Bonger,
Your friend assumes that solid state gear is "neutral" and "clean" while tube gear is somehow less pure. I think a lot of us would disagree. All gear has its characteristic sound, and it is hard to generalize about which is more neutral. That which offends one the least, would be judged neutral or clean. For me, that would be SOME tube gear.
I have not had vast experience with CDP/DACs that hang a tube cathode follower after a conventional solid state output from the DAC to give the player a "tube sound." The ones from Cary that I heard sound much better to me from the solid state output.
I have heard DACs with tube outputs that were much more thoroughly engineered as a tube unit, and do not employ tubes as a marketing ploy. Some, like the Audionote DACs sound very good. But, I've heard a number of very good, albeit quite different sounding, pure solid state machines. My own player, a Naim CDS-3, is in a mostly tube-based system.
In short, one cannot generalize about these things. My guess would be that you would be better off getting tube amplification and a CDP with a solid state output instead of one that tacks a tube stage on as a gimmick.
Your friend assumes that solid state gear is "neutral" and "clean" while tube gear is somehow less pure. I think a lot of us would disagree. All gear has its characteristic sound, and it is hard to generalize about which is more neutral. That which offends one the least, would be judged neutral or clean. For me, that would be SOME tube gear.
I have not had vast experience with CDP/DACs that hang a tube cathode follower after a conventional solid state output from the DAC to give the player a "tube sound." The ones from Cary that I heard sound much better to me from the solid state output.
I have heard DACs with tube outputs that were much more thoroughly engineered as a tube unit, and do not employ tubes as a marketing ploy. Some, like the Audionote DACs sound very good. But, I've heard a number of very good, albeit quite different sounding, pure solid state machines. My own player, a Naim CDS-3, is in a mostly tube-based system.
In short, one cannot generalize about these things. My guess would be that you would be better off getting tube amplification and a CDP with a solid state output instead of one that tacks a tube stage on as a gimmick.