First off, I haven’t heard a streamer that is “tube like” but I’ve only heard a small fraction of streamers out there. There are CDPs that use tubes ; is it really nuts for a streamer to do the same.
Secondly, do non audiophiles laugh at us? Of course they do; it isn’t a “dirty little secret “. There are probably less than half a million audiophiles in this country. Most people are content with lousy sound.