Tubes vs Solid State

"TG, I think the The Map was just having some fun....RIGHT MAPMAN??!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

IF you can't have some fun with cool looking glowy things like tubes, what is there to live for?

Well, I have received a few shocks and burns over the years from gadgets with tubes in them, but I do not blame the tubes for making me want to touch and play around with them. Kinda like women... :-)

Only buy a SS amp if it has VU meters that move...all SS amps should be required to have this, and the fact that they don't is shameful. If you have a tube amp that does not display the tubes, sell it and get one that does. This is really the only way...another idea is to use a SS amp that sounds good (you know.."tube like"), hide it, and place any crappy old tube amp with visable tubes that light up where it can easily be mistaken as the amp driving the speakers, thus having the best of both worlds except for the tube sound, which is also more fun and better for your health, like organic rice.

Wolf,

I like the way you think!

VU meters also glow and are way cool!!! I do miss them also. My squeezebox Touch devices have a VU AND a graphic Equalizer display mode, but I can only use one mode at a time. I need two SBs so I can have all those pretty lights glowing and flashing along with the tube in the DAC, which normally ONLY glows and does not flash. If it flashes, I think that is a bad thing??

Maybe audiophiles truly have evolved and matured to the extent now where glitz, lights and bling does not matter as much anymore as in the past, and Wolf and I are good examples of throwbacks to our more "neanderthal" days?

Nah. The audiophiles have evolved part that is, not the throwbacks part.

Spartan modern gear is largely vendors managing cost and keeping profit levels up I would say. We all would mostly still like to have all the glitz and bling to go along with the good sound.

I blame it all on the AHEE. RaulRuegas, are you listening? Maybe just a little on WAF as well.....

I guess those of us that like and appreciate both tube and solid state electronics must not be welcome here. So Nelson Pass, Dan D'Augustino, Mark levinson and the thousand of other really good electronics designers (read solid state) designs must be like a radio shack piece compared to the simplest tube electronics. Just kidding all. So don't just down my throat. It sometimes appears as if on this site if you aren't 100% in the tube camp you don't exist. Some tube amps just don't do it for me, same for solid state. However, there are some that are absolutely wonderful. Better than the like designed/priced tube/ss amp? nope. different, maybe. Right now, I really like the new Audio Research REF 250 amp. Wow! it is great. But, I'm sure there are equally good solid state amps out there in the same price/quality range. remember, always compare apples to apples.

anyway, enjoy

In all seriousness, the best tube amps I have heard sound pretty much like the best SS amps to me and vice versa. Not sure I have ever heard either sound equally top notch with the same speakers though. Gotta look at the whole picture...