Mid-fi tube vs high-end SS

Hello Sam, I’ve been in hifi audio for over 30 yrs and have heard so much nonsense from people,  I sometimes can’t believe what people write. Some important things I’ve discovered throughout the yrs. Your question about changing from a tube amp to SS can only be answered by knowing the rest of your system and why or exactly are you looking to improve in sound.  I personally have never found SS to sound better than a well designed tube amplifier in the areas of engagement and transparency.  I do find SS to be more accurate but it lacks the air and ultimate 3D dimensionality tubes give. I only use SS amps for systems that require it’s power. I’ve found that SS amps cannot sound warm and very transparent at the same time whereas tube amps can.  So, from a person as myself who has various systems setup in my home of very high quality components of both SS amps and tubes, my opinion would be to stick with your tube amplifier if it runs your speakers fine. If you have problems with power in your present system, you could try a Class A SS.   I run a pair of Class A SS mono block Threshold amps on my Electrostats speakers and even though the sound is very pure and transparent, I must admit, my 300b, EL34 and 805 power tube amps have something special in immediacy and engagement that SS do not have.  Why don’t you borrow of purchase a high quality Class A SS amp and do an AB comparison with your tube amp.  You should notice that the SS will sound more accurate which might lead you to believe it’s more transparent but take notice to which design engages you more and which draws you into the the music better. See which gives you a more 3D dimensional soundstage and which design throws the soundstage out further in the room, not just behind the speakers but out towards you and even behind your listening position.  I wish you a lot of luck in building a system that brings happiness to you. Throughout the years, I’ve learn the hard way that building  a great sounding system is not about spending a lot of money but about a lot of hard work and research and help. 

Hello Sam, I became curious also with listening to other products and designs. My first hifi amplifier was a Class A solid state design which was extremely good. But reading hifi magazines got interested in tube amplifiers, I wanted to try one. Since, I’ve owned many SS and tube amplifiers throughout the years. So I understand your curiosity and can honestly say that for me, the only thing that would satisfy my curiosity was to travel down the path I did by hearing many them in my home. Some people prefer SS and others prefer tubes. I’ve discovered that I am mostly a tube person but I could be very happy with an all SS system as well. I recently went to my friends home who also is a tube guy to hear a setup he put together. It consists of $40,000 Dac & CD combo, $8,000 monitors, interconnect $3,500 per 3 meters and a class D amplifier $1,200. The sound was fantastic. Even though the rest of this setup is very expensive, I was quite amazed how good the sound was with a little inexpensive amplifier.  Solid State amps have their strengths and tube amps have theirs. It all comes down to which sounds best to you in your system. So even though I prefer tube amps, I still own some very good SS pieces.