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

I thought that way as well dspr, but recent SS offerings such as my Krell Vanguard really has none of those typical artifacts.  In fact, the last tube preamp I tried from ARC injected just that sort of glare you would equate with SS.  There are obviously ways to offer musical performance in both designs, but just because something is tube based, does not require it to be musical or lacking warts.

Now that I think more about it, the tube preamp has a closely regulated power supply AND when I used standard 6X5GT rectifiers the preamp didn't sound all that good, I put in a Bendix 5852 and it sounded much better. Additionally, I used a couple of UF4007s and it sounded fine as well but a tube rectifier allows for a slow turn on, resulting in longer tube life, I'd have to add a delay circuit in order to use SS diodes all the time.

Hi dave_b,

Your point is well taken.

I replaced my Coda CS amp with a McCormack DNA-500 driving Thiel CS5's and the glare went away, plus I picked up more nuance and texture. Another vote for taking the journey to find more synergistic  components! 

Thanks for listening,

Dsper

Playing with a new Signal Cable Magic Digital HC POWER CORD!!  Using it on my Yamaha SCD 2100 ...immediately a far clearer window on the soundstage.  Hopefully all the other aspects of what I have enjoyed remain and or improve.

Hi Dsper,
The Coda would likely have been improved by using soft recovery rectifiers. IMO there should only be 3 choices. Clear, articulate gear, less so, and dark. The only matching ought to be how much of each one wants. Unfortunately, things like price point are such get in the way of all that. Once John Curl was talking up a new amplifier that he had designed with some tuning assistance, but the point is that once Parasound began selling them people bought them and were telling John, and everyone how bad they sounded. After a few folks complained and it became obvious that something was wrong, John bought an amplifier from a local dealers, opened it up and found that the manufacturer that Parasound contracted with had substituted some expensive components which had been specified. By saving a few dollars an amp they ruined the amplifier but made a lot more money on the ones they made. I don't know how Parasound handled it, but John told people what they needed to replace, and with what they should use. John used to post a lot on Audiogon, which is why I bring him up a lot, I am not on there so much these days so I don't know if Mr. Curl is still posting there, but he was a wealth of information.