SET the best?

There is no inherent superiority of any particular design ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fully aware this is the general consensus in audiophile beliefs. But seems to be, the best for me let say, maybe not for others, is the SET.

Seems to me push pull is the proper tag for that typology, **pushes and pulls** the delicate musical signal apart. IOW shreds, the electrors to tiny bits. vs a SET , pure linear, natural, just stunning. Lets say PP attacks the listener

VS ,

SET gently caresses the music.

Nothing wrong with PP for hard rock, big blues, big jazz bands

larry is correct in that output/power tubes critical for SET. The difference between Shuguang Black Treasure and Psvane Acme 300B is like night and day. Shuguang like $250 pair, Psvane $900-$1k pair. The Elrog, WE, Linlai Elite, EML, Takatsuki will all be $1-$1.7K pair.

I'd never purchase budget 845, we're talking 900 volts, some major hurt if these things malfunction.

I have two stereo amps and two pair of speakers. All-tube preamp (Supratek Cortese).

One system is Quad 2805s driven by Quad 909. They have a certain coherence and beauty.

The other system is JBL 4430s driven by humble AES SE-1 300b, with the 12AU7 pre-driver stage modification Dennis Had described in Sound Practices Issue 6. This modification replaces the 6SL7 with the 12 AU7 driving a 6SN7. Given the humble pedigree of the SE-1, this modification is nothing less than Ingenious. Maybe someday I'll hear a higher-pedigree 300b amp. As it is, I love the sound of this thing. Beautiful, coherent sound. The JBLs are 93dB efficient and I listen in the near field, so I'm seldom using a full watt. All kinds of music sound good through my system.

Re-reading what I've written, truth is I don't think I've contributed anything of value to this discussion, other than to say I love the sound of my humble 300b SET amp. And maybe to suggest that you don't have to spend inordinate amounts of money to get a taste of the magic. 

In the mid-late 90’s I had a 2A3 PP amp from Cary audio. It was very SET like in its presentation and would work with not so sensitive speakers. It made several hard core SS folks listen up and take notice.  Too bad the reliability was an issue with these amps, they did sound quite good. I tried bi-amping using the2A3 on top and SS on the bottom..  Never got it sorted out well enough and moved on.. But the 2A3 sound is intoxicating.

Speaking in very broad, generalized, terms, I tend to find pushpull amps to have a "tighter" more punchy sound than SET amps.  But, too much of that quality and the sound seems a bit artificial or "mechanical" and less natural than the more relaxed sound of good SET amps.  For me, for example, KT88 pushpull amps tend to be particularly likely to sound too punchy and mechanical for my taste, but, as with everything in audio, there are always exceptions. 

I like MANY pushpull amps (this would include OTL amps), while I also like SET amps.  It is never as simple as saying one type is better than another.  Right now, I favor my pushpull 349 tube amp over my SET amp (the SET amp costs considerably more), but, in some respects I still do prefer the SET amp--although the bass is less powerful and tight, it sounds more subtly "musical" (the quality of the bass changes with the music and sounds less "same" and "mechanical" as my pushpull 349 amp).  Both sound harmonically saturated, deliver an expansive and immersive soundstage, and sound relaxed and natural while still being very lively sounding; the pushpull 349 just delivers a little bit more of these qualities.