In Reply to: Why so few Tube Dacs? posted by Dynobot on July 14, 2012 at 18:11:38:
...it's impossible to have a tube DAC where the analog portion of the signal does not spend time in a solid state device. The digital to analog conversion takes place inside of an integrated circuit and comes out as an analog signal.
If one needs tubes to "tame" the signal, why does it matter if that takes place in the DAC unit, a tube buffer or preamp?
That's not to say that some don't prefer the sound of a particular DAC with tubes in the analog line stage, but there are certainly plenty of all solid-state DACs out there that their owners prefer, even if the rest of their system is all-tube.
Audiophiles often tend to ascribe everything they hear to a single characteristic or aspect of a piece of equipment. Things are usually a bit more complex than that with respect to the way things sound.
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Follow Ups
- From a practical standpoint... - mls-stl 08:38:46 07/15/12 (14)
- RE: From a practical standpoint... - Tony Lauck 08:54:43 07/15/12 (13)
- RE: From a practical standpoint... - mls-stl 09:30:40 07/15/12 (1)
- RE: From a practical standpoint... - Tony Lauck 10:33:59 07/15/12 (0)
- RE: From a practical standpoint... - Dynobot 09:00:49 07/15/12 (10)
- RE: From a practical standpoint... - Tony Lauck 09:27:13 07/15/12 (9)
- The Philbrick model K2-W, the first commercial vacuum tube operational amplifier back in 1952. - cfb 12:09:30 07/15/12 (1)
- Thanks for the link! nt - Tony Lauck 12:29:46 07/15/12 (0)
- RE: From a practical standpoint... - Dynobot 09:32:06 07/15/12 (6)
- RE: From a practical standpoint... - John Swenson 17:49:34 07/16/12 (0)
- Keep in mind... - mls-stl 10:21:19 07/15/12 (4)
- 1961Vacuum Tube Op-Amp - Tony Lauck 12:23:16 07/15/12 (2)
- RE: 1961Vacuum Tube Op-Amp - rick_m 17:19:13 07/15/12 (1)
- RE: 1961Vacuum Tube Op-Amp - Tony Lauck 17:44:00 07/15/12 (0)
- Got it...thanks!..nt - Dynobot 10:23:34 07/15/12 (0)