Solid State vs. Tubes - What if Transistors came first?

One thing Peter Walker didn’t have the good sense to do was produce the Quads without that abominable looking and horrible sounding rattletrap of a metal grating on the front and back of the speakers. I mean, come on, people!  No wonder he thought all amps sound the same.

I simply don't understand how one can conclude that dragging a diamond through a plastic trough doesn't cause wear. It defies logic, physics, and study.

It does wear, but takes a *lot* longer than the studies done in the early 1960s concluded (which are the studies most often cited in this regard). A lot has happened with cartridges and tone arm tech since then!! Most audiophiles I know don't listen to any one title long enough to actually wear it out; IMO this just simply isn't an issue.

There are ways to get clipping characteristics out of a transistor that are similar to a tube. It's just not done often.

The way to do it is to use SITs (Static Induction Transistors) aka VFETs. They have linearity similar to triodes and do have a soft clipping characteristic. They are the only such devices that have these properties other than real triodes. The problem is no-one makes them anymore, and further, no-one ever made driver and low level signal versions- just outputs. They've not been made since the late 70s or early 80s. The industry doesn't want to make linear devices anymore- everything is 'switching' to switching. That's why class D is on the rise. 

The ’ages’ of an audiophile. In the first age (the beginning) the ’audiophile to be’ has superb hearing acuity, no money, an inexpensive SS system, and he is happy until he acquires some knowledge, money, and for many, a divorce.

Middle age occurs. He still has pretty good hearing, has more money, buys better equipment, and discovers why tube equipment sounds so good. He now obsesses over all things, buys tube equipment, rolls tubes endlessly, and can avoid all of the nasties from digital stuff. Etc.

The last stage begins with the onset of advanced age. His hearing acuity is substantially degraded by a sloping of high frequencies, digital stuff is no longer as intrusive, the loss of the benefits of ’tube sounds’ has become apparent so he questions whether or not he should downgrade his system and return to SS equipment. Probably a good thought!

Questions for today, 1) Are most advocates of SS sound old fellas? 2) Why do many manufacturers and sellers of SS stuff say (in its ads) its warm (to some degree or another) and sounds like tubes. Rarely do they say it ’sounds’ like SS? (I did note that the designer/manufacturer of the Kinki amp which is so much talked about here did in fact say that his amp was not warm, a rare bit of honesty I think.

More pseudoscience, speculation and conjecture predicated upon ad hominems. Shame on you.

You cite nothing other than your worthless, methane imbued ipse dixit. 💩

Many, I suspect, like me left tubes in the late sixties, and have used solid state ever since, hence your non sequitur.  Regardless of physiologic changes, tubes suck. -Lee Deforest