Here's a recent...interesting?...fun?...goofy?...ridiculous?.....(insert your opinion) "Tube vs Solid state" comparison on a youtube video.
I'm linking to this not, of course, as any rigorous demonstration of anything, which it clearly is not, but for a bit of fun related to the topic of the thread.
Jay's Audio Lab put out a few videos of his system playing music powered by VAC tube amps vs Gryphon solid state amps, keeping the identify hidden and using a voting system on which sound the youtube audience preferred.
There is clearly a sense in which audio demos on youtube are ludicrous which hardly needs to be spelled out ("Man, those Revel Salon speakers don't sound any better than the iphone I'm using to watch that video! What a rip off!").
On the other hand there is a more serious question about whether at least relative differences in sound can be heard if it's a well recorded demo, played back on good enough speakers (or even not-so-great speakers). I think the obvious answer is "yes." Of course in principle relative differences can be discerned. After all you are hearing relative audible differences between people's voices etc on any youtube video. Not to mention there are all sorts of microphone comparison tests on youtube where the differences are easily discerned.
If the characteristics of a piece of audio gear were audibly distinct enough - e.g. two different speakers - then it's entirely plausible, even expected, there would be some audible difference picked up in a decent youtube video. There are some decent speaker vs speaker comparisons where the differences seem clearly audible. A further question would be: WHEN the differences are audible...are they actually capturing anything informative about the sound character differences between A and B? That's more dicey, but having checked out tons of these videos - which include some speakers I know - I'm left with the hunch that says "yes it's possible to a degree."
Anyway, all that said, and while this channel will certainly not be to the taste of many, here's a link to the first "blind test" video:
You can go from that to the next two "blind test" videos then to the "revelation of the winner" video, if you care to.
Interesting to me (though again, not good evidence) is that, once the identities were revealed I found I chose correctly for each trial, that is decided which was solid state over tubes. I felt I was hearing a
relative difference in the presentations, that same precision, especially of leading edges in the guitar, in one version over another, the same as I hear when I compare solid state amps or preamps in my system to my tubes. And that was indeed the solid state amp presentation each time. Further, interesting is that the majority of viewers chose the same amp as "sounding best" once the winner was revealed.
Spoiler reveal:
The Solid State amps were preferred!
Once again...not rigorous evidence for anything (e.g. could be explained by slight volume differences in the recordings), but fun relevant to the thread subject for those who want it.
