2 vs 8 tubes in preamp, sound difference?

….well there are five or six reasons why Schitt is so GOOD for the ( your ) $. These are all things you can….read about from home… see the BOOK Schitt Happened by the founders Jason and Mike. I will summarize:

Good ears and extensive prior high end audio experience 

Solid cost effective designs w reasonable sheet metal cabinets, no billet

Circuit boards, point to point isn’t always better

SMD where it makes sense, surface mount devices enable some great pricing on precision discrete parts, automated pick n place and wave solder.

Volume, Volume, Volume

Direct sales model

Jim

@ghdprentice Good man ;-)

So, tell me, how does one learn soo much about audiophiledom.

Putting together and upgrading many systems really helps. As does visiting very high-end dealers with great sound.

Like acting, gardening, and cooking, you either have it in your soul or you don't. 

So, tell me, how does one learn soo much about audiophiledom. 

OP. “How does one learn so much?”…

First of course you have to be really drawn to music. Assuming that… then you have to be drawn to really complex problems. Over my lifetime I realized… I am ok at book learning… but I really like and am really good at multidimensional problems… I really like sideways thinking… considering many different aspects of a problem at the same time. So, you must navigate marketing BS, technical specs that do not reflect actual sound quality, figuring out what aspects of sound you like, technically grasping really fuzzy aspects of sound, assessing sound… research… etc. I am sure you could pursue high end audio for a couple of lifetimes. So, it holds the interest in some people over fifty years… like me. It is constantly rewarding.

Not surprising, one of my real joys of my career has been leading organizations to chose and implement global software. Same deal, highly ambiguous multidisciplinary problems. It also allowed me to afford increasingly high quality audio equipment.