solid state vs tubes

It has been said that Pass XA.5 has a tube-like sound. I no longer understand what that means. To my ears, the Pass has a midrange on par with BAT, CAT, and Berning. That is, it has midrange depth, fullness, and CLARITY. Many SS amps have a midrange HAZE that everyone thinks is tube-like. To me, the essence of tubes is not haze, although there are certainly tube amps and preamps that smear the presentation. Some tube amps can also limit treble extension, and make the music sound homogenous and dull. Good tubes create a 3D, textured, plump, and clear midrange that sounds natural. They can shape the attack and decay of the note to create an increased sense of space.

However, I think the Pass surpasses tube amps, particularly in terms of low noise, bass depth, an effortlessness/relaxed presentation, and control during crescedos. I have to give credit to the BAT tubed preamp for contributing to this sound, in addition to the Tripoint Troy and supporting cables. If my system was behind a screen, I don't think someone would be able to say whether the amps are SS or tube. They just sound natural, musical, and right.

Now that this issue has been settled, I would also suggest that CD has surpassed vinyl....

Well, in 1985 there was the Carver challenge, where Bob Carver was able to set up his solid state amp so that the top stereophile editors could not distinguish it from Conrad Johnson's top amp at the time.

He did this by tweaking his amp to duplicate the transfer function of the CJ (at least when a particular set of speakers was in the circuit).

For whatever reason, that seemed to be pretty much the end of it as far as tuning solid state to sound exactly like tubes.

I've never heard of anyone trying to make a tube amp sound more like a particular solid state amp, although there has been a perpetual effort to improve tube amps where solid state has had the edge (bass control, bass/treble extension).

My short answer is No. I’ve not heard a tube amp that sounds like an SS amp in particular, nor the other way ‘round. I’ve only heard some of each amps attributes correlate to either amp despite their obvious topologies being vastly different..

I see no reason at all to buy a tube amp which sounds like a SS amp. In fact I’ve not heard either one duplicate the other. I have heard tube amps which tend to sound more SS’y than they do tubey. Ie., CJ and Cary of recent vintages… >2005.

The closer one gets to SET topology, the greater the distance between tube and SS amps becomes.

My Ultralinear configured mono blocks can be made to have a good deal of SS attributes…. OR they can be made to sound quite tube-ish… via rolling tubes, & pcs.

I‘ve not been able to make the reverse applicable…. Altering SS to sound like a Tube amp… nor do I care to find out how or even if that is possible.

Each topology serves it’s own end.

Only when or if I were to incorporate tubes into say a HT arrangement, and to lessen the disparity between those two designs, would I tend to look for more SS like tube amps… and even then I might not be so inclined to pursue that theme in those confines.

No such thing...

I erected sails on my power boat.Still able to tell it was a power boat.I also added food colour to my white wine so it would have the appearance of red wine.Still tasted like white wine to me.I've never been able to understand why people try to make things into something they can't possibly be.Laws of physics apply here.Musicnoise and Blinjim have it right.