SUT - electrical theory and practical experience

@alexberger I have no criticism of the 834P (Original) and in (Clone Build Versions) I would say a few Clone Versions were built to a high spec' as I know one of the builders and who they take their influences from on DIY Projects.

As said the ECC83 is a hard Tube to tame and can be overbearingly rich and bloat the lowest frequencies.

I learnt this more than 25 Years ago with a Valve Pre-Amp'.

I also learnt I am repellent to discernible Rich Tones and Loose Bass.

There are humungous music enthusiasts who are very satisfied with this type of presentation, and I am genuinely very pleased they have discovered the Sound Quality that offers satisfaction.

The SUT as already referred to within this thread is capable of adding richness and in some cases with a quite discernible and notable impact on the SQ.

As said, it is difficult to imagine a SUT in use with an EAR 834P that would be capable of reducing the perception of richness, the pairing would seemingly create a richness, but to what degree of being noticeable, and perceived as an attraction or repellent is with an unknown outcome.     

@rauliruegas 

Thanks for the detailed response.  So, just to clarify, you are most concerned about the bandwidth limitations in a SUT.  I could agree with that; however, I'm not certain that actual signal degradation is any better or worse in a transistor, just different.  

I think this video from Veritasium does a rather informative job of explaining how current actually travels:  no it doesn't travel in the wires but in the surrounding electromagnetic fields, and electrons don't "flow" in the wires, either in AC or DC, and in a wire with no resistance, the current flow is instantaneous, whether 0.001 m long or 100,000 m long.  I suppose the magnetic properties of the silver and copper account for the difference in sound, and while I really don't know all the details, I don't know that the method by which a signal is transmitted in a transistor is any better than a transformer.

@rauliruegas 

Your latter post about preferring an integrated "phonolinestage" over separate phono and pre-amplifier would also logically favor an integrated pre-amplifier / amplifier over separate components, so I'm not so sure that your ideal preference holds true to real life experience. 

I think this video from Veritasium does a rather informative job of explaining how current actually travels:

I believe it is the field that “flows” around the conductor.

no it doesn’t travel in the wires but in the surrounding electromagnetic fields, and electrons don’t "flow" in the wires, either in AC or DC,

The electrons actually do flow, just not very fast.
And without the wire there, the field doesn’t really propagate the same way.
It will not :know” where to go, and in a 100km long wire or a SUT, how will it know to have a 1:10 ratio, etc.

and in a wire with no resistance, the current flow is instantaneous, whether 0.001 m long or 100,000 m long.

They are not instantaneous, as the electric field propagates as the speed of light/dielectric constant.

The electric field essentially pushes, or sweeps, the electrons along.

The electric field can be super high, but with no current there is little or no magnetic field. And the voltage (electric field) can be super low, but have a massive current… and then we get little electric field and a huge magnetic field.

in the devices we are considering the impedance is not zero like in a super conductor, nor it is it infinite… it is pretty constant. So there is a fixed proportionality between the voltage and current… and hence a fixed proportionality between the electric and magnetic fields.

I suppose the magnetic properties of the silver and copper account for the difference in sound, and while I really don’t know all the details, I don’t know that the method by which a signal is transmitted in a transistor is any better than a transformer

There are all sorts of hypothesis as to why the metal choice might impart a different sound, but most are a bit light and fact and oversubscribed in magic.
It is possible that the dielectric is as important as the metal.

In a transformer, similarly it is possible that the core material is as important as the choice of wire used for the windings.

In a “Field Effect Transistor” (FET) it is the electric field that controls the gate.
In a Bipolar Junction Transistor, the current flow controls the junction.

@holmz 

Thanks for sharing those details.  I don’t know the details of how a FET works, but I’m sure it has its deficiencies, as does the SUT.

I think that 0.00003 seconds (1/c) is essentially instantaneous to the human mind and ear….just ask the digital guys about sampling, etc. . .