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"...the indefinable "tube magic" that tube amps can provide. However, I don't recall the reason he opted to go for a SS amp kit vs. a tube amp kit. I suppose one reason could be that the GK-1 can provide the same "magic" with a SS amp. So I wonder: 1. Can the GK-1/AKSA amp really provide the benefit so many have heard with tube amps (I have never actually heard a tube amp setup)?"
Bear in mind there are lots of camps in tube-land, all of whom hate each other
A tube power amp has more complicating features, too, which add to the sonics. They are, principally, the output stage, which includes a very carefully wound transformer ...
I've only ever heard one, which was a Rozenblit design from about ten years back. It was a fine amplifier and I liked it a lot. But it lacked bass slam, just like most tube amps.
It was an ethereal sound, not unlike electrostatic speakers, with great accuracy, very twee......
But horrifically expensive to build, particularly in power supply, and using lashes of global negative feedback, which to my mind partly offsets the benefits of using tubes anyway.
Technically, this puts the OTL firmly into the same territory as the conventional crop of SS PP amplifiers using negative feedback, and really comes back to using tubes for the sake of tubes. Nothing too critical mind, but what for?