Affordable SS that sound like Tubes
I was a 100% vinyl guy for many years. Due to maintenance cost and aggravation I switched to DSD after a lot of research and I have no regrets.
I am looking for suggestions on affordable SS that sounds as good as Tubes.
Here's the rub. My Mid Monos were less than $2,000 brand new and they sound incredible. As does my Pre that costed me less than $1,000.
Integrated suggestions are welcomed.
And I would like to hear from people that had fine tube equipment and switched to fine SS equipment.
And please, no mention of "Tubes have Higher Distortion." LOL
T
This is not even in the ball Park to best of Anything ,but maybe on a budget. In its day 30 years ago I agree was very good ,but cannot match todays far superior capacitors , volume attenuators resistors by todays standards vs say a pass labs ,Ayre, Luxman it cannot compete on any level. which is a noise maker totally robs low level detail and resolution .having owned a Audio store for a decade , and knowing parts quality very well and modding over 20 years some companies still use these $20 pieces of rubbish , a resistor stepped attenuator , or relay is far lower noise and is not a liability , just for starters ,before buying anything if you see a integrated amp,or preamp look for a round silver pot prima luna has a $5k preamp built well except went cheap at the output ,motorized Alps or Bourne volume pot ,inside2 plastic wipers with a metalized spray coating just to save a few bucks not very sound. | ||
After fifty years of pursuing the high end… the first forty with solid state amps.. I will not go back to solid state. I found that tube amps can be incredibly reliable and more importantly musical. When I was working I put about 600 hours a year on my system. That would require retubing about every five years. I now listen a lot more and have replaced four tubes in the last three years, one DOA and three at normal maintenance time. | ||
Never tried the QS preamp, my last preamp was a CJ Classic 2SE which was an excellent sounding preamp. Before that a McCormack RLD 1 , a McIntosh C15 before that. Looking back after using that Zesto for about 10 months they were all slight improvements over each prior but nothing like the Zesto. In comparing the CJ to the Zesto it was not even close. It was as if all previous preamps were a bottleneck. | ||
I just bought an Integrated Amp for my second system. No it doesn't sound like a tube amp , but it is detailed , has a great midrange , excellent low frequency control .... it has it all . Except the tube sound you are looking for. As mentioned previously I have a pair of Mid Mono. It wasn't until I swapped my CJ pre for the incredible sounding Zesto Leto that I fully realized how good they are for $2000. Maybe the Anthem integrated, Great amp. $4k plus. Still not going to have the tone and meat on the bones you seek. Great sounding amp though. Honestly , a really good piece of gear won't always allow you to tell what the topology is. That Zesto is a good example. It just sounded so effortless and beautiful. It committed zero sins . It was a transformative experience owning a preamp of that caliber .
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Probably one of the best solution could be a tube pre-amp as the Berning microzotl and a power amplifier of S.S. design which must be tube-like for this optimal pairing as any Sansui of the Au series are... ... If i could i would have done it...But my Sansui alpha is an integrated with no separate pre-amp and amp function ... Costlier Sansui alpha are designed to be so...The Au 7700 too...
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Sansui established this long time ago officially ending successfully with their project to create a S.S. design that will sound exactly as their top amplifier AU111... Then from this came half of your sentence : some tube designer effectively created S.S. design sounding exactly as tube design... ... Effectively the tube and transformer designer Sansui going S.S. design create two amplifiers sounding exactly the same, one was tube and the other S.S. ... The other half of your sentence about the fact that no manufacturer never said that their tubes amplifier sound like S.S. design is not exact... David Berning said so and he is one of the best tube designer in the world...he claim that his tube design sound fluid as tubes and detailed and dynamic as S.S. design... Some tube manufacturer claimed exactly that as Berning did because S. S. design has also his qualities , faster dynamic, more details, more power etc
Then your sentence is not a very deep truth but a common place joke born from design prejudices... The reality is any design is a trade-off master piece or not , being tubes or S. S. ; but some company succeed better than others, being S. S. or tubes... 😊
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@newbee +10 Mike | ||
To answer about S.S. versus tubes... And going on with my Sansui Story: One of the best designer of tube transformer in the world till today is Hashimoto which is a company which was created by Sansui and which is Sansui legacy in tubes amplifier... Read this : http://www.tube-amps.net/Hashimoto_Background.htm Read this :
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@newbee LOL Very true | ||
I just upgraded for one hour yesterday after the purchase of one of the best tube amploifier in the world... I tought my Sansui alpha can be easily upgraded being a mere S. S. amplifier... The new purchase is in the refund mail after one hour ...😊 i will not name it, my goal here is not bashing a good company and a good product... But audio is about ACOUSTIC first, after it is about SYNERGY between components... I bought the two Sansui i owned because Sansui claimed to have reproduced the exact sound of the best tube amplifier they ever designed , i even see the video where they present the comparison between the two, a top tube amplifier one even today, compared to a top amplifier of their AU series, it was this that convince me to buy a Sansui S. S. 12 years ago , and Sansui import and export this knowledge in the AU series and in their alpha series... I bought the AU 7700 and the more refined Sansui alpha 607i , which is so good that it is impossible to upgrade under a very high cost ...I learned that yesterday... It cost me the postal fees ( 150 bucks) to learn that... I know now that upgrading my vintage AKG K340 and My Sansui alpha is impossible save to invest a huge sum of money... And even if i do so there exist no other headphone in the market designed as the K 340 with his specific soundfield holographical and out of the head ... It is a match in heaven with the Sansui , speaker like and not headphone like sound at all...But it is impossible to drive the K340 OPTIMALLY with most headphone amplifier... Audible listening level dont means that it work... S. S. amplification is a mature technology, some company know how to design good one in the past and today... My Sansui alpha sound as detailed and as fluid as the tube amplifier i bought and sound better on any count anyway in the coupling with the k340... There is not even a comparison save on the noise floor level ...The sansui need to be driven out of the electrical house grid with battery to shine quieter... With another headphone pairing it will be another story ... Synergy matter more than price tag ... I owned 2 tube amplifiers and i prefer by far my Sansui alpha sound... No comparison... mut i buy a tube amplifier costing 10,000 bucks to beat it ? I will pass... I am too afraid to buy any future so called upgrade... I am already in high end audiophile experience now i know exactly why... 😊
The problem is not tube or S. S. ; it is synergy supposing you had bought a good tube amp or S. S. amp to begin with .. |