Tube sound card

[oldman420]

Does anyone remember the Intel p4 board that had on bored sound?
The thing got rave reveiws and then quietly dissapeared.

Is there a company that specializes in tube sound for pc or is it all IC based now.

 

[Slick5150]

Not surprisingly, I seem to remember it having major heat issues. That itself is enough to make tubes a bad idea for PC audio.

 

[xtknight]

Well you can still get tube amps...I don't know about sound cards though. You're saying there was an onboard sound adapter that was tube-based? What the..?

 

[oldman420]

AOpen Tube was the type of board.

heres a review
http://www.firingsquad.com/har.../ax4b533tube/page5.asp

 

[AmberClad]

Originally posted by: xtknight
Well you can still get tube amps...I don't know about sound cards though. You're saying there was an onboard sound adapter that was tube-based? What the..?

You'd be surprised at some of the strange vacuum tube devices you can get for your PC. The Cooler Master Musketeer 3, for example (although that particular one is more for show).

 

[potato28]

Originally posted by: AmberClad

Originally posted by: xtknight
Well you can still get tube amps...I don't know about sound cards though. You're saying there was an onboard sound adapter that was tube-based? What the..?

You'd be surprised at some of the strange vacuum tube devices you can get for your PC. The Cooler Master Musketeer 3, for example (although that particular one is more for show).

If you upgraded it to a NOS it would sound a lot better.

 

[Zepper]

I don't remember any other except for that AOpen and I didn't think it was that bright of an idea at the time. I still don't.

.bh.

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: AmberClad

Originally posted by: xtknight
Well you can still get tube amps...I don't know about sound cards though. You're saying there was an onboard sound adapter that was tube-based? What the..?

You'd be surprised at some of the strange vacuum tube devices you can get for your PC. The Cooler Master Musketeer 3, for example (although that particular one is more for show).

"Vacuum Tube Ready" lol. Brand spankin' new...

 

[lenjack]

Ah yes...good old tube sound, with high 3rd harmonic distortion for "warmth".

 

[oynaz]

There are no internal sound card with tubes, to my knowlegde, but there are tons of external solutions.

 

[nerp]

Using tubes for digital audio doesn't make much sense. True tube afficiandos are still spinning wax. Else, you're barking up a tree of "seems cool" rather than "makes a positive difference."

 

[oldman420]

Originally posted by: lenjack
Ah yes...good old tube sound, with high 3rd harmonic distortion for "warmth".

that distortion was a good thing I remember when cd's first came out how I was dissapointed because they sounded tinny and seemed to lose something.

just because something is not digital does not mean it is a bad thing.

I found an interesting article on it .
quote; Tube records have more bass....The bass actually sounds an octave lower," says one rock guitarist. A couple of professional studio players have pointed out on numerous occasions that the middle range of tube recordings is very clear, each instrument has presence, even at very low playback levels. Transistor recordings tend to emphasize the sibilants and cymbals, especially at low levels. "Transistor recordings are very clean but they lack the 'air' of a good tube recording." "With tubes there is a space between the instruments even when they play loud...transistors make a lot of buzzing." Two people commented that transistors added a lot of musically unrelated harmonics or white noise, especially on attack transients. This same phenomenon was expressed by another person as a "shattered glass" sound that restricted the dynamics. It was generally agreed that tubes did not have this problem because they overload gently. Finally, according to one record producer, "Transistor records sound restricted like they're under a blanket. Tube records jump out of the speaker at you....Transistors have highs and lows but there is no punch to the sound."
from http://www.milbert.com/tstxt.htm

 

[A5]

For LPs, no one is going to argue that tubes probably sound better, since they were mastered with the qualities of tubes in mind. For digital sources paired with well-designed amps and DACs, it will sound good, but instead of being colored by the tubes, you get much closer to what the artist really recorded.

 

[Mark R]

I can't imagine that tubes in a PC would be a good idea.

High power consumption, high temperature, high voltage, very sensitive to vibration and EMI, very fragile mechanically.

Anyway, I'm sure if you were desperate for that 'tube sound', it should be possible to build a winamp plugin for it. The characteristic, heavy 2nd and 3rd harmonic distortion of tube amps should be recreateable digitally with a suitable DSP development kit.

 

[Old Hippie]

it should be possible to build a winamp plugin for it

Already done. Meet OzoneMP.

 

[Rubycon]

Originally posted by: Mark R
I can't imagine that tubes in a PC would be a good idea.

High power consumption, high temperature, high voltage, very sensitive to vibration and EMI, very fragile mechanically.

Anyway, I'm sure if you were desperate for that 'tube sound', it should be possible to build a winamp plugin for it. The characteristic, heavy 2nd and 3rd harmonic distortion of tube amps should be recreateable digitally with a suitable DSP development kit.

It's possible to do this with the correct domain and proper matching but when it gets botched up the final result is often inferior to the original. Using onboard audio and most consumer sound interfaces will cause this to happen. But if it boosts the volume including the highs and lows making it sound like a Bose, people seem happy! :laugh:

Tubes in PC's (AOpen board) is just silly gimmickry. But some people will (foolishly) buy anything.

 

[Madwand1]

Why would you bother messing around inside a PC if you cared about the sound? It's all digital isn't it? So pipe it outside digitally, and then do the DAC and process it or not to your heart's content.

 

[potato28]

Originally posted by: Madwand1
Why would you bother messing around inside a PC if you cared about the sound? It's all digital isn't it? So pipe it outside digitally, and then do the DAC and process it or not to your heart's content.

Most people that use tubes now have other sources(LP's, PCDP, iMod) that sound better.

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: Old Hippie

it should be possible to build a winamp plugin for it

Already done. Meet OzoneMP.

29.99!!
egads...

 

[0roo0roo]

hm sounds interesting meh

 

[AnitaPeterson]

I have to say, OTOH, that I'm impressed with the guru3D reviews I've come across so far... they were instrumental in making up my mind to acquire an X-Fi ExtremeMusic.