Two Paths to Musical Truth: The Case for Both Solid-State and Tube Phono Stages

Yes, we are all free spirits who are in it only because we love music, and listening to music we choose and like is our idea of a good time. Now the question was raised about tubes vs solid state phono stages. If it's OK to talk about that instead of how ethereal we all are, then I am only saying that the differences in sonic qualities typically ascribed to tube vs solid state phono stages (and everything else) are evidence of colorations introduced by the devices used.  And ideally the goal ought to be that they sound the same, or to put it another way, progress in the design of a phono stage would be indicated by increases in neutrality and transparency.  If both technologies advance in those directions, then eventually they would sound the same.

I started on the solid state end of things in the 1970’s. I found my first tube preamp in about 1990. I watched as solid state designers slowly removed the shine off of solid state and tube designers added detail to tube electronics. If you followed the companies that were trying to reproduce real music with great fidelity. So, te following applies to all basic components.

But along the way a number of companies have diverted from fidelity to alternative forms of reality (generally solid state). Like sonic spectacular, with incredible holographic sound scapes and enhanced detail where you can hear a pin drop. I have walked down these paths and the found that typically the systems lack soul and what I most want, the emotional connection with music… the soul. Generally tubes still do this much better. So, over the years one component after another in my systems have become tubed. They virtually all are now.

For me, I am pursuing the very best sound possible…so there has never been  room in my budget for a second take on sound… nor would I want one. After a decade of 7th row center symphony seats I know what the real thing sounds like, that’s what I want not, a remix.
 

The violin has been perfected over centuries (for example). So, I don’t think I am likely to do better than accurately reproducing its sound. 
 

I like real tortilla chips… some folks like Cool Ranch flavored Fritos. 

@larsman 

No argument, listening room is equally important! 

I’ve done it - most of my stages are tubed but now I’ve also got a Pass Xono and XP-17 in the mix. I’ve also had lower-end SS over the years. The Pass are excellent. Far beyond those cheaper SS stages. Very clean sounding and punchy while remaining highly musical. I really enjoy them.

Yes tubes tend to be warmer and "sweeter" but the biggest variable in tube phono stages is what they’re using for MC gain. These can be all over the map in implementation and sound. In my experience, most of these aren’t as good as Pass’ MC stages. With a Pass, you really need to be looking at very low output cartridges 0.2mV and below before you *might* do better with an outboard SUT. With tube stages, for most of them I preferred an outboard SUT no matter the claims of how great their MC stage was. Even those with SUT built in  - often these were not my preferred SUT choice (e.g. Lundahls aren’t my favorite, CineMag 3440 sucks compared to Sky / 1131 / 1254 etc). And the JFET MC stages in tube phonos are quite often disappointing IMO. Have yet to hear one that’s great below 0.3mV. They either sound "sterile" or noisy or both. And finally - a tubed MC stage has always seemed like a horrible, horrible idea to me. 

Between Xono and XP-17, the latter is a little cleaner and more dynamic sounding. Xono a bit warmer and "rounder". I like each at different times, depending on the rest of the system. But you have to be especially careful not to overload XP-17 when using a SUT, as its minimum gain level is 55dB. I even hit obvious distortion on just a 0.3mV Windfeld w/ a 15x SUT, which normally should be ideal. XP-15 and Xono are a more natural partner to SUT. Of course the SUT choice itself changes sound a LOT - probably more than any other one thing. 

I'm enjoying the Pass for a while before I inevitably (or not?) go back to tube w/ SUT. VAC and Hagerman are my "classic" tubey sounding stages. I've also had less tubey-sounding tube stages and they're good but not my preference. 

@lalitk One difference is its a lot easier to design a tube preamp to have a very high overload characteristic. It turns out this is important since the phono cartridge inductance in parallel with the tone arm cable capacitance forms a resonance that can be active.

With MM high output cartridges the inductance is fairly high so the resonant frequency is at the upper end of the audio range or ultrasonic. It can be as much as 20dB higher than the regular signal. Noise at these frequencies can overload the phono section if its not designed with this issue in mind. That can result in ticks and pops. 

With LOMC cartridges the inductance is much lower so the frequency of the resonance is much higher (with the Lyra Titan about 5MHz). In addition, the coils tend to have a high Q factor which is to say they are wider than they are long; this causes the resonant peak to be sharper and higher in amplitude, about 30dB. When this peak goes into ’excitation’ (a radio term) the result is Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) injected directly into the phono stage. 

This is why there are ’cartridge loading resistors’ for LOMC. As you can see they are really for the benefit of the phono section front end and don’t actually affect the cartridge output at all. 

The RFI at the input of the phono section can overload it, again resulting in ticks and pops but also added distortion, which is the source of the brightness many people hear when the cartridge is ’unloaded’. Adding the 'loading resistor' detunes the resonance so it can't go into excitation; no RFI so sounds less bright due to less distortion. 

If the phono section if designed with this in mind its no worries- plug and play and no messing with the ’loading resistor’. 

Again, its much easier to design a tube phono section that has this RFI immunity. 

The result can be more relaxed presentation and far less ticks and pops.