Carlos269, upon reading this article I am struck by the simple fact that the guy who wrote it must have an atrocious monitor system! -and is either partially deaf (common with engineers in the studio) or simply has no idea which way is up. I too have run recording studios for the last 30 years and digital has to be one of the biggest single steps backwards to occur in that time.
Using 24-bit files (which we use as backups for our analog machines), **anyone** who hears the comparison between them always comments on how much better the analog machines sound. There is a greater sense of presence, greater sense of soundstage, improved tonality (I find that even with the 'treble' controls run all the way down, that digital often still sounds bright). Admittedly, the 88KHz scanning and higher has helped a lot since you get rid the brickwall filter, but they still, in a word, suck.
As far as conditioning goes, please re-read my comments- your comments sound like you did not read mine. For brevity I will restate one thing- most high end audio conditioners are terrible. But if you thus assume *all* are therefore bad you commit a logical fallacy called 'guilt by association'. see http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/ for more info on logical fallacies.
As far as tubes go: if you build single-ended transistor circuits you will get terrible distortions, requiring a lot of feedback to (poorly) correct. So most transistor circuits these days are balanced, even if they only have single-ended inputs. With tubes you can not only build them single-ended, but you can run them zero feedback and they will still have acceptable distortion figures (if you are able to run them at a low enough level the distortion cannot be measured). The Ampex 351 is an example of such a beast. Its distortion is quite low until you are nearly saturating the tape, and there is less phase shift than you see in digital systems. As you record at lower levels (for example, hall ambiance) the distortion vanishes.
Compare that to digital: if you have 16 bits to express 0VU, you get only 8 to express -45 db (where the hall ambiance is). 8 bits sounds like a cheap phone message machine. Its not hifi. That is why digital lacks low level detail.
Now don't get me wrong- there are a lot of products out there that take advantage of tube distortions in order to create effects. Often they starve the tube; a circuit that should be running 200V on the plate of the tube is only getting 12Volts, things like that. Its a fact that tubes have pleasing distortions, and its something that everyone should pay attention to, because devices that have irritating distortions aren't going to help :) This is why I spoke of human perceptual rules earlier- our ears find these things pleasant or unpleasant for a reason!
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Al, the reason a power cord can have this effect is simple. If there is a 2 volt drop in a power cord, the filaments of the tubes will run cooler and the B+ will be reduced. Since this is a voltage, the result is we get less voltage output out of the amp. Less voltage=less power. Depending on the amp this can be pretty profound. and I have seen it with my own eyes. I do agree though that that does not justify a $2000 power cord, but it **does** justify one that has decent connectors and conductors that will not heat up at all. That has to cost something, probably not $2000 though. One thing about audio is that if there is a phenomena, there is also snake oil for it.
Using 24-bit files (which we use as backups for our analog machines), **anyone** who hears the comparison between them always comments on how much better the analog machines sound. There is a greater sense of presence, greater sense of soundstage, improved tonality (I find that even with the 'treble' controls run all the way down, that digital often still sounds bright). Admittedly, the 88KHz scanning and higher has helped a lot since you get rid the brickwall filter, but they still, in a word, suck.
As far as conditioning goes, please re-read my comments- your comments sound like you did not read mine. For brevity I will restate one thing- most high end audio conditioners are terrible. But if you thus assume *all* are therefore bad you commit a logical fallacy called 'guilt by association'. see http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/ for more info on logical fallacies.
As far as tubes go: if you build single-ended transistor circuits you will get terrible distortions, requiring a lot of feedback to (poorly) correct. So most transistor circuits these days are balanced, even if they only have single-ended inputs. With tubes you can not only build them single-ended, but you can run them zero feedback and they will still have acceptable distortion figures (if you are able to run them at a low enough level the distortion cannot be measured). The Ampex 351 is an example of such a beast. Its distortion is quite low until you are nearly saturating the tape, and there is less phase shift than you see in digital systems. As you record at lower levels (for example, hall ambiance) the distortion vanishes.
Compare that to digital: if you have 16 bits to express 0VU, you get only 8 to express -45 db (where the hall ambiance is). 8 bits sounds like a cheap phone message machine. Its not hifi. That is why digital lacks low level detail.
Now don't get me wrong- there are a lot of products out there that take advantage of tube distortions in order to create effects. Often they starve the tube; a circuit that should be running 200V on the plate of the tube is only getting 12Volts, things like that. Its a fact that tubes have pleasing distortions, and its something that everyone should pay attention to, because devices that have irritating distortions aren't going to help :) This is why I spoke of human perceptual rules earlier- our ears find these things pleasant or unpleasant for a reason!
***********
Al, the reason a power cord can have this effect is simple. If there is a 2 volt drop in a power cord, the filaments of the tubes will run cooler and the B+ will be reduced. Since this is a voltage, the result is we get less voltage output out of the amp. Less voltage=less power. Depending on the amp this can be pretty profound. and I have seen it with my own eyes. I do agree though that that does not justify a $2000 power cord, but it **does** justify one that has decent connectors and conductors that will not heat up at all. That has to cost something, probably not $2000 though. One thing about audio is that if there is a phenomena, there is also snake oil for it.
