On Mon, 18 Nov 2002 20:55:39 -0500 Maurice Rickard wrote:
At 9:38 AM -0800 11/18/02, Patrice L. Roussel wrote:
But the argument for vacuum tubes mainly applies to power amps, not low level signals, right (because as far as I know I am not aware of 16-bit D/A converters made out of vacuum tubes, and every CD player has two such beasts)?
Good point, but not inevitably so--witness the proliferation of tube preamps. But I agree that the power stage, and quite possibly the
They might proliferate but I am still skeptical due to the fact that the source of the sound is coming from 100% solid state devices (I am of course thinking of CD players, turntables with electro-mechanical cartridges are another story). Having a couple of vacuum tubes down the signal path to strenghten the signal by few dozen of dBs does not change the fact that the "evil" is at the source. If vacuum tube are so perfect, a music audiophile should refuse playing CDs (maybe they do). But maybe audiophiles are like non-meat eaters: you have the vegetarian who want they power amplifier with vacuum tubes, and the vegans who want as many vacuum tubes as they can afford :-). Patrice.