One of my audiophile friends used to say “Valves sound real”. He meant that beyond all measurements of Watts, distortion, signal/noise ratio, etc… our ears do make a difference between the impersonal, almost aseptic sound coming out of a transistors amplifier and the warm, sensual, carnal, emotional sound of a valves amplifier.
Whether you listen to classical music, RnB, Rock, Jazz, Blues, or vocals, transistors amplifiers have a hard time transmitting emotions like valves amplifiers do.
But let’s not start an argument: there are plenty of audiophiles that have honest and good reasons to stand up for the transistors, and they are right, especially if their ears like it. After all, that’s what this is all about: pleasure!
Jacques Casier