The Williamson amplifier revisited

There is no single answer to the question of whether audio amplifiers using transistors are better than those using valves or vice versa. It all depends on the application. Valve amplifiers are undoubtedly better as regards dynamic range, which has to do with the more gradual change in the operating characteristics, which in the case of transistors tends to be abrupt. An attractive compromise is a hybrid amplifier: valve input stages and transistor output stages. This results in an amplifier that offers the best of both worlds.