Good afternoon all,
Is it possible that a non-tube tape head pre amplifier can be made to equal or surpass the sound of a tube unit? Of course here I am asking about outboard pre amps. Has anyone had the experience of comparing the sound of tube/non-tube pre amps and what was the difference? While I understand that the ability to change tubes gives some difference in sound quality is that enough to dismiss non-tube units? Finally, generally, are tube pre amps more costly to build then their non-tube counterparts? Thanks much for all responses.
bob williams
Well, I don't think that being connected to Bottlehead should make anyone hold back from expressing their opinion.
I think the best response might be that you should seek out both and form your own opinion. I have friends who I respect very much but I find that their taste in sound is radically different than mine. And thus their opinion alone might not get me to the solution I seek, nor might mine get them where they want to go. There is something to be said for the approach of letting one's product speak for itself, (and by extension letting one's customers form and offer their own opinions) and that's pretty much how we operate at Bottlehead.
Prefacing that this is just an opinion based upon my own experience, I would say that taken down to their base components tube amps are more expensive to build than SS amps given the same general level of complexity. One can argue about a lot of different details like the cost of tubes vs. the cost of heat sinks for SS devices, etc. And any piece of audio gear can be made from more or less complex designs, inexpensive or terribly expensive parts and generic or exotic materials. So I'm not sure that there is a clear answer to this question.
And actually I doubt that I need to offer my opinion in the tube vs. solid state sonics debate. I bet you guys can guess what it is.
