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

I have a Technics 2 Track 1500 that has been modified with Black Gate capacitors when such things were available, that I'm quite satisfied with.

My speakers are custom built to have 0 sound of their own. An "eccentric" speaker design engineer designed the crossover, and I picked out the drivers. They're so neutral, that you can immediately tell the difference between interconnects.

I've listened to many beguiling speakers that had a sound of their own, such as Klipsch La Scala, and many others that sound very appealing, but my speakers simply put out what you put in, meaning I get nothing but what the artist intended.

I have often wanted to compare my speakers to other speakers, but that's no longer an option since brick and mortar stores no longer exist in my area. If and when I get excess funds, I will buy some very expensive speakers that I have picked out and finally compare.

Raul, what you don't understand is the fact that for all of my life, I never listened to anything else but SS. My audio education was with Julian Hirsch and "Stereo Review", and neither him nor the magazine was into tubes; as a matter of fact, I don't recall anything but SS.

When we (my audiophile friend and I) auditioned that CJ tube preamp (loaner) that was obviously defective, with both noise and distortion, but the music sounded better; that SS preamp that I owned at that time was certainly the last SS preamp I will ever own. His ears were so keen that he could tell when I replaced interconnects.

 Those who do not listen OFTEN to LIVE acoustic music aka , jazz or symphonic, have not given their brain a tract that understands what music really sounds like.
Those who have tend to use tubes because they alone sound like a room
with air in it .

You got it Schubert!

Before I gave a thought to tubes or transistors, when I was in high school in the 50's, I listened to the radio. During this time the music sounded special. In the 60's, after tubes were replaced by transistors, it didn't seem to sound as good.

The most dramatic change was when juke boxes in lounges went all SS plus digital; people quit playing the jukebox, it was flat, no life.