The mu-vista tubes in the MF A5 do not have haze, grain, slowness or frequency anomalies whatsoever...it may be the best CD player available...beats my Wadia 860 and ML 390s! I recently heard the ARC ref setup with Watt Puppy 8's...ok but not great..still tube haze present! Maybe some combination of tube amp/preamp would not color the music so much. Just thought it was interesting that the Mcintosh stuff is so grain free and rich in timbre...very dynamic as well.
Anyone else evolve beyond tubes?
Over many years of owning both solid state and tube amps/pre-amps, my most recent high end system makes me question the need for tubes at all, except at the source! My Mcintosh C46 pre and MC501's driven by an MF A5 CD player into Dyn" C4's with MIT Magnum cabling produces music of great beauty and dynamic swing. I even demo'd some of the newer tube gear available for comparison...not even close. I think modern, well designed solid state gear is superior overall...at least with a tube output stage in your source!