2. misc-audio
  3. 170150-146675

Vinylistas and Tubers - One and the same?

I am curious to see if I am in the small minority of Goners who listen exclusively to vinyl (or who have some digital source they use only when the can't get the album on a vinyl new release or reasonably priced in NM condition) and use solid state amps and phono stage. My reasons are I've been building my vinyl collection for the past 40+years, interrupted by the 10-15 years when vinyl wasn't being produced or distributed much in the US from the late 80's until the early 2000's and think it sounds better than CDs - never tried hi rez DLs or streaming, and I don't want to deal with the cost, inconvenience, unreliability (compared to SS) or heat of tubes. 

Please let me know if this describes you and your reasons.

Also, interested in the logic of those who use tubes and listen to digital.

Don't really need to hear from the digital SSers or the vinyl tubers unless your reasons are not obvious (either wanting no noise and maximum selection or like the full sound of vinyl with mid range emphasis and tube mellowness and are willing to pay the price).


sokogear
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
The closest thing to logic is since tubes and vinyl sound so clearly superior it is only logical to use them - IF - your priority is to enjoy the highest sound quality music.

If your highest priority is to hear lots of different music, or some particular music not on vinyl, or have it going in the background all day, or anything else really, then stream SS and keep telling yourself it sounds good enough. For in that case it probably does.
holmz's avatar
holmz
2,328 posts
 
Do Triode designs have crossover distortion like a push pull Class-AB SS amp?
(And I would expect that some vinyilistas might also be proponents of Class-A SS amps.)
jond's avatar
jond
5,739 posts
 
I have tubes in my Dac, my preamp, and my amp. The sum total of all that sounds fantastic though I am strictly streaming.
oregonpapa's avatar
oregonpapa
4,867 posts
 
I love my vinyl and tubes. There is such a sense of realism about the combination. With that said, my digital system is a Grover Huffman modified Pioneer Elite DVD player that has me shaking my head in disbelief that red-book CDs can sound so analog-like. Who knew??

Frank
noromance's avatar
noromance
9,705 posts
 
Cake and eat it. I've two systems. One is dedicated to vinyl only. Two arms. All tubes. ESLs. That gets 90% of the attention. Love vinyl and the hobby of collecting records.
The other rig is vinyl and digital—CD/DVD/Tidal. All tube amplification.
More to discover