tube magic with digital source?

Ralph, if my Burson sounds better than that Chinese whatever you will pay for both, agreed ? If not, I will pay for both.

:) nah. I just mentioned it to point out how digital, after only 40 years, is finally getting to the point where it should have been when it was introduced. If digital is done right, you really shouldn't be hearing differences between DACs and the like. Topping's D90 is one of the better measuring DACs on the market, despite its low price. It sounds quite decent too.


For 30 years I gauged how good a digital system was by how long it took to get a headache. In the early 1980s 2 minutes was a pretty good setup. By the end of the 1990s I could listen to some digital setups all day but not all night... and that was a $10,000 setup. Now I can go out and buy a Topping E30 DAC for $125.00 including shipping that I can play continuously without problems- its smooth and detailed. Some of that no doubt is due to my hearing loss in the highs. But the last time I got a headache due to digital playback was only 4 years ago at RMAF and my hearing measures the same as it did then.

Yes.

I'm very convinced that part of the rise of SETs in the 1990s has to do with the dryness (back then) of digital. The two complement each other in a certain way. I wouldn't regard it as neutral by any means, but often an SET can calm down the presentation of a digital playback that otherwise has problems.

However in recent times digital has gotten to the point that inexpensive digital is available with excellent sound that would have been considered state of the art only 10-15 years ago. Topping makes a number of inexpensive DACs that work quite nicely with tubes. Because I couldn't find a lower powered tube amp that wasn't also compromised in some way, I wound up designing and building one myself. This amp makes 5 watts, but has wider bandwidth and lower distortion than SETs. Its also low noise. I built this amp for my bedroom system, which uses small, easy-to-drive loudspeakers. Its used exclusively with digital audio and the results are quite pleasing- it is very smooth and detailed.  I'm using a Topping E30 DAC, which cost about $125.00 on ebay including shipping. You might laugh but this DAC is cheap enough you might want to pick one up and see how it compares with more expensive DACs (I've done this). Its quite compact and recognizes a wide range of codices. 


The tube amp replaced a solid state amp of exactly the same size and power. The improvement in sound was easy to discern; the tube amp has more depth, better bass (measurably so as well) and simply sounds more realistic.