Mid-fi tube vs high-end SS


Hello everyone. I am new here but not new to audio. I’ve been meaning to buy a high-end permanent SS amp for 2 years now. But not sure how much improvement I can get.

 

A little about what I have. I use a high-quality tube amp I bought for around $1,500. 55 watts per channel Class A. With upgraded tubes it’s a little over $2,000. The amp I have is the Musical Paradise mp-501 I’ll link below. Using upgraded Kt-170 tubes along with some nos 5693 red tubes and 717-a tubes.

 

My audio knowledge and listen ability has improved substantially these past few years thanks partly to this tube amp. Sorry for the long-winded intro. My actual question is, how much improvement should I expect going from this tube amp to something high-end SS like the Gato 150 and the incredible DVA M225? Very little reviews on the Gatos, I’m hoping I could get some help here, even anything about the Gato 150 from users would be helpful. Ty

 

https://www.musicalparadise.ca/store/index.php?route=product/product&path=59&product_id=55

128x128samureyex

Showing 2 responses by jaytor

@samureyex - still not sure why you are looking at switching to SS. If you like the sound you are getting from your tube amp but are just looking to raise the quality a bit, you could consider upgrading the decoupling capacitors. 

Your amp comes with pretty cheap CDE film caps (at least they aren't electrolytics). There are a LOT of options for caps that will likely improve (and certainly change) the sound.

I really like the copper foil caps from brands like Miflex and Jupiter, but you may not have adequate space for them - they are physically significantly larger than the CDE caps. 

A reasonably priced and sized option is the VCAP ODAM. These are very clean sounding, but are also very neutral which may or may not be what you are looking for. 

If you don't feel comfortable making this kind of modification yourself, I suspect you can find a local electronics repair shop that will do this for you at a modest cost. 

@lloydc - I agree with your comment regarding toroidal transformers. They may be a bit more challenging to use in a tube amp due to their extended bandwidth (passes more AC mains noise) and sensitivity to DC (careful output stage balancing is required), but with the correct circuitry around them, they offer some nice advantages.