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Tube magic in solid state?

I spent this weekend being absolutely mesmerized by tube magic while listening to a BAT VK-60 on my Quad 989 speakers. Could it be possible that Charles Hansen has achieved the same thing with his zero feedback SS designs, or is this "magic" a soley and inescapably tube thing?

It was impossible to get bored with music this weekend. When I went back to my truly fine Pass Aleph 60 single-ended Class A mono amps, my mind started wandering, not once but several times--until I finally quit listening. These are great amps, but the BAT just changed things, you know what I mean? I don't have any idea how this VK-60 stacks up against other tube amps, but in my system, the gates of heaven opened with tubes on my electrostats. But life would be so much easier if we could find this in a SS amp. Is it possible...?
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philjolet's avatar
philjolet
2,306 posts
 
The closest I found was Plinius SA100 KIII but still no cigar, I went back to tubes.

I do not think it is possible but all the comments about Edge sounding like neither SS or tubes has me thinking...
cytocycle
1,043 posts
 
Lamm M1.1's with tube input Class A mosfet output, all the microdynamics of tubes but all the control of SS. I even have a solid state preamp (neutral though- Rowland)
gregadd
574 posts
 
NO. IF YOU THINK YOU ARE ADDICTED NOW. WAIT TO YOU HEAR AN OTL LIKE ATMA SPHERE. IT'S LIKE MOVING FROM POWDER COCAINE TO "CRACK."ADD TO THAT A MOVING COIL CARTRIDGE LIKE KOETSU AND YOU'LL TURN IN YOUR 401K. WELCOME TO OUR WORLD.
avguygeorge
2,300 posts
 
So eloquently described gregadd.--Excellent simile,you smooth talker.
sdatch
204 posts
 
You may want to try Audio Analogue (Italy) or Sugden (UK). I recently heard a pair of Audio Analogue Donizetti monoblocs and they were probably the closest SS approximation of tubes I have heard yet.
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