Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions CD Player - CD-A8T, Tube/Solid State HDCD

If you are interested in a vacuum tube based player Pacific Valve has a nice selection of players.

wid:

Do you, or do you have friends who have experience with Pacific. If so, I would appreciate your/their feedback, provided that you/they have the time. One-liner comments are fine.

Thanks for the URL.

I do not have experiance with them but they have a pretty good following at HeadFi. I have been in contact through email with them and they were very good at getting back to me.

Jakeman:

Re: CD-A8T, Tube/Solid State HDCD/CD Player

1. The Chinese audio place I want to buy from aren't currently interesrested in doing business in Canaada, although they have shops set up in the US. I have a contact in Toronto who told me to call one of the founders and tell him that he bought from them. Three E-mails & no answer.

The player is called: CD-A8T, Tube/Solid State HDCD/CD Player, and is $700US + $40 US shipping + Canadian duty.

AAA-Audio

2. The nature of this E-mail was to post the results of your Rotel Vs Shanling? test), if you would be so kind. At its current sell-price, it better be pretty f'n good!

3. Keeep in mind that what we buy is made in the Orient, but we pay maketing costs on top of the product. The Chinese have no marketing charges.

Tamzarian,

I have no comment on the tubes verses solid state. Never heard a tube, but quite curious to do so one of these days…..

In regards to Ken’s point that you did not get, I believe that he is wondering why you would want (or prefer) to have a tube source AND a tube amp. As being a tube trait idiot, I can understand his question. Would not the tube amp add that little extra sonic characteristic you are looking for - seeing how it is downstream from the source (CD player)??

Again, I don’t understand the sonic difference between tubes and solid state, or how it is achieved, but logic makes me wonder why you would need both source and amp to be tube to get that “tube sound”.

I don’t think Ken was being anything but curious. I know I am…..

That CDP sure looks cool. I can't find any evidence in the reviews or photos that it utilizes tubes.

mdrew:

In general, if you we're interfacing to different logic or anaog families, the intefaces would not be compatible, so we have to make them so. To interface to a speaker you must provide:
1. low voltage
2. high current

which is opposite fo what a tube provides.

As I posted yesterday:

1. Each has their pros and cons; you just have to decide which you like better, or in my case, experiment with both to find if I think one provides superior audio over the other.

2. Tube amps produce more harmonic distortion, but the type they produce is even order distortion, and is not as harsh-sounding as the odd order distortion transistors produce. Large amounts of even-order distortion (as high as 1-2%) produces little listening fatigue, and can even be relatively pleasant. On the other hand, small amounts of odd-order distortion (less than 0.5%) are audible, even by untrained ears, and make music harder to enjoy.

3. When tramsistors saturate, it's like falling off a cliff, while when a tube saturates, the roll-off is gentle. Tubes use dangerously high supplies, while in general, a transistor doesn't. Tubes have a much shorter life span than transistors. And I think in general, transistor are much cheaper than tubes.

4. So you see, you can choose as many parameters as you like to compare, until someone runs out. Then the parameters have to be rated as to their significance in the application.

5. If you still don't undertstand what I"m tryin to say, say so, and I'll give it another shot.

wld:

I will definitely investigate these vendors.

Thanks

Where you are loosing me is why the need for BOTH – AMP and CD player. Wouldn’t using just ONE of the two, and not BOTH, be enough to get that tube sound you desire??? Or is it the combination of BOTH that makes a difference??

I’m not sure how else I can ask this. Does anyone else understand what I’m asking??

Mike has accurately translated my point.

BTW, if your CDP has .5% THD, throw it out a window and go buy a $20 one.

Further, the figures I have heard (from Alan, I believe) are that THD below 1% is undetectable by the human ear.