Lithojoe, I don't see the value to bash Tvad here. He provides many great contributions here. His observations on relative tube differences in the above post is an example of this. You could have contributed to the thread by sharing an example or two of a ss product that provides a "tube" sound.
As for a ss product achieving a tube sound, the problem with this approach is that once I choose such a product, I am stuck with the base sound. It may have some attributes that I seek with a tube product. But I can not alter this. I can not change the sound like I can with tube rolling. I can not even improve upon it if I like its fundamental sound. I am stuck with what the designer provided me.
If I want to trade off dynamic contrasts with a little more lush midrange or longer decays, I can change a tube. If I want a more extension on the trebles and am willing to give up extension in the bass, I can change a tube. And so on. The bottom line is, I can tune the sound to my own preferences. After living with tube products for 25+ years now, I am not ready to give up all the options available to me.
To stay on topic for the thread, my advice would be to stay with a transport and try as many tube DACs as one can. I have owned many tube DACs and some are very lush and 3D and others not all that impressive. Often times it is not the product but the effort to find tubes that take it to the level of performance that you seek. This is the point Tvad made in his last post here.
I owned the Electrocompaniet ECD1. It's a fairly good product, but it does not approach the "qualities" of the great tube DACs. The Classe DAC1 and Counterpoint DA-10 are much closer to the mark.
