what makes vacuum tubes the better choice for some application (most notably an amp for music) over more modern options?
In: Engineering
It is a matter of personal preference. Objectively (ie measured by instruments) modern solid state or digital amplifiers can be designed with much lower total distortion and background noise of an audio signal relative to vacuum tube amplifiers. Distortion here being a measure (ELI5) of the accuracy the output signal matches the input signal.
But vacuum tubes amplifiers tend to distort in what can be perceived as pleasant – giving a “warmer” or less “clinical” sound. Very high quality and low distortion sound equipment can give music a sound of “distinctness” that some people think as too cold and separate especially if they’re not used to it.
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