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What would you do?

I am seeking opinion on adding a single tube component in an all Solid State system. If you’ve made this transition, which one of these components gave you the best results for that warm, rich and harmonically diverse tone tubes or valves are known for, 

1) DAC

2) Preamp

3) Amp

The speakers are Tannoy’s Canterbury (96dB) paired with Accuphase E-650. I really love my current system and there is nothing lacking as E-650 offers a very sublime listening experience.  The source is Aurender N30SA and upcoming tw-acustic GT2 turntable with Reed 3P arm. 

So then, why seek out a different experience. Well, beyond the obvious distinctive sound of valves, I kinda miss tube rolling and pursuit of exotic tubes. 

Happy Holidays! 

128x128lalitk
knotscott
921 posts
 

The speaker amp synergy is pretty important, so if your current amp and speakers are a great match, I'd opt for a tube preamp if I could only pick one.  (but being a tube believer, I gotta suggest both! 😎)

lalitk's avatar
lalitk OP
5,448 posts
 

@knotscott 

Agreed on speaker + amp synergy.  Since I currently use an integrated, I could try a preamp since my Accuphase allows preamplifier and power amplifier sections to be used separately. 

ghdprentice
6,967 posts
 

Preamp. The preamp is the heart and central component. That is where to start. A good tubed preamp will be very musical and reliable, and give you a taste for what is to come if you continue down the path. 
 

BTW, for the first twenty years in audio all of my equipment was solid state and then over the following thirty years one component after another got switched to tube equipment (my system is shown under my ID). My only regret was no doing it much faster.

rockadanny
1,224 posts
 

Back when I was figuring this out as I was building my system I experienced the most tube sound benefits from the power amp. Every tube piece made an improvement in sound, but for me the amp made the biggest difference. 

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