Systems or components in 4 main categories
1st Category - Glass Tubes with Hard Wires
Moderate distortion – The most lovely and antique sound you can get is from the most old glass tube systems of single-ended output are of simpler hard wire circuit with low power output of about 8-watt each channel thru the output transformer with a certain percentage of distortion.
Some system of higher power output such as a push-pull system of about 40-watt power output will lead to higher impact of EMF and lower sound quality.
That’s why this kind of system can resolve more audio data and sounds better than the other 3 kinds of systems as stated below though it’s still not good enough. This kind of systems may sound sweet or seasoned in vocal though it’s not as real as live, then both the treble and bass ranges would get too soft, not dynamic at all.
The most famous model for this category made in the States is the antique McIntosh MC240, with 4 pieces of 6L6 and some 12AX7 glass tubes of real high input and output impedance, push-pull, sealed power transformer placed outside and on top of the chassis, 40-watt power output of each channel thru the output transformers that was manufactured in the 60’s. However it doesn’t sound as good as a single-ended glass tube system with 8-watt power output.
Most people say that it sounds real sweet, but there’s one thing I don’t like is the small glass tubes 12AX7 with the system as it can’t handle the treble and the bass ranges well because this kind of glass tube tends to have real high input and output impedance.
According to what I’m expecting from what a system can sound is real as live instruments, though it’s not up to my standard or requirement as well. Unfortunately it’s not even 90% close to live as there must be certain percentage of distortion at least 100% or even much more than that.
Though there’s moderate distortion with tube audio system, it’s still the best system ever since that can sound so sweet and thick ever with a certain distortion.
The simpler the circuit design, the more audio data can be resolved, the better sound you can get. That’s why most people these days still love this kind of antique sound of the systems manufactured of about 60s or before 60s rather than any solid state sound nowadays.
That’s why if there were more modules or drivers inside a chassis, the EMI impact would get more serious and the audio or video output quality can’t be as good.
Though they were made in the 60s, some of them are still in good condition up till now; and you still can get this at some antique shops.
My metal tubes of 6L6 single-ended mono-board power amplifiers are of this category with simpler circuits of about less 6-watt power output and work much better than McIntosh MC240 in any way as the ones I’ve made with no 12AX7 glass tubes of less than 6-watt power output each channel thru the output transformer.
2nd Category - Glass Tubes with Printed Circuit Boards
High distortion – We call this a modern tube system as it applied PCBs with bare copper tracks with a real thin coating of insulated solder mask instead of hard wire circuit, though it has higher distortion than those of the 1st category and still sounds better than any solid state system, generally speaking, it also has higher distortion or loss of definition than any glass tube system with hard wire circuits. That’s why no system sounding real good since that age after 60s.
If you’re an experienced audiophile, you won’t accept this at all. The modern glass tube version of McIntosh MC240 made with PCBs is of this kind, sounds much worse than the hard wire version of McIntosh MC240.
However most glass tube systems are made this way nowadays won’t sound as good as those made in the 60s with hard wires. Some American developed the method of making printed circuit board, but they didn’t even know PCBs made this way never do well for audio and video components at all.
3rd Category - Solid State with PCBs of bare tracks
Severe distortion – They are just too complex with the circuits with quite a few drivers or modules of different functions on a few PCBs with bare copper tracks with a thin coating of insulated solder mask and with no shielding protection at all and getting interfered by EMF at least 2 or 3 times higher than glass tube push-pull systems with hard wires.
The higher output like 100-watt or 1,000-watt each channel of some branded solid state power amplifier of Class ‘A’ with a power transformer housed inside the chassis can never sound as good as MC240, the severer interference does distort the sound quality badly and causes loss of more details in full range, and it’s not environment-friendly at all, such as those in most theatres.
Guess that’s the reason why most people misunderstand McIntosh MC240 feels like having more power than a 100-watt Class ‘A’ power amplifier. In fact most solid state power amplifiers shall normally have higher distortion or loss of details, at least 2 or 3 times higher, than any glass tube amplifiers with hard wire circuits of moderate distortion though we have no idea to what extent such glass tube amplifiers have got distorted.
There are also some old solid state systems with not so much complex PCB sound much better than the modern solid state systems. The more complex the circuit design would only cause the sound and video quality getting worse and worse since late 60s up till now.
Any systems made this way including any solid state hi-fi systems, computer audio systems, recording systems, editing systems, mixing systems, active ‘monitor’ or ‘reference’ loudspeakers, electronic crossovers, or any digital systems, etc., shall have higher distortion like at least 2 to 3 times higher than any glass tube system with a certain percentage of distortion, and can’t work as good as hard wire circuit version.
That’s why most solid state systems made this way even named Class A don’t please your ears at all even if some manufacturer claims their audio systems they manufactured can go thru squared-wave test.
Some audiophiles who own this kind of system sooner or later would turn to glass tube audio system instead because solid state systems just sound thin and fast due to serious loss of details caused by EMF all the way from one end to another. Most people misunderstand this kind of system can handle bass well; actually it’s just not handling full range of frequency well.
In order to get the solid state system sounded better, some audiophiles would apply a glass tube pre-amplifier instead of a solid state pre-amplifier prior to the solid state power amplifier, by doing so you would find the whole system sounds much better than just solid state components from one end to another because most glass tube pre-amplifiers would have less distortion than any solid state pre-amplifiers.
4th Category - Solid State/Glass Tube Hybrid with PCBs
Seriously distorted, the worst ever and unclassified - I can say any hybrid systems made this way with PCBs sound annoying with serious dissonance and even much worse than any kind of systems as stated above and never please anyone’s ears.
Systems of this category will get serious distortion of EMF or EMI created by the power transformer housed inside the chassis, both the glass tube driver and solid state driver unless shielding and metallic partitions shall be duly applied to enclose each driver.
Some famous branded D/A converters, CD players, pre-amplifiers and power amplifiers also made this way sound real seasoned, bad or inferior.
You can hardly get a system of this that sounds real good. Moreover none of them is not real cheap stuff at all. What I can say is ‘sorry’. I had experienced some branded ones of this category, they were not just replaying music, and they were just distorting music.
