Why no interest in reel to reel if you're looking for the ultimate sound?

completely agree with @homer_skins.........tubes are the way to go with tape or vinyl.....more realistic sounding. have owned 5 figure SS and tube phono stages; even the best SS has a dryness to it. tubes do not.

You should hear Revox with the internal playback electronics by passed with tube playback. really spectacular!!

@johnss "You should hear Revox with the internal playback electronics by passed with tube playback. really spectacular!!"

Oh, I have hear that this is the way to go for sure! Arian Jansen who modified my ReVox and whom I also purchased it from does that tubed pre mod in his more expensive decks.  Arian also makes GREAT tapes!  Dana

Dear @orpheus10  : For years I used tubes electronics and owned or listened in my system almost anytubes out there from the one you name it ( CJ. ) to the Audio Note Ongaku-On. I was with tubes because that's what the corrupted AHEE teachs to aLL OF US.

Then and step by step I learned that tubes were and are wrong and can't fully honor MUSIC: noise,distortions, coloratuions and the like impedes that can do it.

So I switch to SS till I found out the " rigth " answers and even was part of the design and manufacture of my phonolinepreamp Essential 3150/3160 that even today is a challenge for any other phonolinepreamp.

I started to learn about when I started to attend more often to live MUSIC events seated at near field position very similar as where normally the recording microphones are " seated ". Before that I always attend at least one time a week to listen live MUSIC.

So, I have some experiences on what to look for in any room/system.

Now, there are SS designs and SS very well designed items and your experiences will depends of the design quality levels and the excecution quality levels of those SS designs.

In the other side normally when a gentleman accustomed to years of tubes designs makes a comparison with SS units he is waiting that what he will listening it comes with similar colorations that tubes he is accustom to and this is the trouble for him because SS just can't sounds/performs like tube in almost any way,  SS is faithful to the recording adding the less and losting the less when tubes are the other way around.

This is not what I like it but what is rigth or wrong. Normally we like what is wrongs thank's to that corrupted AHEE and that's all.

R.

I would agree with @orpheus10 , In  general modern tube gear is usually more realistic than modern SS gear. On older SS and Tube gear, they both impart their own sonic signature on any signal they pass through.

I do live to 2 track acoustic recordings both to analog and hi rez digital on a regular basis. Have used both high end SS and tube gear and on both analogue and digital recordings.

The tube gear is usually a bit more natural sounding than the SS gear, even though the SS gear can sound very clean. 
Too bad this site does not support any file attachments. I have a number of high rez file that would offer a good comparison.

Tubes reproduce the inner essence of the music, while SS reproduces a facsimile of the music which can be silent and noise free "sound" that many find quite appealing.

Homer has PrimaLuna integrated, while I have PrimaLuna Mono Blocks, and Audible Illusions Preamp; both are silent without distortion. Tube gear can be brought up a long way with careful selection of NOS tubes as well.


I borrowed a high end ARC SS preamp for audition, and me and my audiophile friend listened for only a few minutes before we decided to return it. That was the end of SS preamps for me.