Affordable SS that sound like Tubes

Take any SS amp and hang an 8 ohm resistor on the outputs. Voila! Tube-like sound as you lower the damping factor!

The McIntosh MA-252 Hybrid Integrated Amp. For $4500 It has a classic 12AX7/12AT7 based tube preamp with a very decent phono stage and a 100W/Ch 8 Ohm / 160W/Ch 4 Ohm Class AB amp. It is built like a tank and looks very much the classic McIntosh piece it is. If that's not enough power, the MA-352 doubles the output to 200/320 W/Ch, and the MA-12000 takes it up to 320 W/Ch. 

I could wax rhapsodic about ancient and essentially unavailable audio components (An Audio Research SP3-A1 or APT Holman preamp and the Nelson Pass designed 100W/Ch Adcom 5500 MOSFET pairing comes to mind - I own the APT/Adcom pair), and beyond the SQ of the MA-252, which is very much in line with your ask, there's a lot of peace of mind that comes from a new amp from a known manufacturer that will stand behind their product for decades. 

Don't know what your budget is but a Wells Audio Majestic integrated might do the trick:

List is 4K.  If you contact Mike Wells he may be able to send you a demo unit to try at home. 

http://www.wellsaudio.com/majestic

Also, rather than “as good as tubes”, maybe you could let us know what specific audio characteristics would constitute “as good as tubes”.

@vonhelmholtz As the OP mentioned he has no intention of replacing his prized tube electronics.  This is more of a rhetorical question to make us all spin our wheels for no reason whatsoever.  He just wants to stroke his own ego and make the point that his QS electronics offer very good value for the price and likely can’t be beat by SS at a similar price.  That’s it.   This is a fool’s errand prompted by a guy who’s admittedly not looking for a real answer and just looking for an ego rush, so don’t waste your time any further because it’s not worth it.  What he should be focusing on rather than wasting our time here is replacing his ancient Mac Mini with a decent streamer from this decade. 

@soix 

Thanks for taking the time to explain.  My fault in that I should have read a bit more carefully.

Interesting that you mention his Mac mini.  When Op states that he use to be 100% vinyl, but is now fully digital, but likely relies on a computer for streaming.. something is wrong with my understanding of the situation.  This motivated me to make my last post.