This is a sort of repeat, of an opinion, I posted months back. Had one at home on 2 ocasions.--A dealer demo,and the same demo unit,2 months apart.The, all triode, was "neat"/actually magical.BUT, no dynamics,no highs or lows. All the other adjustments and days of fiddling, couldn't make it sound nearly an good as my Music Ref 9 Mk 2/used with Aerial 10 Tees.No finesse/no magic.The "tees" are terrible at telling you the quality of upstream components.Other speakers may be less fussy. It is a guitar amp/made by guitar amp people.Everything is subjective,depends on where you're at/what you intend to use it with/how much bucks you got.It is a good little piece/flexable.Stereophile /when they were both listed/ gave MR 9 Mk2 a class A rating.Messa Baron. got a B. Audio Research VT100,mk 1 or 2(A's) amongst others near the price. Never owned a SS piece/can't contribute other than hearsay.But I'll bet Macormack or Bel labs would be better.Hope this is what you wanted--Input.