Valves don't have a "better" sound...they have a different sound. For those that don't know, a valve does the same job as a transistor, and were used in computers before transistors were invented. Valves are large, fragile, expensive and run hot. These days, valves are very rarely used, except in some expensive hi-fi gear. The sound is different. While the characteristic sound of a transistor is very clean, clinical and open, a Valve typically sounds warm, smooth and lush. For gentle listening, valves might be better, while for outright accuracy, transistors are favoured. However, this board is for show more than anything. A motherboard will never, ever reach the levels of expensive hi-fi because it is not physically possible to do so with the level of interference present within a computer. Add to that the fact that computer-generated sounds and MP3s are so low-fidelity anyway that you could play them through a paper cup and piece of string, and this is just a marketing exercise. Good laugh though.
Ooooh, wow. :dude: herbs - valve sound is s'posed to be warmer and richer (at least in amps anyway) this will appeal to old skool afficianados (sp?) anyway. e_d, your link is the same as the pic , I guess you meant here or likely here . Nice find, regardless.
found more on it... "The Watts and Volts of Combining Solid-State and Tube Some skeptics may argue that even average solid-state amplification devices are often better than the best tube devices. However, in terms of tonality - that's where solid-state working alone falls short. Since the tube output stage of the AX4B-533Tube couples the two front digital stereo output channels with tube output, music lovers of all kinds will "feel" their singer, band or orchestra seemingly come alive, while gamers will find that sound-effects become far more convincing and "to your face". A brief look at what makes a tube work provides greater perspective to the overall concept of combining tube with solid-state. " went here sounds like it comes down to "tones" still... at least someone is risking to do something different... bigger fan of AOpen now than ever.
I will point out again that computer sound quality is so low (regardless of source, be it CD, MP3, etc) through an on-board codec that this is completely pointless. Similar tonality effects can be achieved through filtering. As I said, valves are not "better", just different.
Some auiophiles in the high-end home arena are of the opinion that tube sound is better because it produces a warmer sound. For similar reasons they don't like CDs as opposed to LPs.
oh yes this is my feild and ill tell u exactly what isaacsibson said and for onboard sound thats gonna shocking they suck power run hot every thing jenson amps have them in there most exspensive amp range and they have 2 exhust fans @ the bottom and 2 intakes @ the back cerwin-vega amps and preamps have them but if u want a amp like that ur up for huge ammounts of money cerwin-vega are concert speakers and amps made for djs and other types of partys/ music events i spent my time around audio for ages im part time dj i install car speakers any thing that makes sound i can make better once i get all my info on this ill make u and the makers of this board cry for wasteing our time with this crA.p
on the motherboard, and 35,000 MTBF hours on the tube circuitry (Tube itself will have about 4,000 to 5,000 hours, depends on operating conditions) thats rufly 2-3 years dependin on conditions so if ur a hardcore gamer u wouldnt want this board if ur a music mixer like me u wouldnt want this baord coz ull be pushing the tube to far
I saw somebody calling this the first tube motherboard. I've used and repaired and designed both tube and transistor amps. A well built Transistor amp is loads better than a tube. You can get tube sound with some outboard gear plus get the reliability of ICs.
You might cry for wasting your time, but I won't. I'd like to see a review demonstrating its capabilites or lack thereof. For those who beleive tubes are capable of prouducing a better quality sound, they wouldn't be concerned with replacing tubes. Granted, an on-board version may not have much quality and be affordable.
I'm not disputing the properties of valve amps, although as mentioned, it is achievable with transistors.... Look at hifi....If you copper-plate the inside of the case of a piece of hi-fi, it typically sounds better, because the copper acts as a more effective shield against external interference. With this mobo, you've just put the amp into an environment with an enormous amount of intereference, with no shielding at all.... This board is not about sound quality. It's about selling motherboards to people who are going to believe it will do them some good.
thats the thing if i didnt no bout computers i would be like yea kool lets get it for my work might be better then spending 5000 on a sound card i doubt it
Well everything has been said by IsaacSibson and Corvette so im just gonna put some random smilies at the bottom of this post... :dude: :dude: :dude:
I saw somewhere that the BIOS has a built in Audio player. Boot it up without a hard drive and it will act like a normal CD player.
i heard that the mobo is gay and i would never buy a peace of horse poop like that in my life i found out that the tubes only last for a number of hours cheap 1s go after about 100h they cost 100bucks oz to replace they create huge amounts of heat which u cant water cool or fan cool the sound doesnt sound good while playing games only vocal music they sound ok do u wanna no how i no this i sent this page into a australian moddin site they baught it and did a review and it FAILED big time
