Tube preamp reliability vs SS?

Yep,
AL makes a good and specific observation, my reply was more general in nature. My original  (early version) Coincident Line Stage had 18 db of the gain. My DAC has an output of 3.2 volts and my speakers  are 94 dB sensitivity. I had too much  gain, couldn't go past 10 o'clock on the volume control. I replaced it with a 10 dB gain version  from Coincident and all was well, VC  range  now is  11-2  o'clock for most recordings. Total system gain has to be taken in to account.

People hear what they want to hear . 

Thanks to everyone.  I will stick by my SS preamps. Having a tube to change/go bad is a problem. I like the ease of just, turn on and ready to go...indefinitely.    LD-2 sent to steve for improvement is on my list. 

In some respects, it is easier to live with a tube linestage or preamp than a solid state one.  If you are someone who turns off your solid state linestage, it actually takes much longer for a solid state linestage to be fully warmed up and sounding its best; most tube gear is pretty much fully warmed up in less than 10 minutes. The big convenience factor with solid state is that you can leave a linestage on all of the time.  

In terms of ultimate longevity, in some respects, tube gear has a longer life.  It is easy to refurbish and maintain classic tube gear for decades while a lot of solid state gear is MUCH harder to find replacement transistors, ICs and op amps.

For me, the choice would come down to sonic preference and the kind of amp that the linestage/preamp will be driving.  If the amp is solid state, I would be more inclined to stick with solid state for the linestage/preamp.

I use a tube pre, despite the fact that blown tube passes DC and has smoked 2 pairs of speakers .YMMV