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Is there any point in a valve DAC

Arkless Electronics said:
Valve rectification is another total con. Rectification makes no difference to sound quality. As in not ever, under no circumstances. Evan the "sag" with guitar amp valve rectification can be exactly replicated by the simple expedient of adding resistors in series with SS rectifiers... this is VERY basic electronics... but of course the manufacturers will claim "valve magic" and eagerly spend an extra £30 to make it valve rectified safe in the knowledge that they can now charge an extra £300 for the "benefits" of valve rectification. That's business....

Many claims made by almost all manufacturers these days are a pack of lies intended to part the gullible from their money. Almost all magazines and on line review sites back up the lies and help propagate them. It's a vicious circle of back scratching where the more products and types of products there are, the more chances to sell something and the more copy that can be generated for the mags and review sites who then attract more advertising from the manufacturers... cos in this world everything works, everything is relevant and everything is a VFM purchase so nothing gets a review of "this is not even possible within the laws of physics and no one with an ounce of sense should buy this".

We live in a post truth world unfortunately and almost everyone involved professionally with hi fi realised long ago that maybe only 1 in a 1000 potential customers has sufficient electronics knowledge to see through the constant drip drip drip of lies and that those brave individuals willing to stand up and call out the perfidy for what it is can safely be ignored and left to look an idiot of a King Canute ranting at the tide to turn in, such is the almost complete success of the brainwashing affecting the other 999....
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If it's so easy Jez, why don't you monetise your Electronics Experience like Lukasz Fikus of Lampizator or the guy behind SW1X? Lukasz started off as an audiophile hobbyist who wanted to find the best CD players and understand how they worked and ways to make them better. He tested and modified 100s of CD players and his efforts are catalogued on the internet for others to read. Afterwards, when he started making his own DACs, others told him he should monetise his designs as they were that good and people wanted a DAC from him. He rolled the dice and gave up his job and started his own company in Lampizator. You say you have good designs of your own for amplifiers and phono stages, so why not do the same?
 
Arkless Electronics said:
Valve rectification is another total con. Rectification makes no difference to sound quality. As in not ever, under no circumstances...
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So bold Jez - I’m sure that’s why Glenn Croft, in 1995 when I sent him a stock Micro II to service, told me the tube regulator needed replacing - he recommended a solid state one. I asked if it sounded as good, his response was, „no, but it is a quarter of the price and lives forever, the tube regulation needs servicing every 15-20 years as the HT drops off“. Guess which I went for, and exists x4 in my current Mega Micro :)

i admit to never comparing the same device with both types of PSU- have you?
 
If one wants to try a seriously retrograde, contrarian DAC that uses the largest number of valves at modest prices, then this outfit should be looked at:

http://www.abbasaudio.com/en/productlist-dacs/

The man behind these is totally crazy, but in a fun way!

I have maybe 6 tube buffers sitting in the closet for years now. They are legit useless products.
 
montesquieu said:
In short, they're all crazy but our Jez ...
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DimitryZ said:
If one wants to try a seriously retrograde, contrarian DAC that uses the largest number of valves at modest prices, then this outfit should be looked at:

http://www.abbasaudio.com/en/productlist-dacs/

The man behind these is totally crazy, but in a fun way!
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Abbas is a double bass player in an orchestra as well as a qualified engineer. I have had a few of his bits through here and currently have his valve-buffered USB-SPDIF converter implemented into my own AN-based DAC. He's a really interesting guy, as well as a total gentleman. HIs designs are what sit behind Slawa Roschkow's SW1X range, though from what I've seen and heard I would take Abbas's build skills ahead of Slawa's any day.
 
h.g. said:
Sound is only one attribute of valve hardware. Actually it is kind of two or two parts: the sound heard using ears alone (i.e. what is often called "blind") and the sound heard sitting in front of the hi-fi with all cues turned on. Valve hardware possesses other attributes than sound such as those responsible for the difference between sighted and blind listening along with all the things people get from luxury goods. I was querying the common statement by valve enthusiasts that they buy valves equipment because of the sound given that the sound (in the blind rather than sighted sense) can be reproduced more cheaply and reliably using solid state circuitry but this isn't popular with valve enthusiasts.

Perhaps valve enthusiasts would derive much of the benefit of using valves if the (blind) sound was the same audibly neutral one from competent solid state circuitry. Audiophile cable enthusiasts are often an example of this. In which case it won't matter too much what the valve/s in DACs do or don't do the valve examples will tend to be better to valve enthusiasts. Obviously some examples may distort too much in the wrong way but they are starting ahead of the solid state.

Of course this isn't to say that a significant amount of valve hardware can't be identified by listening alone because it can but it seems doubtful this is the main attraction if delivering this sound by a different means is not so attractive.
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?????, the quote and the answer are gibberish to me, sighted/blind who gives a toss? Mines gives the impression of sounding better in dim light or with the lights out but I'm not about to poke my eyes out in preference to what my ears tell me.
 
Arkless Electronics said:
There is no such thing as a valve DAC (is an intercity 125 a steam train because there is a kettle on board?) and certainly no point to the inclusion of a valve. It is entirely a marketing ploy intended to attract the phools who believe valves are intrinsically better! as we see by certain machines where a ltsy ickle window is provided so you can see the valve/s that have made the machine twice as expensive!
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No idea what the Nu-Vista valves do in my cd player but 10+ years later and a few well reviewed and horrible sounding players before it, never heard anything that would make me want to replace it bar some horrible looking two box thing that cost ten times the price. As to phools, the whole industry depends on them these days given the ludicrous prices.
 
Valves are more linear than transistors, also in most applications I have seen produce more total harmonic distortion than SS, but it is of a low order, and may bring a pleasing bloom to the sound. I have not heard the latest and greatest op amps, but in many cases i prefer discrete SS or valve out put stage.
But of course this is very general, it takes both a good cook, and quality ingredients to make a good meal.
 
Si74 said:
No idea what the Nu-Vista valves do in my cd player but 10+ years later and a few well reviewed and horrible sounding players before it, never heard anything that would make me want to replace it bar some horrible looking two box thing that cost ten times the price. As to phools, the whole industry depends on them these days given the ludicrous prices.
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I am watching this thread with some interest as some one who recently bought a valve buffer and found a very real and tangible improvement to SQ. I was told by some members on here that this was all in my mind as it was an impossibility...
 
Greyandy said:
I am watching this thread with some interest as some one who recently bought a valve buffer and found a very real and tangible improvement to SQ. I was told by some members on here that this was all in my mind as it was an impossibility...
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Yes you and me we are audiophools..your mind is tricking you coz jez says so..
 
the caretaker said:
Yes you and me we are audiophools..your mind is tricking you coz jez says so..
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Read up on my placebo when I tried out a Chord DAC. Fantastic sound I thought, but when I set up an A/B comparision with an SBT the only difference I heard was the treble cutoff mode in the Chord. It's called expectation bias and I have enjoyed it with a linear PSU to a switch and when I bought a new router. Although I know there wouldn't be any difference at all if I do the A/B.
The only remarkable difference I heard was when I matched all components in the differential output from the DAC before the opamp in a Marantz CD63. Sublime. Check it out in the largest? and longest? running post at diyaudio.
 
Zombie said:
Read up on my placebo when I tried out a Chord DAC. Fantastic sound I thought, but when I set up an A/B comparision with an SBT the only difference I heard was the treble cutoff mode in the Chord. It's called expectation bias and I have enjoyed it with a linear PSU to a switch and when I bought a new router. Although I know there wouldn't be any difference at all if I do the A/B.
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My expectation would be a cheap dac sounding good ( never has ) so am I biased..
 
Actually this reads like a thread from 15 years ago - time for a spot of topic archeology:

- Solid state or valves? (measurebators vs audiophools) - actually this one never went away
- Cables eh?
- Expensive hifi - (How much?!!! taking the piss/should be illegal etc etc...)
- Latest branded gadget to reduce resonance/eliminate RFI/clean records/improve grounding/whatever - (too expensive, I can make something that works just as good for two quid out of old Squeezy bottles, twine and some rubber I have in the shed)

Rinse and repeat ....
 
Greyandy said:
I am watching this thread with some interest as some one who recently bought a valve buffer and found a very real and tangible improvement to SQ. I was told by some members on here that this was all in my mind as it was an impossibility...
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You are just adding distortion and colouration.... whether you like it or not.
 
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