[Waker]

I am a tube noob, and am enjoying the happy delusion that I now have no need to add vinyl--tubes have removed any vestige of that digital "pane of glass," for lack of description.  I have this impression that tubes bring out more of what was intended with digital rather than what is criticized as inevitable. So, how well do your tube amps do in making your (pure) CD source sound analog, or more like vinyl? 

[Quiet Earth]

I believe that my CD player is 99% responsible for how good my CDs sound. The rest of my gear tells me so. 

[rollo]

  Tubes after the CDP will compliment the sound. Adding some color. To take it a bit further a tubed CDP like the EE DAC or Lector CDP enhances the effect.


charles

[woofersus]

Not to mention a tube isn't just a tube, so to speak.  There are a hundred different flavors available.

If you love the sound of vinyl, there will probably be no substitute for the real thing, but for many people, a quality cdp and just the right tubes can give a lot of analog bliss.  I'm personally not a fan of vinyl, but I love tubes.  I find that the whole thing just sounds more natural - more real.  With vinyl there are some tradeoffs.  You do get a slightly more organic feel to the sound, but I just can't stand the smearing of detail that I detect on even the best setups.  It's not even the noise floor that bothers me.  I really like tape actually, but it's not generally practical at this point in time. (real tape, not cassettes)

(ps. I heard rollo's Lector CDP and it's fantastic )

[SteveFord]

That's kind of a loaded question.
Tube amps do go a long way towards making digital sound better and tube cd players can be a good thing as well.
Most of my CD listening is on CD-Rs burned from vinyl for what it's worth.

[Waker]

Tubed CDP notwithstanding, I am really impressed with the tube amp's ability to play a wider bandwidth, with a bottom end that just emerges out of (what was once) nowhere.  This, along with a higher resolving power overall, reveals an inner space that was hidden.  I could say this is the breadth and depth of what tubes bring forth over SS, but I want to also say that my SS CDP is finally revealed as more analog than it had been allowed to be with SS amps, or, am I just overthinking the whole thing while drinking too much? 

[Quiet Earth]

No, not when you put it that way.  I give you five stars.

 

[Mike Nomad]

Tubes aren't making my CDs, etc. sound much like vinyl: The tube in my pre-amp stage isn't introducing surface noise...

Having a tube in the chain has _sometimes_ been a huge benefit. It has really come down to the individual source/disc.

[Steve]

Tubes aren't making my CDs, etc. sound much like vinyl: The tube in my pre-amp stage isn't introducing surface noise...

Having a tube in the chain has _sometimes_ been a huge benefit. It has really come down to the individual source/disc.

Hi Mike,

So correct. Different recordings sure sound different. I was wondering what tube your player incorporates, the output capacitor size, and the input impedance (Z) of the following component?

Thanks.