Excellent comments have been shared by all posters thus far. As Jctubes points out, a tube amplifier need not have any of that "old tube sound". As I listen to good solid state amplifiers and then to good tube amplifiers, I consistently find that tubes just have a certain magic that makes the music more real for me. With good tubes, there is a palpable quality, a tangibility, a "dimensionality" if your will, to instruments and voices, that I have just never found in even the best solid state amplifiers. I hear it in the harmonic overtone structure - instruments and voices just have a greater harmonic richness and nuance. Bear in mind, though, that my listening is almost entirely to acoustic instruments and voice.
By illustration, let me share this experience. Several months ago my wife and I were auditioning some Avalon Eidolon speakers played through some very nice Rowland solid state amplifiers. The sound was excellent - beautiful soundstaging, detailed, extremely quick, and quite musical in a very appealing way - but something was missing. A cut that we often use for such evaluations is from the Opus 3 "Depth of Image" LP: "Tiden Bara Gar" with folk singer Therese Juel. On listening to this cut, my wife's immediate reaction was "Where is the 'chuckle' in her voice? It's not there." The dealer also had a pair of BAT 60 watt tube amplifiers, so we switched those in. These little 60 watters were obviously not the ultimate pairing for the Eidolons, but my wife promptly commented: "Wonderful! The chuckle is back in her voice."
To me, finding "the 'chuckle' in her voice" is as good a summary as any for why we stay with tube amplifiers for our listening.
By illustration, let me share this experience. Several months ago my wife and I were auditioning some Avalon Eidolon speakers played through some very nice Rowland solid state amplifiers. The sound was excellent - beautiful soundstaging, detailed, extremely quick, and quite musical in a very appealing way - but something was missing. A cut that we often use for such evaluations is from the Opus 3 "Depth of Image" LP: "Tiden Bara Gar" with folk singer Therese Juel. On listening to this cut, my wife's immediate reaction was "Where is the 'chuckle' in her voice? It's not there." The dealer also had a pair of BAT 60 watt tube amplifiers, so we switched those in. These little 60 watters were obviously not the ultimate pairing for the Eidolons, but my wife promptly commented: "Wonderful! The chuckle is back in her voice."
To me, finding "the 'chuckle' in her voice" is as good a summary as any for why we stay with tube amplifiers for our listening.