Question is the "holographic illusion" by a tube amp simulatable?

[AJM1981]

And is it somehow perhaps done already by other class amps and systems?

A call to everyone who has auditioned tubes

I personally don't have experience with tubes. I owned a Quad amp at one time whicb was given by my dad, that as a model was a "succeeder" to a tube amp, but that doesn't count.

I have been thinking about the Tube cube 7 given all praising reviews. But I doubt given the energy it might consume and heat it produces. Also I would need a voltage convertor since it is made for 110 volts and will receive 120. Would it both be worth it for the sound? I don't know.

Given that I hear people about this illusion of a more holographic sound I started to wonder if that somehow hasn't been done by DSP already. Everything analog can be measured and somehow be simulated. I only have so far not come across the answer to this.

I own a Yamaha Wxa50 which has an odd DSP function called "enhancer". In the description it states that it 'uses algorhythms to restore what is lost in compressed music'. But the practical audible effect is that the midrange sounds more open and less dry, given any kind of compressed or uncompressed format it just gives the music more presence. There is something to this effect which I also read about tubes, and reviewers seem to be pretty amused by it since it gives the music a bit more expression in a natural sounding way. But I would like to know if we really talk about something related.

Many thanks in advance.

 

[Sliced Bread]

I can’t talk comment of tube amps, but regarding eq, i find a flat frequency response (at least through the mids and treble) gives the most holographic image.

If upper bass / lower mids are boosted the subtle queues that assist with imaging start to be drowned out.

Whether you would like the overall sound like this is a matter of personal taste though.

 

[davidf]

You can simulate any sound tonally using EQ, but valves are an active component, so they’ll be doing something that the EQ cannot - some might argue it is distortion…

 

[Sliced Bread]

You can simulate any sound tonally using EQ, but valves are an active component, so they’ll be doing something that the EQ cannot - some might argue it is distortion…

Indeed, they produce second order harmonics.

 

[AJM1981]

true, a tube amp adds both harmonics and distortion. The double sided sword about this distortion is that distortion is unwanted, but audiolovers state it is good distortion. In other words; some, if not the majority of audiolovers like the color a tube amp adds to the output while they are really critical to the same coloring when added digitally.

Why Tubes Sound Better

The link provided covers about everything tubes add with detailed analysis. But like there are algorhythms to digitally reproduce the sound of tube guitar amps, it seems it is not too far fetched that hifi amps are simulatable.

Now I will give this link about this class D- amp Yamaha Wxa50 enhancer dsp effect.

Review and Measurements of Yamaha WXA-50 Streaming Amp

PROBLEM SOLVED - it was Enhancer! So, the fancy accelerating V8 engine sound at test sweep was excessive 2nd an 3rd distortion produced by Enhancer dsp-function! Actually the info text is misleading, this feature helps small speakers to give apparently more bass, by adding heavy distorion to...

www.audiosciencereview.com

I will leave in the middle if the effect mentioned simulates tubes for real because it needs research. But the remarkable thing is that the Yamaha enhancer sounds pleasant according to critics but also adds distortion as users discovered.

Though here the opinion marks seem to be is.. "oh, it sounds nice but it adds distortion, so this is bad and not nice anymore" (?).

Sometimes opinions don't really compute.

I like the enhancer effect and I would like to try tubes, only slightly "afraid" that I already have the sound here and will mainly add another heat source to my home

 

[Vincent Kars]

You might try a VST plugin: https://www.musicradar.com/news/12-great-free-and-paid-for-tube-emulation-vst-plugins

 

[shadders]

I will leave in the middle if the effect mentioned simulates tubes for real because it needs research. But the remarkable thing is that the Yamaha enhancer sounds pleasant according to critics but also adds distortion as users discovered.

Though here the opinion marks seem to be is.. "oh, it sounds nice but it adds distortion, so this is bad and not nice anymore" (?).

Sometimes opinions don't really compute.

Hi,
It is really funny that the very thing that people like and claim that tubes offer greater detail is purely due to harmonic and distortion. When they are told, they at least become defensive.

The same for speakers, where a driver will add significant distortion at a resonant frequency of the cone, and the belief is that they think it is more revealing, when in fact it is added distortion which they interpret as more detail. When you tell audiophiles this, they again get defensive.

It must be such a quandry for audiophiles with the Yamaha enhancer, where one minute they loved it, not knowing, ignorance truly is bliss, then they are told about the "distortion", and their hearts fill with dread.

How can this be, they liked the sound, and now they know it is distortion, and no way can they like the sound now. They must be perpetually torn between faith and reality.

Regards,
Shadders.