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RE: Do you prefer the "background silence" of SS/Digital, or the that of Tubes/Analog?

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RGA

In Reply to: RE: Do you prefer the "background silence" of SS/Digital, or the that of Tubes/Analog? posted by genungo on April 21, 2012 at 09:34:22

I think on this case you are having a problem with what the guy is writing. The thing is it is quite difficult for anyone to pout an emotional perceived response into words that try to explain what is happening.

We prefer A over B. Tube/SET over Solid State. We do a comparison and now we try to explain what it is about A that sounds better - because it doesn't measure better we can't go to the graph. Tubes also tend to have a higher noise floor. Perhaps that is what he is arguing that noise suppression is taking the music along with it.

I know this was a complaint with some of the Dolby noise suppression options where it reduced the noise but people felt that it also took away some of the music so they preferred to record without noise reduction at all. Note: I am not saying it is right - but I think the writer is attempting to find some sort of "reason" as to why A sounds better than B rather than the usual "I like it better; therefore, it is better."

Other writers use the word organic or whole or rounded or 3D to describe better Tube gear - all words that really mean nothing unless the reader has experienced the same thing. Most B&M stores do not carry tubes and out of the ones that do carry tubes few carry the good ones - they carry the ones that sell based on looks, they sell hybrids, or they sell bigger entry level stuff. Largely the same for turntables.

The only issue with noise or mega pixels in a camera - can you hear it or see it. I get no audible noise from either SS or tube amps that I have owned. My noisiest amp was SS (Sugden A48b) and my quietest amp has been a tube (Antique Sound Labs MG Head DT). But I would not say that is the norm - just a coincidence. Power conditioners should get rid of noise if present.

Follow Ups:

Dolby sucks - Tony Lauck 09:20:52 04/22/12 (1)
"I know this was a complaint with some of the Dolby noise suppression options where it reduced the noise but people felt that it also took away some of the music so they preferred to record without noise reduction at all."

Dolby in its various forms is a psycho-acoustic fix at best when the encoder and decoder are both in proper calibration. It messes up transient response. (This is certainly true for consumer Dolby B and C, where I have done A - B comparisons on a live recording of piano.) To a certain extent, I believe that the same can be said of the professional Dolby A, i.e. I have always believed that the advent of Dolby noise reduction served to end the classic era of purist stereo recordings. It was, however, not nearly so disastrous as early digital recording.

In doing live vs. recorded piano testing, I obtained the best results with a reel to reel recorder with no noise reduction. My Nak CR-7 lacked sufficient signal to noise to capture piano dynamics undistorted unless recording at a very low level, in which case there was sufficient hiss as to interfere with the music. With Dolby turned on the hiss was gone, but the musical dynamics were destroyed. When I did these tests the CR-7 was brand new and in proper calibration. The solution to tape noise is simple but expensive: move lots of tape under the heads. With digital the situation is analogous: use lots of bits, rather than try to skimp using psycho-acoustic tricks.

Tony Lauck

"Diversity is the law of nature; no two entities in this universe are uniform." - P.R. Sarkar
- u r correct ... - TBone 10:36:59 04/22/12 (0)
  My very best recordings were made without Dolby, on a really nice TOTL Akai deck that included proper Dolby calibration settings per tape/type. It took me a while to realize the effects of Dolby past "noise reduction", but once I did ... I never used Dolby again.
  
  tb1
I think he is talking about a feeling of integration... - genungo 19:05:52 04/21/12 (0)
... with the quiet backdrop and the resultant sense of continuousness within the musical presentation (see the link to the product review in my opening post). Among other things.
"He was one of those men who live in poverty so that their lines of questioning may continue." - John Steinbeck

Edits: 04/21/12

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