Skip to main content
Valve vs. solid-state microphone preamplifier: a comparative study

Abstract

This paper outlines research carried out to determine the perceptual and objective differences between a solid-state and a valve preamplifier running at low voltages. ABX testing was employed and showed that there were perceivable differences between the two systems. A comprehensive objective analysis was performed, which utilised tests for total harmonic distortion + noise (THD+N), intermodulation distortion (IMD), THD versus frequency and frequency response in order to ensure the two systems were performing in their linear region. In addition, MIRToolbox was utilised to extract low-level features such as spectral centroid, skewness and novelty. The electronic measurements combined with the MIRToolbox support the listeners’ subjective descriptors that there is a difference in brightness and harmonic content between the two types of preamplifiers. A correlation theory was developed, which linked the objective and the subjective measurements.

Keywords

Valves; solid-state; preamplifiers; objective and subjective measurements; THD+N; IMD; spectral centroid; skewness;

How to Cite

Stroe, O., (2017) “Valve vs. solid-state microphone preamplifier: a comparative study”, Fields: journal of Huddersfield student research 3(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.5920/fields.2017.13

Downloads

Download pdf

572

Views

672

Downloads

Share

Authors

Octavian Stroe

Downloads

Issue

Publication details

Licence

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0

Identifiers

Peer Review

This article has been peer reviewed.

File Checksums (MD5)

  • pdf: a54a7f72dbad21de68f6376137993fb2