No, gentlemen, you cannot get digital circuits to recreate the magic of tubes and vinyl. Excel Audio, in Newport Beach (Mike Rose's shop), has a range of digital DACs and streamers ranging from the Gold Note and Aurender low ends to the $200,000 dcs digital stack. (The surprise of the bunch is the Line Magnetic CD player whose DAC is silly good for about $2000!)
Anyway, at audio nights, the rule is NEVER play vinyl first and then digital, because even the best digital cannot match high end vinyl systems.
As to compression, a good cartridge can reproduce highs past what we are able to hear. The magic is in the mids, and that is where even high-end digital cannot compete with a good tube/vinyl system.
Now, as to tubes, I have heard solid state systems which are incredibly good. They excel in the bass regions. It's not that tubes are unable to play low, the problem is that some solid state amps simply control the bass better. My personal favorite is the Soulution solid state amp. The first time I heard one, playing a pair of Wilson Sasha DAWs, my first impression was eh ... that lasted about 2 seconds, then ... wait a minute ... followed by love. Dagostino amps and preamps are wonderful.
Clearly, not all tube amps can compete at this level. I had an Audio Research Reference 110 and LS28 preamp. It was very nice, but I traded up (in quality, down in price) to a Line Magnetic 845 Premium integrated. But, nice as it is, you have to go LAM or BAT or VAC to get the level of audio nirvana.
However, considering normal 2 channel amps without DSP and without active speakers, most commercial integrated solid state amps, in my opinion, simply do not reproduce music with the vitality and 'you are there' quality that even modestly priced tube amplifiers are capable of. I disagree that the difference is attributable to distortion. Although pumping enough negative feedback can make even an undistinguished solid state amplifier produce stunningly low distortion levels, those specs do not translate into stunningly beautiful music.
So many of these discussions are based on distillations of audio magazine reviews and partisan discussions on audio websites (some of which can get pretty nasty!) [edit - and of course those of you who are electrical engineers may simply know too much
). If you have the opportunity to audition high quality tube/vinyl systems and set aside preconceptions, you might be extremely surprised by the results.
So, Vassillio, enjoy your vinyl with your tube phonostage!!
Please report back.
Best regards to all and stay safe and healthy!!!
PS modestly priced tube integrated amplifiers that I have listened to and liked, a lot, are the Line Magnetic EL34 (I think 40 watts per side) around $2,000, Rogers Audio EL34 amp (more), Quads.
My favorite tube amp is not an ultra buck unit, but the Luxman 4x KT88 amp with a Luxman tube preamp. This combo is not cheap, probably can be had for a bit over $10,000, but friends, this is true music magic and I wish I had known about it before I chose the LM845P.
