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Is tube sound vs solid state easier to distinguish using headphones?

Well designed tube amplifiers and solid state amplifiers in general sound remarkably similar with a wide range of music. The slight holographic and imaging properties that tubes can allegedly portray over certain solid state designs is what brings people to the “tube sound” camp. My question for the audiophiles here is whether it’s even detectable in most speaker setups or does a high quality pair of headphones showcase the tube sound qualities more accurately due to their near-field nature?

tubelvr11
mahgister's avatar
mahgister
12,609 posts
 

Headphone or Speakers of minimal acoustic qualities  will reveal any added or modified changes...

theflattire
127 posts
 

Separately it's hard to tell, but back to back it's easy.

I've had SS components that sound tube like, except when next to tubes.

mwood
45 posts
 

When  I listen with my Pass Labs XA 30.8 in my system and then switch to my Wyetech Labs 300 B mono blocks, the sound becomes immediately more life like, warmer and engaging. It’s a revelation every single  time.

pkatsuleas
248 posts
 

@tubelvr11 

Not sure about headphones because I've never had the occasion to listen to my cans with tube gear. But I can instantly tell the difference between my SS and tube amps. Even with my very modest set up. In fact, I was just about to start a thread with the title of "Aaaahhhh".

I love my Hegel H360 integrated but just put my Rogue tube amp and tube pre combo back in the mix and everything just sounds more right to me.

Not sure if this answers your question but there it is.

yyzsantabarbara
4,500 posts
 

I have 3 headphones systems for my RAAL CA-1a (sold the SR1a last month and will buy the next RAAL phone release).

  • tube headphone amp
    • RAAL VM-1a
  • solid state Class A
    • Schitt Mjolnir preamp (from 2023) | Schiit Aegir amp | RAAL TI-1b amp interface
  • solid state Class D
    • PeachTree GAN1 | RAAL TI-1b amp interface

With some tube rolling that was done by the manufacturer the V-1a is about 40% better than the other 2. I used to say about 15% better but I purchased the VM-1a for the second time and got a different tube (1 of 6). This tube made the separation with the other 2 systems greater.

What I hear is more power, more clarity and detail, more smoothness. I knew this was the case since I owned this amp before but now the VM-1a is even better. Until I had owned the VM-1a (now discontinued) I would have never thought a tube based amp would have ALL the attributes I just described.

This week, RAAL has come out with a new TOTL headphone that they are saying is the best sounding phone in the world. I thought the CA-1a and SR1a were something special. However, when I heard the comments from Alex at RAAL on this new phone (the best he has ever made), I immediately sold my SR1a and bought the VM-1a amp (again).

The new phone is called the Immanis and goes for about $10k. I may buy this one or wait for something else they come up with. All I know is that for these future phones I will get, I wanted the very best amplification for them and for me it is the tube based VM-1a.

BTW - I have not found a tube based setup (preamp or DAC) that made me as happy as my Class A and SS gear on my 2-channel. Now I have not tried a lot of tube gear with 2-channel. I have no interest in doing so since I love my 2-channel setups.

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