I just saw a new hot product article in HomeToys.com on a new stereo vacuum tube amplifier from neuhaus laboratories. Anybody have any thoughts on using vacuum tube amps with digital files.
Tubes in modern consumer grade audio products are pointless.
Debate, go.
I laughed when i saw "hot" and "new" in proximity with tube amps. I mean realllllly? How low tech can you get? This is hardly new tech.
Tubes in modern consumer grade audio products are pointless.
Debate, go.
I just don't get it, the whole "audiophile" fetish for tube systems...
If you're feeling the need to color/distort the sound, chances are you're listening to bad recordings in the first place...
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meh, audiophiles. I had the bug, then realized it was all crap. Sure, there's a little extra "sheen" to the sound, but what matters more is the music itself.
Especially now, with discussion boards singling out the good and bad HT systems, there's a really early point of diminishing returns. You can find very very good speakers in the $400/pr. range and up, and solid amplifier/receivers for $200+.
In fact, you'll probably get an even better sound by buying bass traps and stacking them around the corners of your listening room. Are you prepared to do all that for pristine sound? Personally I'll take the 95%, and save the $5k.
I know what real, live music being played in the living room sounds like as I hear it in the living room daily. (Even it it is just a pentatonic scale played up and down 50 times). It sounds nothing like a recording being played on my stereo. The artists that are recorded are 100 times better players but there is absolutely zero chance I could mistake a live person and the stereo. I can hear the difference even from another room in the house. I suspect this would still be true even if I could afford a better stereo.
I've given up on the entire concept that a stereo is even intended to reproduce music "as if the musicians were here". No. it's for playing records. Most recorded music was never heard live, even if it was a recording of a live concert. It was made with a dozen mics and mixed down to two tracks. No human has a dozen ears and could never hear music like it is recorded. recorded music is like a movie soundtrack. It is sound that never occurred in real life. Nothing wrong with this - it sounds better than it would otherwise.
But once you get past the idea that stereo is intended to sound "real" then it does not mater if your system colors it.
You are right about records being mixed to sound good on typical systems. I've read stories about Neil Young burnning a CD (or before a tape) so he could go out in the parking lot and listen to his own music inside his pickup truck in the parking lot. He figured that is where it had to sound good. I'm sure he is not the only recording artist to do this.
I'm not sure that the audiophile bug is crap. Sure, dropping thousands of dollars on a power cord or interconnects is absolutely insane and even if I could afford to do so, I wouldn't. But spending a bit more than the normal consumer gear does get you a noticable improvement in sound. You are dead on about the law of diminishing returns though.
I decide to break down and buy the T-2 Tube amplifier. I have it hooked up to my MacBook and play my songs from iTunes and I have to say it sounds great. I have some old jazz from Gene Ammons and compared it to my albums and to be honest the digital sounds better now that it is going through tubes. I don't know if tubes is great technology or what but it just makes the music sound better. My next test is to hook up the amp to Airport Express and stream my music through wifi throughout my house.
Agreed. I would focus on getting room treatment, quality convertors, and some good powered monitors.