"tai fu" wrote in message
...
So is there any difference between using tube amps for listening to music
than solid state?

**Dollar for Dollar? Yes. SS is less expensive for the same performance. SS
amps can more easily built to offere superior load tolerance as well.

I heard there were a bunch of double blind tests and
people could not tell the difference.

**Of course. I took part in a single blind test between several amps. One
was a tube amp. It was vitually impossible to pick the tube amp from the two
SS amps. Of course, the tube amp was three times the cost. Additionally, the
load impedance was relatively 'easy'.


I know there is a huge difference when
it comes to guitar amps because tubes distort differently than solid
state,

**Nope. That is an old wive's tale. It is the topolgy which largely dictates
how an amp responds to overload. It is quite possible to build SS amps which
overload similarly to SOME tube amps.

but now we're talking about within the amp's headroom, is there a
difference?

**Measurably? Almost certainly. Audibly, it depends on circumstances.


--
Trevor Wilson
www.rageaudio.com.au