How are you hearing no difference?

The problem is too many people make this way harder than it has to be. A lot of people listen for a lot of different things.  For me it’s simple - I listen for clarity/resolution/detail - basically, do I hear things I’ve never picked up or heard before and is it more intelligible?   So to dohanian’s point, chocolate vs vanilla = Speakers are the instrument - do you want a Taylor, Martin, Gibson etc. guitar?  Find the speaker that tonally appeals to you.  Now, who do you want playing your instrument - your Electronics?  If you liked the Taylor guitar and handed that same guitar to Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, and Chet Atkins, it’s going to sound very different, but for one of those guys, that guitar is just going sound right with them playing it.  So tubes, or solid state?  Yes!  One will be more right and “Does it get out of the way” - or does it add or take away from what you’ve heard in that recording you’ve listened to a 1000 times?  There in lies your answer - yes it’s better or no it’s not - because it certainly will without a doubt be different one way or another, however, different doesn’t always mean better or worse, but like I said, there is a synergy that can happen with Electronics and Speakers that can just be great and then you should know.  That’s also why it’s important to pick well recorded music to audition with because then understanding flaws in recordings of music you truly like to listen to becomes easier to discern.  The Music has been mixed, mastered. EQ’d, engineered and produced, so the better your Electronics/Speakers are, the more they show differences in those recordings - you’re never Improving the signal with anything, you’ only making it less bad and I think once everyone understands that, then the differences between good and bad become a lot clearer! 

Not a bad metaphor, cbrents73. Just a side note to dig in a bit to the tubes/transistor point. You say one will be "more right." Each have qualities that are superior to the other. We know that traditionally transistor amps have killer, tight bass. Tubes have sweet, transparent mids and highs. Which is better? One is "right" for me, the other is "right" for you. Both, then, are "better" for someone, but they are certainly different. If one amp had the best qualities of both THAT would be the better amp. Otherwise you'll just have to choose which one you can live with; which one is right for you.

@dohanian - My solution to the tube/transistor, strength/weakness point, is to actively bi-amp, with SS on the bottom. The results can be wonderful, if it’s done correctly.

@cbrents73-   +2(one per post).   

I've never understood why people who claim everything sounds the same are even in to the audio hobby, and especially why they spend so much effort across the various audio forums trying to convince people they aren't hearing what they are hearing.

OK right, then you must plug your ears and conduct a 'silent test' when you compare the taste of two different hamburgers. Because of the 'psychodegustations'.