Solid state Vs tube amplifiers

[@robertkemper8835]

I own both solid state and vacuum tube amplifiers. At best this comparison describes ONLY the these particular amps' relative performance with these particular speakers. Additionally, the solid state device has many more controls that unless bypassed mitigate the value of the comparison. That is, these is more circuitry between the input signal and the output. Your point about better tube amps providing better soundstaging is correct.

[@Bannaeable]

What would make more sense would be using a truly analog source - a turntable. Digital mostly masks some sound attributes. And also surprisingly you couldn't get a good spatial imaging using on tubes. Couldn't imagine why ? Anyway, keep on good working.

[@jos5067]

Great comparison, thanks 🙏!

[@ridirefain6606]

I found this to be a fair comparison between the two amps. It would not be for the two typologies. As stated in a previous response, there is too much variety in how tube amps sound. ARC tends to be tube gear that tries to be accurate over being sweet. Their products should not be considered a full representation of the typology. That being said I too feel that vocals out of a Tube Amps sound more natural, SS amps to me are better with dynamic swings and extension. Regardless there is a lot of different characteristics in-between, and one should be careful not to overgeneralize. The biggest drawback of tube gear I find is the maintenance of the tubes, followed by their excessive HEAT, specially designs that run is pure class A. It is like have a 300-degree oven running with its door open in your listening room. SS state amps can run hot as well, but I have yet to run across one that gets as toasty as a tube amp. Regardless, nice job, and keep up the good work.

[@SoundlineAudioNewZealand]

Thanks for your comment. It is hard to void generalisation when talking about complete categories or brands in hifi, and there’s always going be someone who anecdotally has the opposite opinion. But I think you can see we tried to make it as fair and diplomatic as possible. I always approach compassion videos the same way I would if a friend asked me for honest opinions on the matter.

[@eirikbakke1125]

Great insight on the differences and its clearly Accuphase for me. Which model would be the better fit for a pair of Buchardt S400MKii speakers with an impedance of 4 ohms and a 88 dB sensitivity? Would a e280 be sufficient or do i need to step up to the e380? Thank you.

[@honahwikeepa2115]

Kia ora from Sydney brother. Love your content. Up the All Blacks!

[@bladerunnern6]

Very nice and clear video as usual!!

[@stevestringer6852]

Excellent presentation,very informative, another great review.

[@drkennethnoisewater4469]

WOW! Beautiful setup!! I myself, have a "hybrid" amp, by heaven11.

[@thennekcdcdthennek6417]

Audiophile's don't really have to choose. Probably they want all hi-fi capable amps available 😅

[@mikeg2491]

Hah yes, I have multiple amps of tube, hybrid, ss and am constantly experimenting connecting each other together. I will say though my favorite combination is my McIntosh C2300 tube preamp going into a 1970s Mcintosh 2505 solid state which is intriguing as it is a tube-sounding SS to begin with.

[@michaelmityok1001]

This is a pretty good approach.

[@tms372]

Love the speakers 👍

[@julesl6910]

Tube is the best, nothing beats them. If you don't want to spend time learning how they work or to maintain them, then solid state will be great but it's just not the same. In my opinion, I'd rather have a bookshelf tube system that sounds great than a $20,000 giant solid state system. Only one of them will be realistic.

[@axeldaelmans7215]

I have a 1960's Grundig tube radio and i prefer it over my modern Sony system 💀😂

[@dab9742]

The main advantage of the tube amp is that it is better able to drive the most difficult loudspeakers. Even if the impedance drops to 1 ohm, it won't collapse, which isn't the same story with transistor amps. After that, there's a huge variety of tube amps out there, and for me the best are the ones with just one power tube, like the 2A3, 300B, 805, 811, 845 - that's nirvana ! 😍

[@davidbishop1570]

You said that this is the only integrated that AR make. But I have a VSi75 which I think is still a current model.

[@SoundlineAudioNewZealand]

Looks like you are right. I was told the i50 was the successor to the vsi75, but after doing some digging, it looks like the vsi75 is still current. Thanks for the correction.

[@Abraxus34]

I wish I could listen them some day, but its impossible

[@jsands9885]

You can go to an audio convention if they're near you. Like NAMM or CanJam, there are several conventions out there. Good luck 🤞

[@conartist267]

I would’ve like to have heard them.

[@aquacamel]

Sounds like solid state might be the go for exteme metal

[@tms372]

And everything

[@donnanderson4362]

Probably not a totally fair comparison as the I/50 is Audio Research's lowest price and lowest power amp.

[@saltyolive_]

the audio research i50 are the most un tube like amp i heard.. so i didnt understand why you said its tubey... it isnt

[@terrywho22]

This is a nice effort, but it's FAR too small of a sample size to draw any proper conclusions. For example, in direct contrast to your observations, *most* tube amps produce a larger, more holographic and enveloping soundstage than *most* solid state amps. Also while tube amps generally have excellent tonality, the most accurate tonality I've heard was produced by a solid state amp (which happened to be made by Bryston.) Consistent with your observations, tubes do have a tendency to sound more life-like and *usually* perform worse in terms of dynamics and bass response, however better designed tube amps have great dynamics and bass and rival solid state amps in this respect. Even start-up times to peak performance vary as much by manufacturer and topology as they do by output device. I think it would be worthwhile to try a few pairs of amps to see how your comments about each device holds up.

[@jos5067]

Thanks for this great response! It’s a pity you didn’t get a response from the publisher, although they did a great job in my view. Having a Yamaha A-S2100 combined with a Chord Qutest DAC , I’m certainty not unhappy, but at first I want to upgrade my amp to a better one, I think, and I doubt between the both of them. Do you have any alternative suggestions to look at? My preference seems to be the I50, because the Yamaha and the Accuphase are somewhat comparable in my view. Any suggestions are welcome 🙏

[@jos5067]

Thanks for this great comparison!

[@terrywho22]

​@@jos5067 Thank you for the kind words! Which speakers are you using?

[@jos5067]

@@terrywho22 Revel F208 speakers are in use.

[@terrywho22]

@@jos5067 None of my local dealers carry Revel but i've heard good things. All probably stuff you already know, but an 88.5 dB sensitivity makes it compatible with a lot of amps, though the 8 Ohm nominal rating is a bit misleading... it's between 4 and 7 Ohms from about 50Hz on up and 4 Ohms around 28ish Hz. Your Yamaha is electrically a good match for the 208s as you need an amp that's nice and stable at 4 Ohms, but if you decided to go with a tube amp, make sure it has a high quality 4 Ohm tap (like the I50.) There are a ton of choices that will work for those speakers at your budget... A McIntosh Mc275 would probably sound amazing with the Revels, but you'd still need a preamp. Let us know what you decide!

[@giottodiotto1]

Trio Kenwood = accuphase

[@Relayer6a]

As soon as you say "real" instruments sounded more real, what else needs to be said? Now, to be fair that doesn't definitively say tubes sound more real than solid state. Just between these two amps. And in my opinion that's more to do with Accuphase. I have never heard an Accuphase amp that had that quality. Always sounded lacking in that area. It's hard to put into words because you have to rely on terms that others will understand. But there is a sound that has always been attributed to Japanese audio components that Accuphase epitomizes. Some call it harsh or analytical. Some say fatiguing. Whatever it is I find it gets in between you and the music and stops you from getting truly emersed in the music. I don't think all japanese components do this. Luxman, for example, isn't like that. At least not across the board. And even their "lesser" stuff still has the ability to get out of the way of the music.

[@JunBanico]

Nice sounds...😂

[@sc0or]

If both specify a same type of power, this is the same power. 100W rms is 100W rms. Tubes do not have their own magical watts. And different horse power numbers of american cars in 70s because of different standards do not relate to tube to solid state migration happened that time also. If someone means an ancient high ohms loudspeakers designed specially for tubes, then common that’s an absolutely different story.

[@01egna]

20 class A tube watts are practically a completely different story to 20watt class AB solid state. I often think the essence of what you are saying is correct and there might be some other figure, like BHP and torque for car engines that individually don't convey as much of the story as they do in tandem and that would better inform us of potential. Nevertheless it is what it is and my 20 watt rated class A GM70 tube amp sounds at least as powerful and certainly as loud on my 89.5db rated huge 3 way speakers as does my 60 watt rated solid state class AB amp. There are other peculiarities that we could use lessons on for example why do solid state amps tend to have increased rated power as the ohms value drops and why that's not so for tube amps. That seems like part of the tube v solid state watts conundrum.

[@sc0or]

@@01egna I see.. About "powerful" this could be an issue with a buster capacitor. It's not unique thing to find 10mF cap inside a 100W rated AB amplifier. It won't be "powerful" under any circumstances. I like how A-class sounds, but I'm skeptical when people find 20V x 1A different to 20V x 1A. Anyway I listen to a music too many hours per day to use an A-class amplifier -)

[@01egna]

@@sc0or I know what you mean. A recent report suggested that we pay the highest gas and electric prices in the world here in the UK and I like you 'listen to music too many hours per day' which results in my paying on average over UK£200 per month on electric alone a large part of which must be due to my hifi gear. It's a choice. I'd rather pay extra if/when necessary to add a solar array to my roof in order to subsidise my love of music in the long term, than compromise when it comes to SQ. I'm currently saving for an Accuphase combo C-3900 pre and A-80 power. From that perspective, what's £1k, or £2k per year in electric between friends now that my sons have long left home and I've only a daughter left to help through university? My kids cost me way more to raise. ;-)

[@sc0or]

@@01egna ) I have a 3.8kW solar panel on a roof. I think more about a temperature in my office room. In a summer neither the panel helps to compensate climatization spending (250 square meters). May be one day I'll add a water pump and an external heat sink for a good A-class. I'd like to have EL34 driven one.

[@01egna]

@@sc0or Good luck with the EL34s. I recently sold a Leben CS600 with Sophia blue bottle EL34s. Beautiful amp and nowhere near as hot as my SET. In fact it's the most beautiful piece of hifi equipment I've ever owned and very well behaved for a tube amp, but you need very high sensitivity speakers to get the best out of a push pull EL34 in my experience. At one point I thought about supplementing it with a Hypex amp for bass duties. FYI my 20w GM70 SET mono-blocks seem more powerful than the 28w EL34 Leben CS600. I hope to move to Cyprus within the decade and the heat question is on my mind too. The GM70s won't work for me there unless I buy a house up mount Olympus where they'd be an excellent substitute for a fireplace, as they are for me now here in the UK. ;-)