Some Marantz, some Sansui, some Luxman, and some others with the right synergy coupling may not be too far from tubes fluidity and holographic details... + many more other advantages over tubes amplification...

if what i wrote is false , except for my own personal ezxperience, why are they became mythical loved vintage ?

Because they sound as S.S. not well designed ?

Or the opposite ?

😊

To beat them it takes contemporary top design as the atma sphere class D amplification for example... I dont doubt thay they will better my Sansui alpha...But the last top acclaimed tube amplification for headphone i just bought and returned after one hour did not... 😁

I say that for people with no big budget who dream about audiophile experience... The others will probably mock my claim pretending that the Alpha is obsolete... But for some wallet there exist a ratio S.Q./price ... I am not envious of any system and mine all pieces together  cost me 700 bucks...It did not lack on any acoustic factor either... Synergy and optimization of the components are mandatory for sure...

Opposing all S.S. design to all tubes design or vice versa is ignorance of the two most important factors in audio which are not analog versus digital , but ACCOUSTIC/psycho-acoustic first and last components synergy...

The rest is prejudices....And some like to stir the prejudices pot...

Your claim express a generalization and prejudice not clear thinking...

First :

All productions in amplifier from Sansui extend 67 years with very different period of production...Only a false reasonning  will conflate all these years of production  as the same mediocre  quality...

Second : All there is to do in an amplifier is not about materials but also design and the design GOAL ...The question of the OP was about the possible existence at affordable price  of an  S.S. sounding as tube... Sansui was one of the few companies which tried to emulate tube amplification with S.S. design and this was done  OFFICIALLY and succeeded in a public contest for all ears to listen  with their top tube tube amplifier beside their S.S. model IN PUBLIC ... Is this question of the OP  a true sincere question or just a trolling line ? I dont know but i answered to it specifically ...

Third : i just tried to upgrade my AKG K340 headphone by replacing my Sansui alpha by one of the most acclaimed amplifier in the last decade in the world, no negative reviews for this tube amplifier ... It takes few minutes of listenings to keep the Sansui with his headphone out over a dedicated amplification one of the most acclaimed one ...

There is not even a contest possible on any acoustic factor, not ONE...Dynamic. transients, timbre, holography , soundstage , out of the head projection impression or reproduction of recording acoustic etc

Four :

Why ?

Because ignorant with prejudices in audio , fetichists of their contemporary  brand ignore SYNERGY they ignore that synergy matter, even over the exact  decade date  of the design production they ignore not only Vintage past flagships which for the best of them are not far off the most advanced one of today, and if we take into account synergy may rival them and even beat them completely as in my experience comparing tube of today with S.S. design of the past  24 hours ago ...

Instead of posting 3 lines prejudicial posts inform yourself...😁

The best headphone i ever tried compete with the highest top headphone of today and was designed 45 years ago... I will not explain why here...

I will not speak about sound quality/ price ratio because it has nothing to do with the question : is some TOP Sansui good amplification ?

In japan these  Sansui alpha amplifier are described are TOP amplification and sold at very high price in the used market... They are a steal for those who are not brainwashed consumers of audio reviews where they sell anything new as the best ever especially if it cost 20,000 bucks... This top Sansui can be bought few thousands... i bought mine a more affordable one with the same basic design 300 bucks... I smile when you sleep paying big money for your fetish of today ... And i dont need a  tube amplification ... My Sansui sound more tube like with details and fluidity than anything i heard including the last tube amp i bought yesterday and return in the same day ...SYNERGY MATTER... It is second most important factor in audio AFTER ACOUSTIC... Not price tag nor audio reviews articles...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pa2Y95eQjNA&list=PLnQJF3Qi_4_A5BFgnV1w5wNNfnks3u0oL&index=55&t=618s

Is a Pass XA-25 affordable? I use one alternated (mood swings) with a tube amp. Also, Sansui amps were at best mediocre back in the day, and compared to even the least expensive integrated these days a comparison is laughable.

This is my dream amplifier a S. S. one it is the top version of my Alpha 607 i :

Sansui Alpha AU-907MR

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pa2Y95eQjNA

Probably one of the best solution could be a tube pre-amp as the Berning microzotl and a power amplifier of S.S. design which must be tube-like for this optimal pairing as any Sansui of the Au series are... ...

If i could i would have done it...But my Sansui alpha is an integrated with no separate pre-amp and amp function ... Costlier Sansui alpha are designed to be so...The Au 7700 too...

Sansui established this long time ago officially ending successfully  with  their project to create a S.S. design that will sound exactly as their top amplifier AU111...

Then from this came half of your sentence : some tube designer effectively created S.S. design sounding exactly as tube design... ... Effectively the tube and transformer designer Sansui going S.S. design create two amplifiers sounding exactly the same, one was tube and the other S.S. ...

The other half of your sentence about the fact that no manufacturer never said that their tubes amplifier sound like S.S. design is not exact... David Berning said so and he is one of the best tube designer in the world...he claim that his tube design sound fluid as tubes and detailed and dynamic as S.S. design...

Some tube manufacturer claimed exactly that as Berning did because S. S. design has also his qualities , faster dynamic, more details, more power etc

Then your sentence is not a very deep truth but a common place joke born from design prejudices...

The reality is any design is a trade-off master piece or not , being tubes or S. S. ; but some company succeed better than others, being S. S. or tubes...

😊

Ever notice that SS manufacturers and merchants often tell us their device ’sounds like tubes’ but no tube manufacturer sez their device sounds like SS. :-)

To answer about S.S. versus tubes...

And going on with my Sansui Story:

One of the best designer of tube transformer in the world till today is Hashimoto which is a company which was created by Sansui and which is Sansui legacy in tubes amplifier...

Read this :

http://www.tube-amps.net/Hashimoto_Background.htm

Read this :

I just upgraded for one hour yesterday after the purchase of one of the best tube amploifier in the world...

I tought my Sansui alpha can be easily upgraded being a mere S. S. amplifier...

The new purchase is in the refund mail after one hour ...😊

i will not name it, my goal here is not bashing a good company and a good product...

But audio is about ACOUSTIC first, after it is about SYNERGY between components...

I bought the two Sansui i owned because Sansui claimed to have reproduced the exact sound of the best tube amplifier they ever designed , i even see the video where they present the comparison between the two, a top tube amplifier one even today, compared to a top amplifier of their AU series, it was this that convince me to buy a Sansui S. S. 12 years ago , and Sansui import and export this knowledge in the AU series and in their alpha series...

I bought the AU 7700 and the more refined Sansui alpha 607i , which is so good that it is impossible to upgrade under a very high cost ...I learned that yesterday... It cost me the postal fees ( 150 bucks) to learn that...

I know now that upgrading my vintage AKG K340 and My Sansui alpha is impossible save to invest a huge sum of money... And even if i do so there exist no other headphone in the market designed as the K 340 with his specific soundfield holographical and out of the head ...

It is a match in heaven with the Sansui , speaker like and not headphone like sound at all...But it is impossible to drive the K340 OPTIMALLY with most headphone amplifier... Audible listening level dont means that it work...

S. S. amplification is a mature technology, some company know how to design good one in the past and today...

My Sansui alpha sound as detailed and as fluid as the tube amplifier i bought and sound better on any count anyway in the coupling with the k340... There is not even a comparison save on the noise floor level ...The sansui need to be driven out of the electrical house grid with battery to shine quieter... With another headphone pairing it will be another story ... Synergy matter more than price tag ...

I owned 2 tube amplifiers and i prefer by far my Sansui alpha sound... No comparison... mut i buy a tube amplifier costing 10,000 bucks to beat it ?

I will pass... I am too afraid to buy any future so called upgrade... I am already in high end audiophile  experience now i know exactly why... 😊

The problem is not tube or S. S. ; it is synergy  supposing you had bought a good tube amp or S. S. amp to begin with ..