I love the “ Pleasurably Better”! That’s what enjoying music is all about. How we all get there when not actually attending a live performance is what this forum is all about.
Whatever makes you happy is great regardless of how something might measure. There are no units of measure to define pleasure, happiness, relaxation, peace etc.
I generally grade a component or system of components by how long I want to keep enjoying it. If listening sets in quickly something is wrong, at least for me regardless of the apparent frequency extension, imaging, dynamics etc. until maybe the past 5 or so years, digitally produced sound fell into this category & I couldn’t listen & really enjoy it for more than a song or two. That is no longer the case for me & hi rez streaming w/ a good DAC is really close to good analogue.
That said, while tube amps ( pre or power)generally measure worse than comparably priced solid state, I seem to almost always enjoy them more & sound more like live music. Tubed equipment is probably the prime example of “ Pleasurably Better”.