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Re: Ok, but why?

"Tubes usually have a better sound than most solid state."

We can never agree. You are essentially a subjectivist at heart. You do not have an objecive working defiinition of what an amplifier is supposed to do ideally. You judge by sound alone. At what point do you say the amplifier is doing its job, any problem with the sound lies elsewhere? In your way of looking at the problem of sound reproduction, no such point exists. For you, every problem is a nail because what you do is to hammer at them.

"This is partially due to the lower order distortion generated by the tubes themselves, compared to bipolar transistors"

"I CONSTANTLY measure higher order ODD harmonic distortion in solid state designs, INCLUDING MY OWN, that is virtually absent in vacuum tube designs."

"In other cases, the actual distortion that the ear detects may not be measured by simple IM or distortion tests. Then Hirata measurements (JAES around 1980), or FM modulation may be what we detect."

You rationalize your opinions with guesses. At what levels are non linear distortions inaudible. At what level does it no longer matter what the distribution of distortion components are because they are so low nobody can hear them anyway. By your way of thinking, no such level exists. You postulate distortions you cannot measure or speak about distortions in qualitative terms to justify an endless parade of new designs. When do you passs the point of diminishing returns so far that you reach the point of no return? And when do you start looking elsewhere for a real explanation of why some amplifiers sound different from others, one which correlates exactly with measurements so that their design can be optimized once and for all and we have a yardstick everyone can agree on knowing beforehand based on meeting objective design criteria that one amplifier will outperform another even if we don't like the sound of the result? For you I'm afraid the answer is never. For me that day dawned a long long time ago. I find it pointless to think about gnat's eylashes while there are still problems in sound recording and reproduction the size of elephants flying around.

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