Mid-fi tube vs high-end SS

I don't know the Van Alstine DVA 225, but my system uses his Transcendence 10RB preamp into a FirstWatt F8 (by Pass). With compatible speakers, the sound is musical (not "artificial") but not colored one way or the other.

It made me a believer in a good tube preamp but leave the power work to solid state. Nelson Pass uses FET transistors in his designs.

Do your Philharmonic BMR speakers have any association with Salk?

I guess it depends on what you mean by midfi and high end. I have a system consisting of a Schitt Freya + with some premium tubes and a Peachtree Audio Gan 400 amp running all balanced with Magnepan LRS + which will shortly be mounted on the Magnariser Mk7 stands.

I’d like to be helpful. It would be useful to know exactly your system. There is a place to put photos and your components under your user ID as your virtual system. This would help us a lot in helping you. The venue and all components matter.

Having said that and been working on pursuing the cutting edge for over fifty years. I would not be moving from tubed to solid start… I would move in reverse or simply upgrade in the tube arena. In general. You are going to get more natural and musical components when using tubed equipment. I stayed away from tube amps for decades thinking of inconvenience and cost that simply has not been there. I have over 40 tubes in my system and by a huge amount, it is the best my system has ever sounded, and after years have spent very little on tubes. 
 

I have to recommend that I’d you want really high quality sound, stick with tubes. Then make your decision.

It is truly  a matter of personal taste. I have both a hi end solid state  system  and a hi end tube based  system as well. After a lifetime  of solid state systems  that has ended in a mark levinson  Ayre  power pre. I feel I know a bit about the pros and cons of solid state systems  at or near the top. Having recently  developing  a tube system  of canary monoblocks  and a two box totally isolated by channel canary tube preamplifier  in many way I like that better. I do understand  you feeling that the running cost of tubes is much higher than a solid state system.  They are both very good but even though they are very much the same they are very different.  In short what I feel the difference  is the solid state system  feels like the performers are right in front of you. That is the system  that I have had a number of old men cry when they listened  to it. The sense of being there is very real. The tube system  doesn't  have that as much but it has beauty  in a way that the solid state cannot come close to. It is totally beautiful  rich  and the voices sound very wonderful.  I managed  to get some of that into.the solid state system  by using tubes in the front  end.  McIntosh  mr71, a sonic frontier  dac three, and an audio reseach  reference  phono stage.   But when you ask which is better that us personal  taste when it comes down to it. That is on the basis  that the systems  are on par with each other. 

Regards