BG> I think we both agree that tubes are highly ineffecient, and rediculous
BG>to use in digital audio.. That tubes were used in early computers is in
BG>itself quite funny by today's standards.
Whether tubes are highly inefficient (they are) does not relate to
whether or not they sound good.
I remember the first CD players -- the sound was pathetic.  There was
a weird veil of noise between the speakers and the viewer, and a
feeling of fingers dragging on a slate chalkboard.  Since then,
CD audio has certainly gotten better, but the output is still a
series of tiny square waves, the phase of which has little to do
with the original high-frequency waves they were spoze to record.
In every way _except_ those, I think digital is way cool, and
clearly the wave of the future.  Perhaps the more enlightened among us
analog curmudgeons are not hankering for the past, but merely for
a digital future that doesn't sound synthetic or irritating.
Oddly enough, if I were an audio professional and had to buy
hardware, I'd probably buy digital for cost reasons.  But I'd still
put a 12AX7 on the monitor outs.  So there.  Nyah nyah!
 * SLMR 2.1a * .    Wisdom consists in knowing when to avoid perfection.
--- PCBoard (R) v15.3/5
(1:301/45)
---------------