Samsung has announced a new audio dock, which brings with it Samsung's hybrid vacuum tube amplifier tech, aiming to blend the efficiency of solid state digital amplifiers with the natural sound drawn from traditional vacuum tubes.

Along with the valve-amp sporting DA-E750 there is the DA-E670 which lacks the tech, but along with its bigger brother they are the first docks on the market that support both Apple and Galaxy S devices; both will be shown off at CES 2012 in a few days.

Russell Owens, head of AV, Samsung UK, said, "Listening to music, individually or in a group setting, is one of the most personal and valued forms of entertainment. As the most awarded AV brand in 2011, we wanted to create a new audio product that is unique, highly-functional and beautifully designed that puts audio quality to the top of people’s expectations of convenient music regardless of the type of portable device they store it on."

Apart from the dual format of the docks the other big selling point is the hybrid vacuum tube tech, which will only be available on the DA-E750. This packs in the 100W hybrid amp and connects to a 2.1 speaker system with subwoofer.

It's a nice idea, however as the attributes of sound produced by valves over modern transistors is somewhat subjective it may prove tricky to see, or rather hear, a clear difference. As the DA-E670 only gets a 40W amp a side-by-side comparison won't be on the cards either.

The two units also have some nice connectivity included, both getting wireless audio file playback through AllShare for Samsung Galaxy devices and Airplay for Apple devices, or via Bluetooth.