tube dacs vs solid state dacs

My sense is that Liz and Marakanetz may be making a fair point. I used to own the ARC Ref CD-7 with upgraded power supply. Some called it the Ref CD-7.5. I recently bought the Ref CD-8. To my untrained eye, the innards of the CD-7 and CD-8 look very similar. The main difference is the DAC IC. The CD-8 uses a Burr Brown DAC. The CD-7 uses another type of DAC -- I forget the name. To my old ears, the CD-8 simply sounds better than the CD-7. I found the CD-7 to be bottom heavy and thick. The CD-8, by contrast, has more air. The bottom end is less viscous than the CD-7. I attribute the difference to the DAC -- not the guts. Can't speak to other ARC DACs, like the DAC 8, but I think I make my point. It may very well be that in the case of a DAC or CDP source device, the DAC IC is the main driver of sound quality versus a SS or tube gain stage -- don't know. But I can report that the DAC in the Ref CD-8 sounds better than the DAC in the CD-7. My sense is that the innards are less critical. FWIW and IMO.

An interesting comparison might be how the ARC CD-5 compares to the REF CD-8. Both use the same DAC. However, I believe the CD-5 is pretty much all SS versus the CD-8 which has a tube gain stage and tube regulated power supply. If anyone has critically compared the two CDPs, please chime in.

Shakey, I may stand corrected. Perhaps Liz and Marakanetz can clarify their posts. I echo what I said about the DAC IC -- it's critical to sound quality. But at least in the case of ARC gear, the innards, including power supply, are based on the landmark Ref 3. In no way would I concur that ARC went cheap on their CDPs.

I have heard that ARC may be going the straight DAC route at this point. I am not aware of a CD-9 coming on line, but I could be wrong. The CD-8 is almost 4 years old. That's generally when ARC rolls out a new product. It may be that ARC is of the view that redbook CD has run its course and it's time to go the DAC route. Just speculation my my part.