What do you see as the downside of tubes?

Audiofiel follows me around, like a rabid dog. I take his criticisms as a badge of honor. It shows my cage rattling is being heard. I loudly profess nearly all commercial grade cables are a sham. For a dealer, like audiofiel, those are fighting words. Also, the amps and preamp I am using can only be bought direct sale.

If not this year, next year, at an audio show, I will demonstrate the truth behind my assertions.

I have tubes only in my DAC. All the layering, spatial clues, and tonality of the tubes are expressed,

I have tubes only in my DAC. All the layering, spatial clues, and tonality of the tubes are expressed,

You just keep on convincing yourself of this.

I tried the H20 amp in my system a few years ago and the one thing that the old and lowly backup Counterpoint NPS400 amp did was to significantly outperform the H20 amp in the context of portrayal of space and decays. And this is a hybrid amp with small-signal tubes on the input. The main amps I use, CAT JL-3 are of course in a completely different league than this. But a JL-2 or the Atmasphere MA1's would be fine to show what tube amps would do to take this to the next level. So one can be convinced that all they need is tubes in their DAC to achieve the strengths of tubes, but my experience paints quite a different picture.

And if you need an amp to drive 1-ohm loads, the CATs can be tweaked to accommodate this and not blink an eye.

Jafox-I think that one reached the upper deck and stayed fair.

Jayfox, Re: "In defense of Dave b". I too understand what he means but more importantly I understand why he arrives at his conclusions. That I think his reasoning is flawed, and certainly not in accord with mine (or yours) but what pleases his ears is all that counts in his house. However, anyone who considers his observation as any form of 'truth' certainly risks great disappointment.

BTW Jafox I agree with your views, especially those suggesting that signal decay is more often than not a signal truncated prematurely by most SS (and some tubed stuff as well) which makes their sound initially sound more "transparent", "detailed", etc, when in fact it is really inaccurate and creates a sterile, fatiguing sound, even though the frequency response is relatively flat. But some folks like this sound. I'm sure they would find 'my sound' thick, bloated, dense, slow, etc.

Dave b, A question - regarding your analogy involving the sound of music in a jazz club as reproduced by your system. Are you referring to performances you actually attended and that you have heard unamplfied performances, or that you have actually heard the events live that you are now listening to in a recorded form and that you are confident that you are in fact hearing something that occurred in the performance, not in the mixing booth (etc)? FWIW, I always find the assertion that someone finds any recording played over any equipment ever sounds like a live performance. It typically suggests to me that the person doesn't know the clues to listen to or doesn't get out much.

For example, consider that most live jazz club performances are not played with out amplification for each instrument and their sound is blended in with the sound of the acoustic (room) that may be overly resonant or damped, or that the amplyfing equipment itself, or speaker placement, produce an overly dense source, isn't it then possible that a SS system which truncates the signal length only makes the recording/your system sound move like a real live and unamplified one? Just a thought...........I don't understand how you can sort out all of these varibles. I always think that the best we can hope for is that we own the equipment envisioned by the recording engineer and that his efforts to make it sound 'live' are successful.

Hey Bill, Keep stiring the pot! But, why not share with us your underlying reasons for arriving at and making your terse observations. That way we could see some meaningful mud slinging! :-)

Jafox,

I totally believe you.

I am saying to all you never hear the H2O. My sound was crap at first. I learned I was hearing my preamp, wires, and speakers. I am not Bsing. I have found, through trial and error, what works, and what doesn't. The H2O builder was so disenchanted with preamps, he made his own. It is the perfect match. No more preamp worries. Next came the cables. Naked ribbon is the clear winner. Thirdly, the source is of critical importance. I have been working with the H2O builder to make a killer Audio Note DAC. The result is nothing like what stock AN DACs sound like.

Hell, it doesn't matter. Enjoy your music. I am.