Is it true that having both a solid-state amp and a tube amp offers the best of both worlds?

[antcollinet]

This beast leaves all other amps I’ve owned in the dust.

With all those beautifully engineered knobs, dials, switches, and pretty lights, how can it not. **

Seriously it is a very handsome beast.


** I recently bought one of these, I swear the Sinad of my system has improved by at least 20dB

 

[Keith_W]

With all those beautifully engineered knobs, dials, switches, and pretty lights, how can it not. **

Seriously it is a very handsome beast.


** I recently bought one of these, I swear the Sinad of my system has improved by at least 20dB

View attachment 479503

That looks like a Cylon is looking at your sideways. Or an accessory to make your car look like KITT.

 

[antcollinet]

That looks like a Cylon is looking at your sideways. Or an accessory to make your car look like KITT.

It has a Cylon/KITT mode...

(The photos are not doing it justice)

 

[Bob from Florida]

Hi everyone,

As the title suggests, I recently came across several YouTube videos discussing this audio paradigm.

I’ve just purchased the Meze Empyrean II headphones along with the JDS Labs DAC/amp, and the combination is fantastic. I followed recommendations from this forum to make my choice, but now I’m starting to wonder—should I aim for something more, or do all amps sound similar?

I reached out to the Meze team for suggestions on the best audio setup within a limited budget of $1,500 USD. They responded with a few recommendations:

1. Schiit Valhalla 3 + Schiit Bifrost
2. Feliks Audio Echo MK II + Topping E70
3. Burson Conductor 3X Performance

One of these options features a tube amplifier, which piqued my interest. I began exploring and found the Cayin brand and their HA-2A and HA-3A models. Has anyone had experience with these?

I appreciate any recommendations, experiences, or insights you might have on this topic.

Cheers!

You already have a good DAC/Amp, however, if you want a "Made in USA" setup using tubes - below is a solid suggestion.

DAC Schiit Modi -$129

Schiit Audio: Audio Products Made in USA

www.schiit.com

Quicksilver Headphone Amp - $1198

Headphone Amplifier – Quicksilver Audio

quicksilveraudio.com

Modi uses the same DAC chip as your JMLABS and you don't need balanced out of your DAC to use with the Quicksilver headphone amp.
The Quicksilver headphone amp is spec'ed at <.01% distortion above 30 ohms. I doubt you will hear any distortion. Unlike high power tube amps for speakers, this one uses inexpensive EL84 output tubes. As long as you don't buy into the New Old Stock tubes nonsense - this is a solid cost effective combo.

 

[AJM1981]

Another approach to the topic is just following the historical timeline and make a choice.

A CD prototype was anounced mid 70s. Which paved the way to a more 'true to reel master' producers craved. And in some way it also shaped the 80s in music as bands and producers already wanted their tracks to be demo'd for the CD to launch.

A track like 'you're not alone' by 20cc was kind of one of the "demos" that along shaped the 80s in digital inspired music. It was transparant, bright, clean and smooth. Like glass. Bit like the CD in its optical form itself. And amplifier manufacturers followed in those signatures along with pop music. Everything became like this, even (Smooth) Jazz got there. Every producer wanted to have a showroom demo that sounded polished as diamond.

So looking through the eyes of time. Get a sterile amp for 'some' mid 70s music and all the 80s That is about right. And get a tube amp for everything till the 70s and all revival music.

Could go through more periods, but in any time it was seeing where the ball was going in what defined amp signatures

Back to the current reality of everything goes. Just do what you please in general.. there is not really a wrong or right here.

 

[My adventures in stereo]

I have home-brewed tube amplification in my setup, and I made it a point to get an uncolored sound. Why bother with tubes then? Because I like the looks of the equipment, which consists of two nicely home-made and finished open chassis 140 watts each tube circlotron (bridge rather than push-pull output stage) style mono-blocks and a separate preamp, which is encased in a nice looking enclosure for shielding purposes. The top of the enclosure is made of perforated steel, and the glow of the 12 little duo-triodes in there are visible when looking down on the preamp. Besides sounding good, I gits to brag "Made it muh self.".

You have piqued my interest
Post pictures, would like to see your rig

 

[Curupira]

Another approach to the topic is just following the historical timeline and make a choice.

A CD prototype was anounced mid 70s. Which paved the way to a more 'true to reel master' producers craved. And in some way it also shaped the 80s in music as bands and producers already wanted their tracks to be demo'd for the CD to launch.

A track like 'you're not alone' by 20cc was kind of one of the "demos" that along shaped the 80s in digital inspired music. It was transparant, bright, clean and smooth. Like glass. Bit like the CD in its optical form itself. And amplifier manufacturers followed in those signatures along with pop music. Everything became like this, even (Smooth) Jazz got there. Every producer wanted to have a showroom demo that sounded polished as diamond.

So looking through the eyes of time. Get a sterile amp for 'some' mid 70s music and all the 80s That is about right. And get a tube amp for everything till the 70s and all revival music.

Could go through more periods, but in any time it was seeing where the ball was going in what defined amp signatures

Back to the current reality of everything goes. Just do what you please in general.. there is not really a wrong or right here.

Agree with everything but the imitating the source gear from the era. There's nothing wrong with getting tube amplifiers if you like the looks or the technology itself, but I don't think the sound would translate as well in regards to quality.

The "glassy" timbre of 80s music is a very interesting phenomena exactly because it was purposeful and "artificial", it has more to do with mastering and tone control than with the technology behind the amplification or digital conversion. A "glassy" song from that time will still sound the same if you use the better built tube amplifiers of today.

I think most people wouldn't be able to identify a tube amplifier if output impedance and high noise (like with iems) weren't telling factors: the harmonic distortion present in most solutions, even those measured on this site, are hard to spot for an untrained ear. Myself, for one, have difficulty telling my Little Dot MK3's sound apart from my MD Dawn's pro or my FiiO BTR3k's, and both solutions have better SINAD than the CD redbook standard. The only instances that makes it dead easy is when it's tubes make noise (like, all the time), bump the low end of my dynamic headphones or suffer from severe channel imbalance.

 

[AJM1981]

Agree with everything but the imitating the source gear from the era. There's nothing wrong with getting tube amplifiers if you like the looks or the technology itself, but I don't think the sound would translate as well in regards to quality.

The "glassy" timbre of 80s music is a very interesting phenomena exactly because it was purposeful and "artificial", it has more to do with mastering and tone control than with the technology behind the amplification or digital conversion. A "glassy" song from that time will still sound the same if you use the better built tube amplifiers of today.

For sure. It was the choice in tone, texture, mixing and mastering and there is no doubt about it doing indistinguishable well on a modern tube amp.

It was just a new circle of a trend those days. When color tv was launched, nature programs could show vivid color. The difference is not that huge in audio, but when the CD was in te pipeline, solid state followed it as the new best marketing thing and the clear colder voicing connected in the trend.

Sterility in tone suits with how people saw a CD, literally, as a polished disc other than dusty popping sound of vinyl of the majority.

The early obsession with cleanliness. And voicing of solid state amps, at least for a period seemed to also be moving along with the trend for pop music specifically. It all pushed each other into a new direction. And that direction went on for a while. The whole chain of changes is also one of the many reasons why CD's are being remembered as sterile sounding.

This is most likely why till points in the 70s solid state amps were kind of voiced like the tube amps of those days and why manufacturers went on the bandwagon after, leaving tubes and tube voicing slowly behind as it was associated with the previous age of vinyl.

I think most people wouldn't be able to identify a tube amplifier if output impedance and high noise (like with iems) weren't telling factors: the harmonic distortion present in most solutions, even measured on this site, are hard to spot to an untrained ear. Myself, for one, have difficulty telling my Little Dot MK3 sound apart from my MD Dawn pro or my FiiO BTR3k, both solutions that have better SINAD than the CD redbook standard. The only instances that makes it dead easy is when the tubes make noise (like, all the time), bump the low end of my dynamic headphones or suffer from severe channel imbalance.

You are very right here.