I still don't think the best class D amps are as smooth and holographic as the best tube amps, but they are getting better.
Tube amps and a Stradivarius
I was mixing an orchestra in a church and the conductor who was my friend wanted me to hear one of the musicians play their Stradivarius violin for me back at the mixer. The sound was so beautiful it seemed like there was already reverb on it. I was brought to tears simply because of the beauty and I'd never hear such an instrument before.
Tube amps are not technically as accurate as solid-state but they sound more musical, I would submit that they sound that way because of the ring of the tubes just like the reverb of the Stradivarius violin. I believe the vibration of the sound from the speakers excite the tubes and there is a pleasant reverb effect. In mixing vocals there is an important effect in the reverb processor called pre delay and that time delay before the reverb is actuated in the processor is like the time delay of the speakers making the tubes ring. Thoughts?
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IME as long as you have the right amp, class D can be every bit as liquid and smooth as the best tube amps. But you have to hear the right one; like the way tube amps can sound really different from one to another, the same is true of class D (or class A for that matter...). |
@atmasphere Thank you for that great post. Your words carry a lot of knowledge and experience in the audiophile world, exactly what I wanted. I did professional sound for 35 years never used a tube amp but I liked them so much after I retired I bought them for my home system. I have a professional Genelec "the Ones" Dolby Atmos system in the same room as my home theater Dolby Atmos and my 2 channel system my home system sounds so much better not more accurate but worlds better, I do think it's because of the tube amps PS Audio BHKs and also BHK preamp. I didn't think there was a technical reason why the tubes would sound better. Very interesting. |
@atmasphere Also I have had my tube amps and preamp for about 3 years I've bought all the cool tubes that are supposed to make the equipment sound better and there has been a big difference, that is really scary to me there is no way I can use my home system to evaluate what's real, I can of course compare it to other music and movies I've listened to on that system. My question is how do you manage the tubes, they slowly get bad I can't take it, I feel like they start going bad the second I put a new one in and I'm just not noticing it because the bad sound happen so slowly, very frustrating. How do I manage tubes?
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It sounds to me like you're managing them quite well as you've put your finger on their biggest weakness. Its lovely when they are right and frustrating when they are not; tubes were made to much higher quality standards 60-70 years ago, which is why NOS tubes command higher prices. |
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