tmtomh
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I won't argue about the performance. Obviously, no one will hear those levels of distortion. But then, and I'm honestly curious, what is the point of tubes? Even ignoring the price premium.
That's kind of my question too. If a piece of tube gear has performance as excellent as this McIntosh unit's, then any tube-based euphonic distortion will be audibly eliminated - which means the tubes will be doing nothing to change the sound.
I get if people like the look or the idea, and if we believe in the power of confirmation bias, then if someone believes strongly that tubes will produce more pleasant sound, they very well might, in that person's subjective experience.
But there does seem to be somewhat of a paradox wherein the best-performing tube gear can arguably also been seen as the least useful tube gear.