Well, it appears as if I'm in the minority, but I have found that a tube pre-amp and solid state amp sound wonderful. But, (huge but), this, in my opinion would totally depend on your price point. Like cars, upper mid fi to lower high end components (tube or solid state) are in my opinion not much different sound wise. But, when you go up in the high end chain, I can't really say whether one or the other is better, but there are sonic differences. there are pros and cons for both mid to upper high end tube and solid state. I'm not in the group that thinks that tube is better than solid state or visa versa. I hear equipment all the time, and to me, I would take quality tube or quality solid state equipment. either one. you have to listen often to different equipment in your home, on your system (one piece at a time). Don't change anything else, not cables, etc. just listen. Make sure you are comparing apples to apples. i.e. equipment within the same price points. otherwise it really isn't a fair comparison.
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