From tubes back to SS?

Yeah, I went back, and it was a mistake. My first truly high end amp was the wonderful McCormack DNA-1. Good as it was, it wasn't quite as good as the Aronov integrated, so out it went. Which btw this was also when I realized tube watts are greater than SS watts, because the 60 wpc Aronov sounded every bit as powerful as the 150 wpc McCormack. 

After 10 years or so though when the Aronov started blowing fuses I started thinking maybe it would be nice not having an amp you have to keep replacing tubes. I tried something, forget what it was, some SS integrated Class A type amp. Nothing but problems! More problems than tubes! Which at least with tubes they sound so good its worth putting up with a few problems. With SS though its always something. Not problems, usually they are totally reliable. Problems with the way they sound. There just aren't any that can hold a candle to a good tube amp.

So out went the SS and this time in went the Melody I880 another 50 wpc integrated. I'd almost forgotten what a good tube amp sounds like! Not quite as awesome bass control or deep liquid stage as the Aronov, but awful close, and with a normal stepped attenuator and way more reliable it has given me zero troubles in nearly a dozen years now.

Would I ever go back again? Never say never but in this case probably no, never.

I went from tubes to a Parsound Halo integrated amp and love it!

Last year I changed my power amp from a 300B-based VAC Renaissance 70/70 MkIII I had been using for several years to a Pass XA25, and I have no regrets at all.

While they sound somewhat different, of course, the Pass comes remarkably close to the VAC with respect to dimensionality, imaging, liquidity, and other traditional fortes of high quality tube amps. It’s a bit less rich sounding than the VAC, but I interpret that as an increase in accuracy, which is fine as far as I am concerned.

I should add, though, that my speakers (Daedalus Ulysses) have an unusually flat and benign impedance curve, as well as 97.5 db efficiency and high power handling capability, which makes them more versatile than most speakers with respect to amplifier selection.

Also, some non-sonic factors contributed to my decision, including the likelihood of greater reliability in the years ahead with the Pass considering that the VAC was close to 20 years old; the fact that even though both amps operate in class A the XA25 puts only 240 watts of heat into the room compared to what I believe is upwards of 700 watts for the VAC; and the cost that would be involved in re-tubing the VAC’s eight 300Bs if and when that were to become necessary.

Regards,

-- Al

Had all tubes for 20+ years. I love tubes but got sick of replacing them. The old stock tubes are rare as well as priced out of this world now, & although the new ones were getting much better, they still didn’t match the old stock from the 50’s 60’s & to a lesser extent, the 70’s. Anyway, went from a SET tube amp (6550 Jeff Korneff / an absolutely wonderful amp) to a Single ended SS (Valvet monoblocks). The Valvets added some detail on top without being at all abrasive while keeping the majority of the mid range beauty. Shortly thereafter, replaced a Sonic Frontiers phono amp for a new Audio Alchemy phono amp with the optional power supply. With that I got detail and a better soundstage. Then replaced the Sonic Frontiers preamp with a Jeff Rowland. The Rowland is in another class all together.

There are trade-offs with SS for sure. That said, I listen to more music now than I ever have in the past & am enjoying it more. Can’t say I’ll never go back though... Maybe the current tube manufacturers will figure out how to pull off the NOS sound quality. Could happen, I guess.