While I am still wet behind the ears when it comes to this new passion of mine I feel like I should chime in here. I just bought a PS Audio GCA 250 solid state amp with level 2 and level 3+ mods and I think it's about as close as you can come to tubes with SS, but more importantly why not use both? I have a tube phono stage from YS Audio (Audio Excellence Concerto PLUS) and a Woo Audio II tube pre. I love the warm, rich texture from tubes but wanted the heart of the system to have the reliability AND the dynamic bass response of solid state and I must say... it sounds pretty damn tubular!
Also look at the Pass/First Watt Aleph J if you have high efficiency speakers. A good friend has one and it is incredible. Good luck.
Also look at the Pass/First Watt Aleph J if you have high efficiency speakers. A good friend has one and it is incredible. Good luck.