Is tube sound vs solid state easier to distinguish using headphones?

Separately it's hard to tell, but back to back it's easy.

I've had SS components that sound tube like, except when next to tubes.

When  I listen with my Pass Labs XA 30.8 in my system and then switch to my Wyetech Labs 300 B mono blocks, the sound becomes immediately more life like, warmer and engaging. It’s a revelation every single  time.

@tubelvr11 

Not sure about headphones because I've never had the occasion to listen to my cans with tube gear. But I can instantly tell the difference between my SS and tube amps. Even with my very modest set up. In fact, I was just about to start a thread with the title of "Aaaahhhh".

I love my Hegel H360 integrated but just put my Rogue tube amp and tube pre combo back in the mix and everything just sounds more right to me.

Not sure if this answers your question but there it is.

I have 3 headphones systems for my RAAL CA-1a (sold the SR1a last month and will buy the next RAAL phone release).

• tube headphone amp
  • RAAL VM-1a
• solid state Class A
  • Schitt Mjolnir preamp (from 2023) | Schiit Aegir amp | RAAL TI-1b amp interface
• solid state Class D
  • PeachTree GAN1 | RAAL TI-1b amp interface

With some tube rolling that was done by the manufacturer the V-1a is about 40% better than the other 2. I used to say about 15% better but I purchased the VM-1a for the second time and got a different tube (1 of 6). This tube made the separation with the other 2 systems greater.

What I hear is more power, more clarity and detail, more smoothness. I knew this was the case since I owned this amp before but now the VM-1a is even better. Until I had owned the VM-1a (now discontinued) I would have never thought a tube based amp would have ALL the attributes I just described.

This week, RAAL has come out with a new TOTL headphone that they are saying is the best sounding phone in the world. I thought the CA-1a and SR1a were something special. However, when I heard the comments from Alex at RAAL on this new phone (the best he has ever made), I immediately sold my SR1a and bought the VM-1a amp (again).

The new phone is called the Immanis and goes for about $10k. I may buy this one or wait for something else they come up with. All I know is that for these future phones I will get, I wanted the very best amplification for them and for me it is the tube based VM-1a.

BTW - I have not found a tube based setup (preamp or DAC) that made me as happy as my Class A and SS gear on my 2-channel. Now I have not tried a lot of tube gear with 2-channel. I have no interest in doing so since I love my 2-channel setups.

I started in high-end headphones before I went to speakers. No, headphones are absolutely not giving you insights that can’t be gleaned from good speaker setup. If anything, it’s the opposite.

The driver technology and R&D investments put into headphones, even high end models, generally lags far behind that of high-end speakers. Headphones can be really good (particularly electrostats), but end of day I get more insights and enjoyment from my Tannoys.

Tube amp performance is highly dependent on the load they’re coupled to, but that’s a factor for both headphones and speakers. Speakers pose the bigger challenge, with lower impedances and the need for much higher power levels - necessitating large expensive PSU’s and huge output transformers (for non-OTL designs). So again - on speakers, tube amps will generally display bigger sonic differences versus each other and versus comparable SS amps. Of course there are exceptions, and some of the OTL tube headphone amps popular in the 2000s featured extremely high output impedances which had a MASSIVE effect (coloration) on the distortion profile and frequency response of most headphones. Though damn, did that ever sound good in some case ("flat" headphones often run the risk of being an incredibly boring listen).

The usual cited advantage for headphones as an evaluation tool is getting the room out of the equation - and that’s true to some extent. But the reality is that the headphone frame/chassis/cups, in combination with your head & ears, serves as a defacto "room" by which the sound is colored anyways. Also, I’ve never had any problem taking an audio component over to a friend’s speaker system (completely different room) and hearing the exact same sonic signature & net effect as I did in my own room. As long as you don’t pick an awful room (closet, greenhouse), pick a very wrongly sized speaker for a given setup, or totally botch the setup & positioning optimizations - I think the effect of room acoustics has been a bit overplayed online in the last (say) 15 years. Acoustic panel makers love to sell...panels. But for me, the components you choose and their "synergistic" combination has been easily the dominant factor in whether a system will be enjoyable or just chum for the audiogon classified waters.