Can tube preamps be as 'detailed' sounding as ss?

Tubed circuits can be very fast and wide bandwidth. That is, IF they are built to do so. SS circuits can be very fast and wide bandwidth. That is, IF they are built to do so. As such, it boils down more to the goals and approach that the designer takes, not necessarily the topology.

Detail requires speed and "natural" linearity i.e. good performance without the need for gobs of corrective feedback. Both of these attributes are by-products of having a stable circuit that provides wide bandwidth.

Having said that, tubes are typically more prone towards having a higher noise floor. Tubes are typically more prone towards introducing microphonic based noises into the system. Tubes are typically less consistent in performance over an extended period of time. Obviously, these are all generalizations, but i don't think that even the most dedicated "bottlehead" would argue these points. After these factors are taken into consideration, most all of it becomes a matter of personal preference and system matching. Sean
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Atmasphere: Most tubes go into "soft clipping" ( rounded edges ) because they don't have the necessary speed / bandwidth to reproduce the sharp edges that make up a heavily clipped sine wave aka a square wave. Then again, i'm not telling you anything that you don't already know, so this is really for everyone else reading this thread : )

Other than that, i've always been a proponent of having "MEGA" overhead in system capacity. I learned a LONG time ago that it is not sheer spl's that make things sound "loud" and / or "aggressive", but distortion. By using high powered amps that are never pushed, and speakers that aren't easily driven into compression, one can listen at astonishingly high spl's with little to no fatigue. Not only that, but it doesn't sound nearly as loud as it really is. That's because the system is free of distortion, which is what adds the apparent volume that brings both fatigue and ear strain with it.

As far as Muralman's comments go, most good quality switching amps can sound quite clean even when spl's are roaring. This has to do with their reduced duty cycle, which minimizes thermal stress. When it comes to SS amps, the faster that you can dissipate heat, the better off you are. Both sonically and in terms of product lifespan. Sean
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Atmasphere: My mistake in not choosing my wording more carefully. I know that tubes themselves are VERY broadband in nature with the absolute bandwidth being circuit dependent. It is this lack of circuit bandwidth and / or power supply limitations / internal impedances that i was speaking of in terms of SS square waving vs tube "soft" clipping.

Other than that, i'm quite certain that there are other things involved, in which i'll have to defer to your expertise in this area : ) Sean
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