Tubes vs. solid state.

I'm sorry. Who is Ralph? I would like to read his papers on the subject. Thanks,
To touch on a subject mentioned earlier. as long as we are using solid state/tube devices, wires, capacitors, inductors, etc. we will have propagation delay, distortion, losses, etc. I wish I was a smarter Engineer, I would go the star trek approach and things would be perfect. Using light as the signal, recording and playback media would probably be better. Digital is always flawed, although much better now, because it cuts an analog signal into pieces and then tries to piece it back together again. Sound is analog in nature. Eliminate the distortion, additions, and losses and you are there. I wonder where we will be 100 years from now? Quite honestly, we really haven't changed much in decades in amp design. Yes, the amps are actually built better. The transformers, capacitors, resistors, inductors, etc. are better. and the transistors are much better, more linear. Tubes? wow! I'm not sure if they are better or not. but amps? you still have input stage, high impedance, differential inputs, cascode, current mirrors, voltage gain, current gain, output drivers, etc. Bias control has gotten much better, and current sources are creative and better, but my point is like an automobile, what has changed? it is still an internal combustion machine that drives axles and wheels. Like I said, I wish I was smarter. I am absolutely cerain that Nelson Pass can design and build high quality tube amps also. A good Engineer is a good Engineer. He just choose to go the solid state route. Same for good tube amp designers. They can do just as well with solid state. They found their nitch(?) and went with it. However, to get to the level where you really listen to music instead of as background music is tough without spending an amazing amount of money. That is why used equipment sales are going strong. I'll take a Mark Levinson older amp Ml3, Ml2, Ml23.5, etc. any day. Threshold amps (replace the pre-drivers and output drivers with more linear transistors and wow!), Audio Research, etc. My point? This older equipment is wonderful! The good thing about a good Engineer like Pass, is that they can explain the difficult subjects clearly make it down to earth. There are many out there. I love reading their stuff.

Again, Enjoy

Enjoy

Minorl, of course there are electric cars too, and energy storage systems that are a lot better than the internal combustion guys would have you believe.

There have been improvements in amps in the last 50 years. There are new topologies that did not exist in the 1950s or 60s. So even if the parts had not gotten better (which they have) there would still be progress.

A lot of that progress comes out of the understanding of how the human perceptual system works. IOW we are not going to make progress if we design something to look good on paper, but the paper rules fail to take in how we hear sounds. Dr Herbert Melcher (famous in the world of neurochemistry) has done some recent studies that show that the more an audio playback system violates human perceptual rules, the more the processing moves from the limbic system to the cerebral cortex.

Atmasphere, do zero feedback solid state designs share the same benefits as zero feedback tube amps ?

Thanks

Oh shucks, I must really be tin-eared, because I have never detected any correlation between 0-feedback and the sound I like, in any amps I heard, tubed and SS alike.

Guido,

I have. And although my sample is limited, I have found a very strong correlation between zero feedback designs and my long term satisfaction with the equipment.

Non-zero feedback designs that I have dealt with and discarded because of aural issues:

1. Rowland capri
2. Rowland Synergy 2i
3. CJ MV-60SE
4. Linn Klimax
5. Nagra PLL

Besides the CJ above, which I lived with for a year, I got rid of the other equipment within a matter of months, if not weeks.

Equipment, I have had a long term relationship with:

1. CJ Premier 14 (3-4 years)
2. Nagra VPA (bought it and never got rid of)
3. Ayre A7 integrated
4. Ayre KX-R
5. Dartzeel nhb-108

I did not start out with any biases towards non-zero feedback designs ... in fact it was the other way around. I would always (and still do) peruse the distortion measurements of equipment in Sterophile, Soundstage, and I had a strong bias against zero feedback designs, as they showed up poorly in the measurements department.

My ears simply lead me to the equipment that I now have.

Of course it is also possible that I am highly suggestible, and I am the one with the tin-ear.