How can it be balanced if it's SET? If the inputs are balanced, then i understsnd you possibly get the benefit of reduced noise, but other than that it seems like more of a marketing gimmick than anything.
Isn't the benefit of balanced interconnect simply one of noise rejection?
If the devices are actually transmitting a signal on all three wires then you should get better noise rejection and more voltage. The noise rejections doesn't really matter in a domestic setting. The higher voltage should, and in many cases, does, lead to better SINAD. I wouldn't necessarily expect it to lead to better SINAD or higher voltage in the R8, however. But that's not actually what I am talking about. I am just saying XLR connectors themselves are nicer. The are less likely to get jostled loose, they give feedback when they snap into a receptacle, they are directional, in the sense that one end of the cable is male and the other female, so it is easier to avoid mixing up inputs and outputs on any individual device. Note that I am not saying the cable itself does anything directional with the signal, just that as far as inputs and outputs go, plug A goes in jack A and plug B goes in Jack B, so they are more foolproof.
They all sounded thin and reedy to me. I'd guess lacking low-mids.
Hi-fi-ish is more like it.i said "usually" and not "always"
besides, most people, i think, get tube (pre)amps for the tube sound, not because they can sound "hi-fi".
OTL amps' performance is highly dependent on the load connected to them.
I wouldn't consider a tube amp HIFi gear. Although helpful in the signal chain, lossless audio and low distortion is not really the end goal of the tube amp. Sound presentation is the goal. Hearing human voices as if they were singing in your room, instrument separation and dynamics so lively that it presents a sort of holographic sound is what I've come to love about my R8 with Heresy's. For these reasons, I would consider tube amps as Audiophile gear instead of HiFi gear. IMO It's really different strokes for different folks.
If it tickles the nun-handles of the listener in the right way, that is what's important, lab-grade or not lab grade notwithstanding.
Here's my sample of Pink Moon by Nick Drake. iPhone 14. No room treatment.
Sounded pretty much how I'd expect an iphone recording to sound : Terrible.
Nice criticism buddy. Please provide a recording of your system so I can be so enlightened.
There is no point of recording a system in a listening room - it will always sound terrible. Even if you don't use a phone microphone. And I don't know why you are surprised - you literally replied to my post in which I said the same thing about some other system recordings, and where I also said the system probably sounds fine but the recording will be bad.
Gotcha. I was merely attempting to provide a difference in presentation. My power tubes are Electro-Harmonix EL34 whereas the stock tubes are KT88s which were shown in your original video post. To me there is an obvious difference in presentation of the sound between both videos. And, yes, obviously, nothing is going to sound it's best over the internet. Even replying in that fashion is an asinine afterthought.
