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Let me clarify what I was trying to say:  There are certain products available which give you the very best of tubes attributes, and the very best of solid state attributes. Very few actually, but there are some that do .... The EE DAC gives you that at a VERY reasonable price.

 

[Uncle Erik]

My general view is that sticking a tube into a DAC is a gimmick designed to sell product to those who automatically assume tubes=good and solid state=bad. As a serious tubehead, I still think that solid state has some very good points and is capable of excellent sound if designed well.

The DAC I chose is a clone of Nelson Pass' D1. All chips, nothing analog in there.

And I don't have a problem with that.

If tubes offered some kind of advantage or benefit (aside from the OMGTUBEZ! aspect) in a DAC, then I'd think about it. But I don't see any serious engineering *reason* to put tubes into a digital device. All I see are marketing reasons. That's not to say you can't get decent sound from a DAC with tubes, but you have to realize that they're in there more for marketing than for a technical reason.

 

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Quote:

My general view is that sticking a tube into a DAC is a gimmick designed to sell product to those who automatically assume tubes=good and solid state=bad. As a serious tubehead, I still think that solid state has some very good points and is capable of excellent sound if designed well.

The DAC I chose is a clone of Nelson Pass' D1. All chips, nothing analog in there.

And I don't have a problem with that.

If tubes offered some kind of advantage or benefit (aside from the OMGTUBEZ! aspect) in a DAC, then I'd think about it. But I don't see any serious engineering *reason* to put tubes into a digital device. All I see are marketing reasons. That's not to say you can't get decent sound from a DAC with tubes, but you have to realize that they're in there more for marketing than for a technical reason.

 
He Unc .... I can't make sense of your logic. This particular DAC has a switch that allows you to choose between tube and solid state ... Both sound fabulous, but offer a slightly different perspective. This is a gimmick ?  Of course not ... it is a cool feature that allows the buyer the luxury of NOT having to make the choice. Instead the buyer can have both.
Regardless, in my opinion, calling a tube DAC a gimmick is a narrow minded way of looking at things.
 

 

[BIG POPPA]

The are a few tube/SS DAC's out there. Peachtree, Xindac just off the top of my head. Wouldn't mind having either in my rig.

 

[maverickronin]

I've got a DAC with a tube in it and I think it's mostly a gimmick.  It is not without value, but it was clearly put there for the "OMGTUBEZ!" reason.  It's more of a feature-bloat kind of thing.  It's for the tube-lover and the tube-curious. Since getting the Maverick, I decided I wanted a tube amp, to run from the tube out, for extra tube-iness.

 

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Quote:

I've got a DAC with a tube in it and I think it's mostly a gimmick.  It is not without value, but it was clearly put there for the "OMGTUBEZ!" reason.  It's more of a feature-bloat kind of thing.  It's for the tube-lover and the tube-curious. Since getting the Maverick, I decided I wanted a tube amp, to run from the tube out, for extra tube-iness.

Yeah ... I have no doubt that a lot of tube DACs are going after the "kool" factor .... But some of them are definitely implemented correctly, and some of those sound awesome.