Tube Preamp with Solid State Amp?


Greetings!

I’ve seen some folks using Tube Preamps with Solid State Am ps. I’m thinking of doing that with my system as part of an incremental change. I currently have a Parasound P5 preamp with a Parasound A21 driving Klipsch Cornwall 4’s. Will a decent / good Tube Preamp really make a difference in my sound? I enjoy what I have now but really want to experience Tubes in my system. Thanks!
128x128bigjohn9095

Showing 2 responses by decooney

Yes. It’s a great appetizer. Gets you there part of the way in hybrid fashion if you love the sound of tubes.  For me, it was not quite the full coarse meal. While I enjoyed running my 6SN7 triode based preamplifier with my class A/AB solid state amps, I went back. Eventually the SS amp got replaced too.  

Pairing tube preamps with various SS amps, Parasound, Pass Labs, FirstWatt is a common and recurring thread here on Agon.

Even Nelson Pass put together a DIY Nutube flat tube preamp design to pair along with his own SS FirstWatt amplifiers. It all depends on what you are trying to accomplish. Increasing trend since streaming of music has become more popular to help take the "edge’ off...

Parasound:
https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/tube-preamp-recommendations-please-to-partner-with-parasound-...

Pass Labs:
https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/best-6ns7-preamp-for-a-pass-labs-xa25-amp/post?highlight=tube...

Nutube DIY:
http://www.firstwatt.com/pdf/art_diy_nutube_preamp.pdf