Tube or solid state

tube preamp to tube amp

or 

tube preamp to class A SS

Both really good. Some days I like one, other days, the other.

Either can be great. I really like good solid state gear, but I love tubes. So mostly I end up with tube phono, tube preamp, and tube power amp - sometimes with a JFET MC stage thrown in there. But I definitely still like good solid-state gear, or especially hybrid components - it's not like analog vs. digital, where I love analog and hate digital 😂 

In my opinion, the speaker and the room are what you hear and feel the most. With that stated, I have always preferred a high powered, class A amp(in my case a Coda Model 16) paid with a tube preamp/line stage(Aric Audio Motherlode) and tube phono(Manley Steelhead). The Class A and the tube combo give you all the lush dynamics and punch that you need and you are far less limited in your speaker choice in regards to efficiency. 

FWIW I always prefer the smoothness available from a tube amp, not so much a solid state amp. But then I've not tried them all. Interestingly I've recently tried a SS preamp (in lieu of 30+ years with tubed pre-amp and haven't missed the tubed pre as much as I thought I would.  

i think Tubes are better for Jazz and Classical music like Vaughn Williams string works where you can recreate that ethereal sound you get with a live symphony. for Rock its solid state all the way, so ideally 2 amps are needed.