Tube v. Solid State / Analog v. Digital

The best way I can say it is that the goal of "audiophiledom" is transparency to the source. My question is, which source, the recording or the actual live music that was recorded? I've heard, for instance, Duke Robillard play live. There's no way his latest CD sounds like that!

I maintain that our systems should disappear when we hear music. To my ears, vinyl and tubes do a much better job of that. On the other hand, if one is after a nice "hi-fi" sound with all its brittleness and glare, pursue SS and CD's. One is technically more accurate, one is musically more accurate. Take your pick. Now, in a perfect world, accuracy is musicality and vice versa. If you want that, buy yourself a set of Sennheiser HD600 headphones and forget about the debate. The biggest dilemma to me isn't tubes or CD's, but the room interaction. Until I can make my room sound like a live concert with a speaker based system, I'm opting for the next best thing - the harmonic integrity of tubes and vinyl.

...I agree with Dekay--vacuum-tube gear
tends to more accurately portray the
voices,etc in a recording--A human voice,such
as Peggy Lee, seems to sound more
like a human voice thru tube electronics than
thru solid-state playback equipment.--An engineer
in the 1950's once said:"If it measures
bad and sounds bad, it is bad..but if it
measures bad and sounds good,then perhaps
you're measuring the wrong things.."(paraphrased)
john c.

I hate to be the one to break the news to you, but, it's all subjective. The way a system sounds is completly dependent upon YOU. Hey, it's your brain. There is no "BEST" system evaululated over a time span. We all know that our systems sound good, better, best, depending on lots of variables. I say, be bullheaded and pick some general type of components and enjoy. Spend your money on software, not on never ending componet changes. Enjoy the music.

I would agree with all the above, Especially Biz!. This is your system in your room. Do you listen 5 hours/month?, /week?, /day?. If you like it you will use it.

Getting back to the measurement stuff: lets remeber that most measurements are taken on a bench w/ a sine wave or white noise signal. Music is MUCH more demanding!, the dynamic swings and the frequency changes presend a -dificult to measure at least to virtually imposible to model test scenario. Additionally though nobody talks about it there are VERY few devices that do not have hysteresis, which changes as the material changes....
in other words, Your ears are the best measuring device for your system.
Happy listening.