[complin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sacd lover /img/forum/go_quote.gif The Square Wave is the SS amp. I suspect he is so busy with building tube amps he has never really marketed the amp like you normally would. The SW is very good and has a warmer, richer sound unlike all the other SS amps I have owned. If tubes were not available this one would be my choice. The Transparency is SS too. But, that one is more of a preamp.

Well this head-fier didnt rate the Square Wave at all, which is perhaps why its not really been marketed as you say.

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f5/rev...am-7-a-243835/


As they say one mans meat is anothers poison
Wouldn't do really if we all liked the same

 

[sacd lover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by complin /img/forum/go_quote.gif If you don't mind me saying this just isnt logical since different tube amps don't sound the same. An element of this difference will be the distortion or lack of it. So if they sound different you should by a process of measurement and listening identify which amps have the most, or most objectionable distortion. I keep answering you and you seem to misunderstand my comments and either disagree or argue. I said some amps have higher distortion. Is that really up for debate? I said that it would be difficult to pick out an amp just by listening and determine which amp had the higher distortion figure. Can you blindly take a number of amps and predict with certainty which amp will have the highest distortion. I dont think so. Moreover, how many people have test equipment and are sitting there testing the amp while they listen? /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Its not a case of massaging solid state its called design. Take for example The Nelson Pass Aleph 3, this generates second harmonic distortion, the type that supposedly gives all tube amplifiers their claimed unique sound. I really dont think that its the type or quantity of distortion thats the only factor. There are many other factors at work in the overall design that determine the final result. Whether you call it massaging, manipulating or designing it is a term .... whats the problem? How many times has it been stated that the second harmonic is not the only possible factor in giving tubes their unique sound. The real answer may be the lack of high order harmonics in tube designs. As far as I know, no one has managed to remove these distortion products from SS, including Nelson Pass. You keep pointing out the obvious and acting like you are making some profound revelation. Of course, there are many factors that determine the overall design. /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Stereophile wrote in 1975 mind you some 30 year ago! Comparing the very best tube and transistor components, we did not find either type to have any clear cut advantage. The overall sound from the tube components was felt to be a shade more pleasant to the ear, but this advantage may be lost when designers learn how to reduce transistor distortion even more. Tube and transistor preamps had almost identical bass sound, but the lack of the output transformer (and the much higher damping factor) gave the transistorized power amps slightly tighter, cleaner bass. This difference was particularly noticeable on speaker systems which are highly sensitive to amplifier damping (the AR-3, for example), and in their case it could truthfully be said that the transistor amps had it all over the tube types. That is one opinion. I dont know that I agree. I do know that I didnt think my speaker setups were as revealing as my headphone setups. Using the same preamp/ headphone amp I typically used more analytical tubes with speakers because the sound was to dull in the speaker setup compared to the same tubes used with the headphones. Maybe their opinions would change with a headphone system? /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// It is related to your comment stating that tubes are inherently stable. I believe in practice the fact that some cannot drive difficult loads and become unstable such as with the ESL 57 throws doubt on this. Here you go again putting your own spin on my statements. I never said tubes were inherently stable I said ..... Thirdly, tubes do not require massive amounts of loop feedback to be stable AND tubes are more linear than SS. That is not even close to your interpretation and has nothing to do with where you took the topic. /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// So how do we define "the best tube amps"? I bet this would be just as contensious as the debate we are having tube vs ss! Often one of the best combinations is in fact a hybrid. Say a tube preamp with a SS amp. Some of the headphone amplifiers that have been designed this way have a good reputation. How would you define an obviously not coloured amp? Doesn't this come back to my original piont in that it should be neutrality we must be seeking in an amplifier. It should not change, colour or distort the sound. It should tell it as it is warts and all! Neutrality? What is neutrality in audio? I have my own definition of good and bad and I dont really need to come to some universal consensus .... to me it comes from the degree of realism compared to actual sounds. Neutral means nothing without a context. I could care less about neutral, I want lifelike. The hybrib amps I have heard didnt sound as good as all tube to me.

>

 

[sacd lover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by complin /img/forum/go_quote.gif Well this head-fier didnt rate the Square Wave at all, which is perhaps why its not really been marketed as you say. http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f5/rev...am-7-a-243835/ As they say one mans meat is anothers poison Wouldn't do really if we all liked the same

I wasnt crazy about the single ended SW version either .... to thick and to dark. I may even have the single ended version that was used in the review; not sure. But, the balanced version is really good. The prototypes, like the one in the review, had really cheap pots in them and he drove the mosfets very deep into class A. I have been told adding a better pot or stepped attenuator and dropping the bias results in a noticeable improvement. The balanced prototype version I have has the lower bias and the cheap pots.