In my experience, solid state does not sound as musical as tubes. On a very basic level, tubes sound more like the instruments sound. SS is thinner, flatter, less fleshed out, less dimensional, less body, less harmonic structure.
I don't care anymore about damping factor, the tightest and most powerful bass, the last shred of detail, the lowest distortion, etc., ad nauseum. All I care about is what gives me the most pleasure and sounds more REAL. To be honest, I have found that tubes actually give the MOST detail; they are better able to sort out the instrumental lines than any solid state amp does. Yes, there might be some tiny detailing that is more evident on SS, but SS still does not keep the instrumental lines as separated and does not give you the organic "whole" of the entire musical ensemble. It's hard to explain, but when you hear the things tubes do so much better, you don't want to listen to SS anymore. I'm a musician, so my ear is quite atuned to knowing what sounds most like the musical experience, and tubes are that.
