Redpill me on hi-fi tube amps

Are they actually better (and in what way?) or is it just placebo snake oil?

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in4

If you're looking for mini amps, just get the class D/T amps cheaply from ebay. $3-$10 range will get you a decent modern 50-100w stereo system with bluetooth/aux/etc. Supply it with proper amounts of power(50-100w) and you're good to go.

>Are they actually better (and in what way?)
wouldn't say they're better. tubes get hot, use a lot of power, have short lifespans and add little to the sound. there's a reason why society abandoned tubes like they were AIDS wrapped in cancer & dipped in ebola.
>snake oil
this.

it really depends on what kind of speakers you use

it's ridiculus, period

Distortion sounds good. There's whole genres based on the concept. Heavy metal, dubstep etc.

But it makes for a shit amp. Digital amps are literally perfect so long as they don't clip. Get better speakers instead.

therationalaudiophile.wordpress.com

Tubes are very good over a certain frquency range at high voltage/current. There are some applications where they're indispensable.

I used a tube preamp for years and I loved the sound. Probably wasn't necessary, but its dynamic range was impressive.

>but its dynamic range was impressive.
factually untrue

Have you ever had a pair of cheap earbuds that you know distort the shit out of music but still sound nice? It's that but more expensive.

how about class d amps?

Class D is a kind of amp. Tubes are things you use to make amps.

It's not placebo, they objectively sound different from solid state amps.

"Better" is a tough call, though. For speakers they are almost universally worse than solid state. Tubes provide more power to higher impedance loads, so it doesn't really make much sense to put them under a 4 ohm load.

With headphones they make a little more sense, as a good number of high impedance headphones crave voltage, which tubes excel at. Pre-amps also make more sense than speaker amps, since, again, more voltage gain.

You have to like that little bit of added distortion. Mind you, a nice tube amp isn't going to add tons of distortion, in the neighborhood of 1% THD, so it's not like using shitty headphones, which run 10-100% THD.

I think the biggest reason people own tube amps is because they're beautiful, though.

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This is true. For instance you could technically make a tube amp class A or B or AB.

Class D amps, purely from a distortion perspective, are junk compared to A or AB.

They are however far more power efficient and thus more practical in a lot of applications.

For instance you are just not going to have a class A amp for a big sound system filing a very large room or outdoor space. The power dissipation would be immense to the point that you'd need active cooling, which kind of defeats the purpose of getting the lowest possible distortion.

In some applications, tube amps are great. For instance, guitar amps. This is because you can overdrive a tube for hours without damaging it, and the resulting distortion on an electric guitar sounds cool. Try to do the same with a solid state amp and it'll immediately blow up. However it can be emulated now in solid state, but emulation has mixed results sometimes.

But in general, for loudspeakers, you're not going to care or notice between a good solid state or a good tube amp, and a good solid state amp is just more practical.

Just get some normal headphones (not ultra high price but normal), some normal dac/amp (or dac and amp) and that's it, you're good to go. Everything else is just placebo autism.

Does something as a step-by-step guide to be audiophile exist?
I have several flacs stored but I dont really hear a great difference between them and a generic songs I download with youtube-dl
Maybe my sound card or headphones are shitty, where can I start and check if this thing is for me?

Tubes were fine 50 years ago when they were they only thing available, but in current year they only exist to separate söyboys and boomer guitarists from their money.

>Are they actually better (and in what way)
Different, not better.
>snake oil?
No, but x3 the price of solid state. It's hard to find a good tube pre-amp for under a grand. Then you've got the price of the tubes themselves, which can range to $300 each if you want vintage stuff.

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you use flac not because it's audibly better than a high quality first generation encode. but because you can make as many high quality first generation encodes as you want for e.g. your mobile device without losing quality. you also have assurance that it's not a shitty encode.

Most of you guys probably have listening fatigue due to hearing damage so you physically unable to hear any discrepancies.

That being said, Tube Amps are for boomers.

I am listening to a tpa3116d2 right now. Somehow I am able to withstand the ultra low quality noise.

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Snake oil for the most part. All amps sound the same, unless they are clipping/distorting.

Yes, tubes can change the sound a little bit, but it's mostly placebo.

$3 - $10? Cheapest I've seen is like $40 and it didn't have bluetooth.

It's all about distortion. Tube amps add more distortion compared to solid state and class D, but most of the distortion is second order and third order harmonics, which is very pleasant and "musical" sounding. In comparison, solid state amps distort in a way that sounds unpleasant to the ear.

In pro audio tube amplifiers have often been used to sweeten the sound of harsh recordings, that's why there are many DAW plugins that simulate tube distortion digitally. And tube based guitar amps are responsible for the distorted guitar sound of modern rock music.

In the end, it all comes down to having to pick your poison. Solid state has generally low distortion, but the distortion present is harsh sounding. Tube amps have higher distortion, but tube distortion has the benefit of sounding very sweet and musical.

Most modern speakers are not efficient enough to work well with tube amps, but if your speakers are high efficiency (>90dB 1w 1m) and their impedance curve doesn't dip below 4 Ohm, I'd recommend you try out a tube amp and hear for yourself.

Here's a good writeup on tube amps and why they are still popular:
kenrockwell.com/audio/why-tubes-sound-better.htm

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You can save money by running just a bare board.

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There are acrylic case variants too, so its all good.

>ebay.com/itm/273799909691

Here's a 50w x 2 stereo with an acrylic case for $4.

Better? No. A great beginner's wiring project? Yes. I had one I built from scrap radios when I was a teenager and loved it.
You can argue distortion, frequency range, dynamic range, voltage, and efficiency all you want. The amp you build yourself will be the one powering your headphones.

I am a brainlet when it comes to audio, but can someone tell me if it is a good idea to buy an external DAC for soundbar that I have or is it pointless ?
Any good DACs that would do the job, in case I can buy one ?

It depends upon whether or not you have "golden ears". In other words, if you can tell the difference just by listening between high and low quality audio recordings, then go ahead and invest in a tube amp.

But, it will be less expensive to figure out first whether or not your ears can actually hear the difference between music played using a tube amp or a digital amp.

They primarily add a bit of 2nd harmonic distortion to your audio. This will change the nature of the sound because you are literally adding spectral content that wasn't in the original. It's entirely a matter of personal preference whether you think this "sounds better."

The distortion comes from some non-linearities in the tube that aren't present in transistor or op-amp based amplifiers. Non-linearity also varies by tube. I think older triodes are generally less linear while tetrodes and pentodes are a bit better.

Solid state devices sound artificial and very digital while tube powered amps introduced pleasant natural harmonics to the sound.

>dubstep
>sounds good

user, your beyond help.

Yeah they're really nice but you need a good set of speakers and decent sources to appreciate them.

I'm going to the yacht club later this month and I'm going to meet George Cardas who has achieved legend status with his audiophile memery.

What should I ask him Jow Forums?

Literally this guy? Top kek.

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my solid state amp sounds very natural unless the recording is poorly rendered

Basically the only "high-fidelity" tube amps are Audio Research and their good models are around $50k-100k. They might have gone up in price since I last checked...

That's complete bullshit, there are sub-$500 Chinese units which have circuitry identical to the old McIntosh 29 series and sound the exact same too. You know, the reference tube amp among audiophiles for decades?

Idiot.

There is a sweet spot for input signal strength and amplification for each set of speakers where the system is likely to sound better than other levels. Solid state amplifiers react more poorly to being over-driven than tubes which are less linear at high inputs where there is likely to be clipping or overloading. I use monitor speakers in my setup and I never drive them past 1/4th volume which is still enough to make the old lady who lives next door come over and tell me to turn it down.

>ridiculous cables
>meme amps
>Stax
>pudgy Asian incel

Sure is /hpg/ in here.

>introduced pleasant natural harmonics
Why would you want an amplifier to introduce anything?

You forget muslims

this, why do you think they were all so pissed off about the O2? It sounded good but looked bad on their desk.

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