Like others here I've owned some powerful, high quality SS amps. The good ones always sounded terrific... until I compared them back to back with my conrad-johnson tube amps. Owning both at the same time allowed switching out amplifiers as quickly as changing speaker leads. Listening back to the same material, the music was always better with tube amplification. Always more three dimensional and listenable. Excitingly real. Maybe it's c-j's philosophy of simple circuits with super high quality parts but it has worked for me over the years without exception. My music preference is acoustic jazz and classical, not sure this effect works as much with rock music. If you like music made by acoustic instruments, try a good tube system. It's heavenly.
The ups and downs of tube vs. SS...
I’d like to hear from the people that have had both. Why tube? Why SS? What are the ups and downs of both? How does owning one or both differ? I’ve always owned SS, but also lusted after tubes....
jtweed
jtweed