Is your Audible Illusions the latest production? If so, it will require a LOT of break-in. I was talking to Art Ferris at Audible Illusions last week. He says the caps he's using are specially made for him, and include lead wound into the cap. they are especially immune to stray interference and vibration, he says. However, they take forever to break in. I got a new one this month and I've been playing it for about 3 weeks. Only now is it starting to open up and reach its potential.
Going back to your question... the previous answers are sound, I think. The tube guys are getting very good at designing circuits that take into account the actual tube behavior at different loads, and in different parts of their response curves. So they're less coloured in sound and more linear in response. And the comment about even-order harmonics being psychoacoustically more benign is a tube advantage. But most of my engineering buddies believe that it's possible to design solid state circuits that will match or exceed the performance of any tube-based preamp, with better objective performance, and greater long-term reliability. Of course, they're the kind of people who see the glass partially full of water as simply being over-designed...
My previous Audible Illusions preamp had a sort-of "holographic" quality that made musicians almost real in my listening room. I liked it, even if it WAS based on artifacts of the design. As a previous poster said, my CD-player sounded much richer and more "real" through the preamp. Of course, since most of my listening is vinyl, I don't really have a choice. But I think you'll like what the Modulus does for you after it finally breaks in!
Hope this helps!
Going back to your question... the previous answers are sound, I think. The tube guys are getting very good at designing circuits that take into account the actual tube behavior at different loads, and in different parts of their response curves. So they're less coloured in sound and more linear in response. And the comment about even-order harmonics being psychoacoustically more benign is a tube advantage. But most of my engineering buddies believe that it's possible to design solid state circuits that will match or exceed the performance of any tube-based preamp, with better objective performance, and greater long-term reliability. Of course, they're the kind of people who see the glass partially full of water as simply being over-designed...
My previous Audible Illusions preamp had a sort-of "holographic" quality that made musicians almost real in my listening room. I liked it, even if it WAS based on artifacts of the design. As a previous poster said, my CD-player sounded much richer and more "real" through the preamp. Of course, since most of my listening is vinyl, I don't really have a choice. But I think you'll like what the Modulus does for you after it finally breaks in!
Hope this helps!