So after building my KT88 PP Amplifier and listening to it for a couple of weeks, I have observed first-hand a piece of audio folklore... namely the effect of tube amplification on compressed digital sources (MP3, streaming music, etc).
I noticed that the amp seems to "sweeten" the sound a little... hard to quantify or express scientifically, but the compressed audio sounds less.... compressed. Somehow it seems to remove the rough edges.
It's not putting back the dynamics which are stripped out by compression, but it seems to be doing a better job with what's left than the old Sony Integrated I was using while I was building the amp.
[For reference, my digital source is a Chromecast Audio, set to full dynamic range.]
Anyone else observed this effect? Or are my ears going soft in my old age??
I noticed that the amp seems to "sweeten" the sound a little... hard to quantify or express scientifically, but the compressed audio sounds less.... compressed. Somehow it seems to remove the rough edges.
It's not putting back the dynamics which are stripped out by compression, but it seems to be doing a better job with what's left than the old Sony Integrated I was using while I was building the amp.
[For reference, my digital source is a Chromecast Audio, set to full dynamic range.]
Anyone else observed this effect? Or are my ears going soft in my old age??