Quote Originally Posted by Ajani
Will no Pre sound better than either Passive or Active? Will a Turntable sound better than a CD player? Will Tube sound better than Solid State? At the end of the day, you just have to try it for yourself to see if it works for you...
I certainly agree about system matching considerations. Passive arrangements are highly sensitive to specific gain and impedance matching issues. Similarly, tube power amplifiers are not a good match for all speakers. Where my VTLs are wonderful with the stats, they are not so much with the Advents where a "lesser" Threshold sounds better.

I do not, however, believe that all tube gear make music better by "masking distortion". My experience suggests it has to do with the nature of their distortion spectra which is shared by a few SS designs as well.

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