New Aopen Board with vacuum tube for sound?!?

[SuperCheetah]

Anyone else seen this??? Seems a bit overkill but a nice idea.

From: www.viahardware.com

http://english.aopen.com.tw/products/mb/ax4b-533tube.htm

Aopen has drawn tremendous interest at Computex for its unique, vacuum-tube driven board. The audio solution aboard the AX4B-533 is outfitted with a largish vacuum tube sitting squarely on the motherboard. According to AOpen (and other audiophiles I've spoken to) the use of vacuum-tube technology could give this board's sound a clarity and richness that cannot be duplicated by silicon. The board also features a unique CD-player system that can be used to play CD's without booting into Windows. Overall, AOpen definitely has an interesting product in the AX4B.

Anyone know how respected this company is or if their boards are any good?

 

[uncleel]

AOpen is a major Taiwanese manufacturer, the parent company for Acer, & has been around for as long as I can remember.

Vacuum tubes disapeared w/ the invention of transistors. Only Audiophiles (sound geeks) would truly be interrested. Back in the days of vinyl lp's (b-4 CD's) true audiophiles said they could tell the difference between tubes & transistors; painted & unpainted recievers. Now the only thing turntables are used for is to scratch records.

 

[Nodsu]

This one vacuum tube may be just a marketing trick, but these old fashioned tubes
produce a different (maybe not so 'perfect') sound that many people prefer to sterile perfectly-matched chip-produced signals.

You know, analog magnetic tape is still used in studios to give music this extra touch, so it would not sound too 'technical'.

 

[T-Shirt]

When are they bringing back punchcards?
Can't see adding all the heat, and frailty of a vacuum tube.
But there is a gimmick for every market

 

[T-Shirt]

Originally posted by Nodsu
This one vacuum tube may be just a marketing trick, but these old fashioned tubes
produce a different (maybe not so 'perfect') sound that many people prefer to sterile perfectly-matched chip-produced signals.

You know, analog magnetic tape is still used in studios to give music this extra touch, so it would not sound too 'technical'.

Seems like digital sound could be modified, to produce this effect.