Curious to get some opinions on this. Don't know if it's a bad idea to mix tube gear with solid state. I have SP1.7 and 9bSST. I've heard that tube cd players bring warmth but no sure if you need all tube pre and amp for it to sound good and if it's a bad idea to mix.
Thanks,
Tony
I prefer a true tube preamp to a tube buffered or tube output stage on a CD player. The best sounding CD players that I have heard are not tubed. The DAC in the SP1 is actually quite nice. Perhaps feeding it a bit better signal would help. It's not the last word in resolution but has a well balanced sound.
A true tube preamp, bypassing the SP1 for stereo use, would yield an entirely different experience. All tubed devices will add noise but I find that a tubed linestage is a good addition. They provide a more three dimensional sound stage than SS components. They can range from syrupy sweet and warm to brighter and overly gainy or punchy sounding. Obviously, the best designs will be somewhere in between.
By contrast, every tubed CD player I have heard just seemed to compress the signal and add a muffled coloration to the sound. Softening the sound, yes. Taking the edge off of a harsh digital source, yes. But this is at the cost of a dumbing down of the original. I prefer to have a better quality source and a great quality preamp. The preamp can be SS or tubed but the CD player should almost always be SS in an advanced hi-fi system.
-Bill
