Tubes vs Tubeless


Hi,

Very, very (did I say "very") new to this adventure. I had a nice lower end, high end system 30 years ago and life got in the way and I had to part with that system. I now have a basic set up with a Belles Aria integrated amp with Vandersteen 2ce Signature speakers and a Linn DAC with a basic turntable.

I'm thinking of an upgrade and going full in on a dac system and leaving the vinyl to the side. I love albums but my collection is not huge, I'm getting older and I enjoy the simplicity of streaming music at the touch of a fingertip.

I have never owned a system with tubes and read in one of the forums about the Aric Audio systems and it really piqued my interest.

So, the question is, will there be a considerable difference in sound quality with a tube system of the Aric quality paired with a DAC or is the tube system a better advantage with vinyl?

Thank you

bahston

Vandersteen prefer zero feedback design amplifiers. 

@bigkidz I know Richard says that, but its not actually true. I tried to disabuse him of that notion a few years ago...

I tried tubes on that same model of speaker a few years back and it was a terrible combination—incredibly veiled and 2-dimensional. The Vandersteen 1Ci, OTOH, performed decently with tubes. 

These days I use SS because I haven’t encountered a tube design that can do anything better than good SS. That’s after I learned how critical it is to level-match components when comparing them.