valve amp?

[tom adam]

Thank you all for your input.

He's coming over to my place this weekend. He can listen to his jazzy 
blues on the adam A7's and Mackie whatever monitors I got at home.

Cheers,
ToAd

Op 20-10-2011 1:15, Gert van Santen schreef:
> Op 19-10-2011 23:39, Tom Adam schreef:
>> Guys,
>>
>> A friend of mine asked me a music related question I know nothing
>> about.
>>
>> He listens to blues and jazz all the time. Some time ago he was
>> at a place where they were playing a CD he sais he knows by
>> heart. He said that he was very impressed with the sound. It
>> souned way better than at his place.
>> Now he is convinced that the only reason for the superb sound is
>> that it was played through a valve amp. Room accoustics and such,
>> he claims, is not the issue.
>> I now have a friend, apparently with lots of money, who's looking
>> for a valve amp.
>> So does anybody have any pointers to this kind of stuff?
>>
>> I got him at least convinced to first try out the amp (and
>> probably speakers) before buying ;-)
>
> Personally I feel the benefits of listening your music through a valve 
> amp, are, firstly, highly overrated; secondly, only audible through 
> really good speakers (and other A-level components); and, thirdly, 
> heavily dependent on the ears of the listener, the placement of the 
> speakers and the listener, and the room where he/she is listening.
>
> I'm quite sure that for most people, listening music through a valve 
> amp has no real world benefits. I have personally heard a couple of 
> valve amps used for playing CD's and my own music, and I have listened 
> to extremely expensive valve gear during mastering sessions, and 
> although I can definitely hear the added openness and definition 
> during A/B-ing, it's really a subtle difference.
>
> Of course a real audiofile might definitely think it's worth the money 
> to get those extra 3% of quality out of his music system :-)