I remember my first tubed pre(cary slp70). Since then I have gone back and forth, tubed pre-ss amp,all ss, and then I took the plunge and now have all tubed gear. For me this is where I will stay. There is nothing like it.Try the Anthem gear if you want to see what tubes will do on a budget.
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?