Quote Originally Posted by tube fan
Well, Sir TTT, we totally disagree, and I suspect we always will. If you cannot hear the difference between the best CDs and tapes, copies played only a very few times, I give up! Via tape, you could hear every detail in full tonal saturation, with NO compression; everything was effortless. Via CDS, the sound was HIGHLY compressed, harsh, with little real tonal saturation. EVERYONE in the room at the time I was there agreed (including the salesmen, who were NOT selling the tape machine). BTW, they were using a Playback Designs MPS-5-Reference SCAD/CD Player with 24/192 input, $15,000.
Ummmm, I don't think we disagree about tape, as that is my favorite analog medium. You cannot make blanket statements though, because there was zero compression in the material I brought to the show(both SACD's one of which I recorded myself), and only a few speakers were capable of handling it.

You favor solid state, I'm a tube lover. I suspect I would hate your Onkyo amps, and you would hate my Audio Research amp.
I do not 'hate" anything I have not listen to, and you should follow the same practice if you listen to stuff with your ears, and not your mouth.

From the looks of your system, you probably play music at loud levels, and thus I'm very surprised that you liked the Lotus room (unless, of course, they allowed you to crank up the sound).
I play music at all levels - from soft subtle stuff to loud dynamic stuff. That is why I picked and purchased the equipment I do. I do not like stuff that is dynamically constrained. The Granada speaker system performed my demo disc to perfection, and since the stuff I brought is dynamically challenging for any system, it earned my respect.

I do hear live music 3 or more times a week, and I think tubes and analogue come much closer to real music, especially in micro/macro dynamics and tonal saturation.
This is of course your opinion, but Bernie Grundmann says that both tubes and vinyl stray far away from the masters tapes they are cut from, and that tubes do change the sound to a degree that it becomes far from transparent to the master tapes. I am an audio engineer, and have been one for 22 years. I have not heard one of my masters played through a tube amplifier that sounded anywhere close to what was heard on some of the master tapes I have recorded. This is especially true with the DXD format I have been using for the last three or so years.

You would have to pay me to listen to CDs for more than a few minutes straight.
Redbook CD does have its drawbacks, but even those engineers that worked on the Mercury Presence transfers to CD said the CD sounded more true to the tapes than the vinyl did. Euphoric abilities may be pleasing to the ear, but it is not exactly a faithful effect when you are considering accuracy and faithfulness to the master tapes.