Korg NuTube, vacuum tube for the 21st century
As an extreme tangent, but something that I was reminded of due to "tubes".I recently bought my first audio upgrade (Cambridge DAC 100, Little Dot MK III with Voshkod 6ZH1P-EV from the 70's on Beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pro headphones) and honestly, the first time I listened to it I was in tears. Coming from just plugging in some Sennheiser HD1 to my mobo audio out, the difference was staggering. There were sounds in tracks I was quite familiar with that I had never heard before. I bought a Schiit with a closed DT 1770 Pro for my office ... which wasn't nearly as good (and incidentally I think the filter caps might not handle the el cheapo DC-AC converter on the solar panels all that well which gives annoying (as in really audible) cracking and popping sounds even after tube rolling). Now for the downside: "audiophile" is a horrible niche to be in, there is so much cargo-culting and downright hostility that makes it a very "toxic" place to be in (not to mention stupidly expensive if you buy all the ahum "bs" ... a signal processing class would be a better investment...). But, I find the toxicity to be a little bit sad as well. Since it detracts people from a very real life improvement. Audio is one of the primary modalities of our sensory system, and even with mediocre hearing (like a male 30+ will likely have) you can, and do, hear an enjoyable difference for a modest investment. The difference between some second-grade Bluetooth thing and a nice "desktop" set /is/ real. My advice, get a nice open headphone (400-600$ range, I /really/ recommend something with a detachable cable since those fail first), something to replace your on board DAC for 150$, and an headphone amp (I like tubes, but for no other reason than that I like the way they look and "sound"). For something around 750-1000$ your life will be better and it'll last you a heck of a lot longer than any AirPod will (heirloom piece). That is, if you like listening to music, if not, disregard everything. Yes it's an investment, but this is HN, where I feel recommending 1k is not that big of a deal.Now for the more on topic part: apart from some high voltage DC applications like transceivers or transmitters (like microwaves!) tubes have largely been replaced by solid state. And with good reason, they last much longer, and are less conductive to all sort of ailments ... so apart from /super/ specialized applications they have no place. Apart from maybe providing that nice warm glow on your desk, when you're lonely, at night, and just want to listen to that "one song" while staring out of the window.