[FallenAngel]

You can have a low voltage tube amp - it would be quite nasty for high impedance headphones, but unless there is a good buffer, you it wouldn't drive low impedance all that well either.

Sorry, these questions are leading into answering a generalization that would simply be false.

 

[plonter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by superjohny /img/forum/go_quote.gif what does hybrid sound more like? tube or ss？

I can say about that from my experience from the EF1, it sounded both tubey and SS at the same time,it depends on what you are concertrating when you listen

I think that hybrids are nice combination,both for sound and for efficiency purposes like driving low impedance headphones. by the way,do any of you know about hybrid in the 500-700$ range that consider a step up from the EF1 and other amps in its class?

 

[K_19]

I think for the most part, Hybrid amps are usually in the budget/DIY realm. Though I think it's possible to improve and add-on upon the DIY designs so that it reaches that price range for parts & labour. I remember seeing a Cavalli embedded hybrid which was being offered in the $1000 range. But as far as finished products from actual manufacturers are concerned, I believe Head-Direct/Hifiman stuff are good as it gets with hybrids.

 

[plonter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by K_19 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I think for the most part, Hybrid amps are usually in the budget/DIY realm. Though I think it's possible to improve and add-on upon the DIY designs so that it reaches that price range for parts & labour. I remember seeing a Cavalli embedded hybrid which was being offered in the $1000 range. But as far as finished products from actual manufacturers are concerned, I believe Head-Direct/Hifiman stuff are good as it gets with hybrids.

thanks. I wonder what is the reason not to take the hybrids to another level.

 

[K_19]

Hybrid headphone amps are fairly recent invention IIRC. I think it's only been within the last few years that the manufacturers like Head-Direct and Little Dot have thrown these into the commercial market en masse. Give it time and I'm sure you'll start to see better performing ones at higher price points (EF1 -> EF5 for example).

 

[plonter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by K_19 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hybrid headphone amps are fairly recent invention IIRC. I think it's only been within the last few years that the manufacturers like Head-Direct and Little Dot have thrown these into the commercial market. Give it time and I'm sure you'll start to see better performing ones at higher price points (EF1 -> EF5 for example).

thanks for the info. I think I would definitely like that, the EF1 was really a great amp and a great bang for the buck.

 

[K_19]

I also recall that once upon a time, there was a Headroom amp using the Millett Hybrid Design for around $600-700... they've been discountinued for a while now though I think (not sure of the reason). Perhaps you can still search one down from somewhere. Then again, you can probably have something similar nowadays for a lot cheaper via DIY.

 

[nikongod]

One of the first commercially made headphone amps was a hybrid. Melos SHA. The sad thing for the state of headphonea is it still holds its own for great sound.

As far as taking it to another level, eeeeeh, you have to overcome people's misconceptions first. Good luck with that, a little misinformation goes a longgg way. Here are some things you can found posted on the internet or in a live discussion of tube amps: Did you know that a single SS diode in a tube circuit destroys (not changes, destroys. Like this is undeniable fact) the sound of the amp? There must be no SS in the amp for it to be a tube amp. I mean if you are going to spend serious money on an amp it may as well be what you expect it to be. Hey 0, is what you expect it to be a top down design or something that sounds good? They dont always line up so well.

There are very few tube amps with SS constant current sources (or sinks) largely for the reason that nobody can convince people that the SS part does less to screw up the sound than the resistor it replaced. Regulating grid bias voltages with the creative use of SS voltage references? I said I wanted a tube amp, not a hybrid... The part is not in the signal path. It is used because its quieter than anything you could make with resistors and caps... but its a BJT.

There are plenty of examples of a carefully selected & tastefully applied SS part improves a tube circuit by an order of magnitude (to the 'scope, with very obvious changes to the ear (improvement of course being subjective)), but you have to sell it and that is a lot of work when everyone knows you are wrong to use SS parts in a tube amp.

Quote:

Originally Posted by IDK who Against stupidity the very gods Themselves contend in vain.

 

[plonter]

interesting info guys. K-19, i absolutely forgot about the millet.