Tagged: valve amplifiers

Class D amps now deliver serious power for giant-killer money. Dave Okafor breaks down what you actually gain, and give up, versus solid-state and valve gear.

Why the watts-per-channel number on the box tells you almost nothing useful, and how to actually match an amplifier to a speaker without overspending.

Damping factor gets thrown around like a quality score. It isn't. Here's what the number actually measures and when it matters.

Negative feedback gets blamed for "solid-state sound" more than any other design choice. Here's what it actually does, measured, and why the folklore doesn't hold up.

Priya Anand spent years dismissing streamers as beside the point. Here's what changed her mind — and what a good digital source actually does for a valve-based system.

Valve amps are unforgiving of a bad speaker match. Priya Anand explains the real rules — impedance, sensitivity, topology — for getting the pairing right.

Valve, solid-state or Class D — each topology has real tradeoffs that affect what speaker you can drive and how it sounds. Priya Anand breaks it down honestly.

Audio Note (UK) debuts the Oto SE 35 at £5,950/$5,950 — the first major technical refresh of its beloved EL84 integrated in decades.

McIntosh's MA2375 is its first all-valve integrated in over a decade — 75 watts per channel, pure analogue, with phono and headphone stages built in.