Tube or solid state

Tube/solid préamp. to Tube poweramp ( dac= tube)) Metronome Technologie - Daniël Hertz M6L - Mal Valve 2

Well designed equipment doesn't have the characteristics of either tube or solid state.  Good equipment is neutral.  So it doesn't which type of component is in what position in the chain.  

I happen to have a hybrid phono stage, a tube preamp and solid state amps.  None of those components have any characteristic "sound."  

I have recently purchased a Cayin CS55a tube amp, whilst a very cheap amp ( and I paid 1/2 price) its performance I find astounding. I have tube rolled replacing the KT 88's with EL34's and this in may system improves markedly on my Naim Uniti and my Vincent pre / power amp hybrid. It is in my small music room but proves more than enough bass even with 20 watts in ultra linear mode. Speakers are Audio Physic Sitara 25's at 89dB and 4 ohms not exactly easy to drive. 

Solid State much better than tube.

The answer is to use the best of either...a great preamp into any great amp will sound better than a mediocre anything. Tubes are different than SS, we all know that...but synergy is key. I use a tube preamp (Schiit Freya which is either passive SS or tube...always in tube mode unless I switch it to see if the tubes are OK) into either a single ended Dennis Had amp or a Pass XA-25 class A amp...mostly the Pass as I'm lazy, but I put the Had amp in there and enjoy it when I feel like it. Tube amps aren't always better as it depends on the quality of the amp.