Mike, I agree with you also, they do sound good. I am not in tube or SS camp as I have listened to some fine systems, tubed and SS in my audio journey. That being said, I could never tell a novice that tubes are the last word because tubes are not always the best and can only be best to some. There is a review over at AA under the Amp/PreAmp section posted yesterday by (Basstwo), he has two very well thought of (maybe even hyped) tubed preamps: Supratek Syrah and Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista that he has owned and knowes very well. He bought a passive transformer volume control: Bent Audio (also maybe hyped). It is a good read for a novice who just wants to enjoy good musical sound, you may enjoy it to, even us old pro's can learn.