Vacuum Tubes Vs. Solid-state Debate

Many people often raise the question: Should I go for tubes or solid-state? Well, that is entirely subjective and depends on what you are going for with your system. Solid-state technology is generally less expensive and consists of transistors, which are extremely predictable. They have a tendency to sound harsh, brittle, and often thin. For newcomers to hi-fi, they are not a bad place to start. Vaccum tubes, or simply tubes, are glowing glass devices that look like light bulbs and even have similar science to them. When the premp or amp is turned on, they need to sit and warm up for a bit before they can be used. This is to help increase the lifespan of the tubes. They also get physically hot when they are used, especially for long periods of time. Tubes generally have a much warmer, more natural, more pleasing sound to the human ear. This is likely because tubes are not perfect devices, and as such, sound more natural whereas transistors sound harsh and unnatural to our ears because they are extremely predictable and "perfect" in a way.

There are people who think that tubes are a viable option for musicians but not so much for hi-fi. I believe that for hi-fi use, they still sound much more natural and pleasing to the ear, and given that I play guitar, I know that tube guitar amps have a very rich, textured sound to them, and they distort in a manner that sounds more musical than the way transistors do. Take your pick, but for me, tubes are the way to go.

A Fun Evening with Dream Theater

Last night, I had the fantastic opportunity to see Dream Theater live in Denver. They performed their 2016 rock opera-style concept album, The Astonishing. I absolutely love that album. It has such high dynamic range, especially with the use of a lot of acoustic instruments as well as a wide range of themes ranging from cinematic pieces that build tension and set the mood all the way to their traditional progressive metal style. The entire show was just packed full of energy. It was well beyond my expectations. I just couldn't stop being excited the entire time. All five members played loud and proud. I was especially impressed by John Petrucci's long sustain on his guitar notes.

Of course, I did wear earplugs because I am hypersensitive to loud sounds and also because I know that prolonged exposures to high volumes can and will damage your ears. I didn't want to risk suffering through tinnitus, or worse: temporary or permanent hearing loss, so I kept them in for the vast majority of the show. There's no shame in admitting that. Sure, some people might give you guff and call you a sissy or something along those lines, but it's not that big of a deal. Not to mention I had my Hearos high fidelity earplugs, which I love. They do such a good job of quieting everything and they really retain their tone.

I decided to take my earplugs out during the intermission. I had wandered over to the front of the stage to take a good look at the equipment. I thought it was so cool that all of Dream Theater's gear was sitting right there! I was mesmerized by the sight of Jordan Rudess' rotating keyboard, John Petrucci's foot controllers and MESA/Boogie amplfiers, and Mike Mangini's unique, aesthetically pleasing drums. When they were about to start the second act of the album, I hurried back to my seat, which was all the way up on the balcony, and the music startled me because it was so loud and so sudden, especially since my earplugs were out. I decided to try no earplugs just for "2285 Entr'acte" and then put them in for the rest of the show. It's only a two-minute song, so I wasn't hugely endangering my ears necessarily. You'd think the music would've sounded better without earplugs, but I found it to be quite the opposite. I couldn't hear the details of the music with everything hitting my eardrums so hard. This is also a problem I have whenever I have gone to dances and didn't have earplugs. I put my earplugs back in at the beginning of "Moment of Betrayal" just so I could save my ears the pain and also be able to hear everything more clearly. When they began playing "Heaven's Cove," I was captivated by Petrucci's lovely 12-string acoustic guitar. The sweet, rich, percussive tone that came from it was, quite literally, music to my ears.

The overall concert sounded amazing and was really fun. It was my first concert for any professional music artist, and it is one I will remember for the rest of my life. I was glad to get to see it, and I hope that eventually I get a superb hi-fi system that is able to come pretty dang close to the experience I had. The show really inspired a connection between me and the music, and at the end of the day, that is what hi-fi is all about.

Rocky Mountain Audio Fest 2016

As I mentioned in my previous post, I will be attending Rocky Mountain Audio Fest this year in October. This will be my first time attending it, and I'm pretty dang excited to go. I hope to see lots of good equipment shown off there and maybe even meet some of my favorite people in the hi-fi community.

Some of the equipment I will want to check out will include turntables, preamplifiers, power amplifiers, integrated amplifiers, speakers, and possibly CD/SACD players. Hopefully I will come across a lot of things with innovative technology. VPI Industries is definitely a company I have high regards for, and they pretty much reinvented a lot of aspects of turntables. VPI turntables typically have uni-pivot tonearms that are made of extremely rigid material to pretty much eliminate resonance so there is no added color to the sound. You may as well not even call it a tonearm because there's pretty much no tone! It's more or less passive and it is absolutely amazing!

With that said, the show should be a fun experience overall. I will discover a lot of good companies and equipment I have never even heard of before, and I will be exposed to new things that I am sure to find incredible. Maybe I could even take advantage of the discounted show prices.

Technics SL-1200G & SL-1200GAE Turntable

Back in January, Technics announced that they were going to be releasing a new model of the Technics SL-1200 later this year, starting the famous SL-1200 line back up again after it had been discontinued in 2010. There will be both a 50th anniversary limited edition model, the SL-1200GAE, which will go for a limited run of 1200 models (funny number, isn't it?), and the standard version, the SL-1200G. It will have a series of new designs including a new tonearm, new motor, new platter, among others. It was shown at CES 2016 and will be available this summer.

Being a belt drive fan, it's hard for me to imagine ever wanting a direct-driven turntable such as the SL-1200, but heck, this thing, especially the 50th anniversary model, is a piece of turntable history! Technics even invented the direct drive turntable back in the 1970s! Although belt drive is generally considered to be for hi-fi use whereas direct drive is the kind of thing you would see your local disc jockey using, Technics SL-1200s have gotten the attention of both DJs and audiophiles alike for their sheer durability, low noise, and overall performance. Even though I typically prefer belt-driven turntables, I would definitely get either the SL-1200G or SL-200GAE just for those reasons alone. I will also be attending Rocky Mountain Audio Fest later this year and will likely get to see it shown off. I would even save up $4,000 for it if I had to. This thing truly is a beautiful piece of equipment.