a rant

See, now tube amplifiers are all the rage again - it was class d about 3 years ago - it was solid state about 6 months ago - whenever i have tubes - i want solid state, whenever i have solid state - then i want tubes - then ill try class d in the meantime

@smargo Tubes have been ’back’ since sometime in the 1970s when ARC was founded as Electronic Industries. Later ARC was spun off and Electronic Industries made circuit boards instead. During the 1980s Harry Pearson of The Absolute Sound liked the ARC tube amps and so tube amps ramped up. Class D really didn’t get a foothold until about 2000 although it has been around since the 1960s (and originally proposed in the 1950s). Lately class D has advanced enough that it can have some of the better quality of tubes without the downsides. Solid state (class A or AB) has been doing much better as well.

So I think tube amps are on borrowed time; the war in Ukraine has driven tube prices up worldwide. Right now tube producers can’t make them fast enough; but as the incursion of class D amplifiers into the musical instrument market (which is the main buyer of tubes, not high end audio) continues, things will look very different in the next ten years.

But here’s the tricky bit. The spec sheets we’ve all seen on amplifiers really don’t tell us what we need to know (how they will sound) and so we’ve all seen the phenomena where it measures well but sounds bad. That isn’t a failing of measurements in general; its a failing of having the right measurements so we can correlate them with what we hear ( you need to know the harmonic spectrum created by the amp at one Watt, whether distortion rises with frequency, and what the distortion spectrum looks like at higher power levels for starters and then you need to know what that means to the ear).

So the spec sheets have mostly been marketing and in that regard have a lot in common with the Emperor’s New Clothes. Because we’ve essentially been lied to for so many decades, any audiophile knows you simply have to take it home and see what you think in your own system.

Well, the thing about a hobby is generally they are active.  You can't just sit still if it's going to be a hobby...thus the need to churn equipment even if one already loves the sound. 

This is a good point. Hobbies are active.

But what do YOU think this hobby is: kaleidoscope or mountain?

For me, it's not about trying to get to the top of a mountain, but about turning a kaleidoscope and enjoying new combinations. (And not necessarily for more money.)

Those who don't like kaleidoscopes should turn them until they get a view they like, and then tape it so it cannot turn again.

For me the hobby was neither a mountain of the highest S.Q. to reach at all cost,

neither a Kaleidoscope of upgrades to felt a change because i am not satisfied or i am deluded by new purchase propositions,

for me this hobby was a road to learn how to install what i can afford...

Acoustics learning was the key, experiments and concepts...

Add to this vibration controls and resonance controls in my headphones and gear pieces,

Controls of my house/room electrical noise floor and EMI,

Tweakings with different methods with my homemade experiments ( no purchase of tweaks)

It was a journey on a road towards the threshold of minimal acoustical satisfaction or TMAS, extraccting the most of their potential from my 3 different speakers/rooms and from my headphones...

TMAS is important concept. It means that when you reach this minimum threshold you feel it so well that you had the impression to touch the acoustic goal. There is always more to extract but we must stop somewhere... The only way for me now to go further is buying Dr. Choueri BACCH implementation .

It is done...

My hobby is reading and music...

I learned a lot not from reviewers but with my intense discussions with three audio engineers here (objectivist) by realizing that they underestimated acoustics & psycho-acoustics and over valuated the material technology they used ... Thanks to them i conducted intense research and experiments... One is well know it is Amir...If it was not for his rant i will not had learn so much even in theoretical acoustics, which is the field i am the most interested in ...

This hobby is just like s few other expensive Hobbies I partake.

Motorcycles and skiing.

There is so much good hardware out there that can render subtle changes in the experience you enjoy that you just can’t stop.

In skiing you could have 2 ski’s that are the same dimension but because of internal construction materials render a completely different experience and both of those you enjoy, especially given a specific set of snow conditions. Same for Audio equipment. The conditions in audio would be the recording (genre, mastering quality, instruments , voice etc).  And your building a rig (boots,liner,binding,wax,ski edge angles) right down to sock thickness. 

@jbuhl

Yes, but do they sound any different?😀

And your building a rig (boots,liner,binding,wax,ski edge angles) right down to sock thickness.