Tubes bring a sweet liquidity to the presentation that solid state just can't match. I agree with Jhill22@kc.rr.com. I love a tube front end with solid state amplification. I really like Classe and Rowland amps. I think The Audio Critic does his best to stir controversy as he sees conspiracies everywhere and of all the audio publications I read, I take his with a lot of salt followed with a margarita or two!
SS vs Tube: What do you hear?
Peter Aczel, editor of The Audio Critic, says "Whatever vacuum tubes can do in a piece of audio equipment, solid-state devices can do better, at lower cost, with greater reliability" (issue 26, p5). What do you hear which causes you to select tubes over ss, or vice versa?