Okay, all components have improved in quality out of necessity. Decades ago it made sense to make resistors of varying quality. Miniaturization and speed has largely changed that. It now makes sense to only make extremely good quality parts because that’s less expensive than manufacturing different quality resistors on different production lines.. So a resistor that cannot operate into gigahertz or more are just not worth manufacturing these days, not to mention the transition from, point to point, to through hole, to surface mount technology.
Beyond all of that though had been a constant drum beat, so to speak, for better sounding components as well. Another real issue for those who do modifications is the problem of circuit design, and components used.
A poor design often suffers when better components are used, and if the circuit has lousy components, changing out a few may not yield results which will be obvious.
Another very real factor is the system itself. Particularly the speakers, if dull, will certainly impact all of the sound. While the same it quite true of any dull sounding component, it seems especially obvious with regard to speakers as some speakers are notorious for it.
My early speakers were AR, but honestly the rest of my system was of such poor quality, Sanusi, Teac, and some general production TT with a Grace MM cartridge, so I really can’t speak to the sound quality of anything in it separately.
I was a technician and had been told that SS was better than tubes, unless there was a nuclear attack, so it went for several decades. All the while I was seeking out audio per listening to TAS’s Harry Pearson telling me that this or that magic component would make Dusty Springfield appear before me, Harry really loved Dusty Springfield. It never happened. There were 2 reviewers who I actually respected, but I’ll leave it there because that’s not the issue. I wasn’t fortunate enough to live near high end dealers.
Anyway, I found electrostatic loud speakers and Black Gate capacitors. Black Gates were heads and shoulders more transparent than other electrolytic capacitors, but that was only a good thing in good equipment with decent components. Furthermore, I found that some capacitors sounded even better, by-passing began.
I did parts swapping in loads of gear, and spent at least hundreds of dollars on opamps alone. Here’s the problem folks, unfortunately equipment is usually less than neutral, so what sounds good in one system may not sound good in another. I was going through Linear Technology opamps as though they were candy at one point, and many loved them, but until I found more neutral gear, they were just making up for high frequency losses in other gear. The same CDP was bright in more neutral systems, so you guessed it, I began buying more opamps. I did finally find a really good post DAC set up, but by then I had a Schitt Audio Yaggdrasil, and it was irrelevant.
As for caps and circuits, as mentioned in a previous post, and by me, the thing is that once you reach near neutral, the differences are not being impacted by the circuit/system. A good circuit is absolutely essential to good sound, and swapping out individual components individually just doesn’t impact the design, though it certainly does impact the signal.
Another thing that I have found to be true is that less is usually more. I say usually because my SS amplifier is not a simple circuit, it’s a ML 27.5, and I haven’t installed soft recovery diodes or anything else, it is just as neutral as anything that I have ever heard.
I am working, using the term VERY loosely, on a KT88 based amp, but I am in no hurry, the Levinson is more than sufficient. Also, the power supplies in my Don Sachs 2 preamp, as well as in my tube amp, are far from simple, but any type of amplifier needs very controlled and quiet supplies capable of satisfying instantaneous demands for power in order to be both quiet, and accurate. Both tube units have some of the best, though not the most expensive, components in them.
People who claim to have tin ears listen in awe of what they have never heard before from familiar music. Musicians too love finding things that they had never heard in songs before.
Every electronic/electrical component in my system was selected by someone in order to attain the quality of music that I enjoy. Frankly, for the first time in decades I have gear in my system that I have done zero mods to because it all came out of the box neutral, but someone else did voice the circuits and components.
My speakers are full 15" range drivers, until I bought them I would never have believed that crossovers buried so much detail. I always understood that once lost a signal is lost, but I never expected high output signals to take such a loss, I was always preoccupied with low level signals, I figured that while mods to crossovers have improved things, I didn’t realize that any crossover destroys the signal. I believe that is likely also why tube gear has a reputation for better sound. There may be something to tubes adding pleasing distortion, but I am 100% convinced that the minimal number of components in the signal path is where the greater difference lies. There is no doubt that as in opamps, tubes very heavily impact the sound, but with the beat tubes, I think that only truly special SS gear, like my Levinson amplifier, can compete with top end tubes.
I don’t doubt that there are better systems our there, but besides the DAC, I think that you would have to spend an absurd amount of money to substantially better it. A trusted audiophile who had a Yaggdrasil told me that the PS DAC for 5 or 6K???? is better, but for the first time in my life, I am content.
One other important point. I mentioned that systems are capable of negatively impacting the sound, and that could hide improvements made by installing a couple of top of the line capacitors, etc. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Many people don’t want to hear every detail of every song! What and how you enjoy your music is a rather personal thing. It’s no one’s business what you enjoy in music, as long as you are not trying to get others to affirm your taste in music. I used to really look down upon those who owned this or that pair of speakers, etc. So, there will be many who could care less about how my system sounds, and that’s as it should be.
In closing, I could only prove the negative impact of some electrical components such as capacitors if you were here to listen to my system, thus the positive impact of other components. No one is going to be persuaded here, and if they were, it wouldn’t be a logical conclusion. You MIGHT be swayed if a reviewer whom you respect and have always agreed with, or an audiophile you know personally were to say so, so I respect your skepticism as it is just unless it can be aurally proven to you that you have been misinformed. I am expressing my experience and it is worth every penny you paid me for it! Enjoy your music, but don’t expect information that you are incapable of providing in this arena to persuade anyone! If you find yourself in the Cincinnati/Dayton area, feel free to try to contact me, I often keep odd hours, and you can give my system a listen.
Lou
