In todays marketing focused world there's a lot of hype - especially about hyper quality components- exotic capacitors , resistors etc .
But the determinant factor in quality sound reproduction is simply the requirement for a high quality electronic design (or circuit)
Super duper capacitors and resistors wont turn a pig of a circuit into something that sounds wonderful.
A really competent design with bog standard , nothing-fancy parts will rock the socks off a poor design that someone has stuffed with $1000 of hyper parts.
The trick is to use the most advanced, up to date and state of the art design and then carefully choose the componentry to achieve the desired sound signature.
Its a matter of synergy and the experience of knowing what works best in situation.
I've never been a big fan of electrolytic capacitors, but most audio devices have hundreds of them in them.
Eliminating them is difficult and expensive, but the result is very worthwhile, as it results in a superior phase performance, which means more 3D imaging and more expansive sound-staging.
My Supratek preamps have typically no more than 3 or 4 electro caps , and used only where absolutely necessary.
The painfully common direct coupled/cathode follower design is the stalwart of preamplifier design and is employed in the vast majority of low cost preamps on the market.
Cheap to make with 12AU7 or 12AT7 tubes , and with reasonable performance , there must be many thousands of these preamps built over the years.
Its a great way for designers who wish to produce a tube preamp without too much thought or development- its a proven design with just enough "tube" sound to classify as a tube preamp.
These designs are really hangovers from the 1950's , state of the art tube design has well and truly moved on from there , but surprisingly few modern designers deviate much from the tried and true.
More innovative and developed designs use a hybrid mix of tube and solid state components, and even iron chokes and transformers in the mix, with sophisticated power supplies to give highly accurate frequency response , the ability to drive any amplifier and superior phase performance to give realistic imaging and sound-staging.
Tommorow- power supplies.
