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RE: Have you ever heard a completely solid state system that sounded truly exceptional with analogue ?

I'm limited here in what I'm permitted to say but I do understand your concern. Tubes have been associated with analogue for a long time, reinforced by the idea that somehow analogue (and musical reality) are warm and harmonically rich. Good analogue (and live music) in my experience are not like this. In my (recent) experience, good digital and good tube gear are not so far apart. Vinyl through tubes will give us slightly softer edges and a hint of thickness which remind some of us of the airiness we hear in a concert hall; but tubes can also deliver good clarity. Vinyl through extremely good digital has greater clarity and definition, also notably greater immediacy; and, to silence what some tube fans like to claim, no trace of edginess. Both technologies at their best get a lot of what live music sounds like; neither gets it all. We choose which aspects of reality are most important to us and choose our technologies accordingly.

In my house there are excellent examples of analogue, digital, tubes, and solid state. My TT sounds fine with both solid state and tube gear, my preference moving back and forth, very likely in response to the quality of the recordings. I spend most of my time these days, when I listen to LP's, listening to it through the phono stage in my all solid sate preamp and all solid state mono-block amplifier and the results are extremely satisfying and wonderfully 'real.' Through my tube amp, music is very appealing and slightly romanticized.

All of this said, in my longer-term experience, it takes very, very good solid state to get as much musical reality as I'm getting from it here, so shop with considerable care.


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