Luke Thomas
500+ Head-Fier
Has anyone compared a tube amp. Compared to a Violectric solid state amp. Curious if more bass is evident ?
Thanks
Thanks
Tube amps vs solid state
- Thread starter Luke Thomas
- Start date
I never owned an all tube amp,but have owned what are called tube hybrid amps. This means that the input stage of the amp or preamp stage are tubes, and the output stage is solid state, either transistors or opamps. There are many hybrid amps on the market. A lot of people will say that even the hybrids sound better than all solid state, and many say the all tube amps are superior to solid state. It’s really a personal preference of what sounds best to each individual. Just my own opinion; I never heard a major difference between the hybrids and the all solid state amps. I prefer solid state, but I haven’t heard an all tube headphone amp yet. I never heard a Violectric as you mentioned.
There's more to it than generalized answer. There are various tube circuit designs. Than there's execution and parts quality. And then you can modify various aspects of tube amp presentation with tube rolling/swapping. Presentation will change based on tube choice and already mentioned factors. In general, SS should have better control of bass. Tight, quick, slamming bass is what many would attribute to SS. Bloom, decay, reverb, color, tone is usually associated with well designed tube amp. But again, there are so many variables that its hard to give you a definitive answer. I can compare SS product A to tube amp B with certainty but that's about it.
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Luke Thomas
500+ Head-Fier
Thx. As my Violectric is a $1500 solid state amp. I would like to try a tube amp. And would buy one if sounded better. wish There was a way to demo A tube amp.
My SS and tube amp are in your price range. I am not hating on OTL tube design but IMO tube amp with quality transformers work with wider variety of headphones. Some planar headphones might have a hard time digest OTL deficiencies. Other planars will work just fine but IMO and for my money I would take a different route. Whether or not tube amp is for you will depend on headphones you plan to use it with. Some headphones are match made in heaven with good tube amps, others ........ not so much. But its great to have both in my opinion. Best SS and tube amp that you can afford. This way, you are covered a 100 percent and whatever changes you make, chances are, one of those amps will be up to a task.
Luke Thomas
500+ Head-Fier
Thx. Senn 800s. Amazing clarity. Just a little bass shy with classic rock. Jazz is perfect.
Yeah, they really sound great with tube amp. I've audition them not long ago with my amp and they sounded way better than SS that store provided. As far as bass is concern....... Yes, it was one of my main complaints. It is there but not a lot of it. Some claim that certain amps can get that bass where it should be but I don't remember which amps were those. I think one of the amps was Pass Labs class A and other one was tube but can't recall which one.
edit. 800s work with OTL amps. If that's the only headphone you're going to use with OTL amp then you can save yourself some money as there are plenty great choices for reasonable $.
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