The difference between tubes and solid state that I am finding

@jsalerno277 

My change to tubes as I gotten older has nothing to do with my hearing. While my hearing may have deteriorated, my ability to analyze and perceive nuance of sound has continually improved. Quite honestly my tolerance for bad treble and high frequency hash has gotten much smaller... not gone away. This in part may have to do with the pressure it puts on your ear drums regardless of whether you can differentiate the detail or not. 

My switchover to tubes / their sound  has to do with my deeper understanding of sound quality and what characteristics allow for a more direct subconscious emotional connection. When young I was tantalized by my analytical side, hearing something I had never heard before... as I often say... hearing the second violinist move his foot, or some squeak in the drum kit. In these systems, the details are amplified to stand out more then they do in the real world, highlighting and obscuring the midrange. 

My analytical side kept dragging my away from the satisfying gestalt of well reproduced music. It was years listening to  real acoustic music that finally revealed the characteristics that make music emotionally connecting. I think this kind of maturity often comes with experience and age. Although, very occasionally, I meet someone that went for that from the very beginning and never got side tracked... but that is unusual.

@ghdprentice Acknowledged, and as always, well articulated.   As I mentioned before, our goals for SQ appear very similar, as is our passion for live ancous music, even though we went in opposite directions with equipment choices.   I have been to an audiologist.  The conclusion was that my hearing is above average for someone half my age; however, the normal aging process includes Hyperacusis, which has made me less tolerant to high frequency noise and interferes with my ability to focus on direct sounds in an environment rich in background noise.   For example, I am less tolerant digital HF distortion and focusing on conversation in a noisy restaurant has become more difficult.   This has not affected my ability to hear a wide frequency range, acknowledging higher frequency test signals are harder to hear.  

I am totally a tube dude, however I have acquired a Canor Audio AI 2.10 Hybrid and I am loving it! May be selling all my tube amps in the very near future. 

https://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/equipment/0321/Canor_AI_210_Hybrid_Stereo_Integrated_Amplifier_Review.htm

In the seventies/eighties the difference between SS and tube was night and day.  Today, not as much. MOSFET and GAN transistors are so much warmer than the PNP or NPN transistors of yesterday: currently I have three amplifiers. One has a SS input section and a tube output.  One that has a tube input and a SS output and the third is all Solid State.  They all sound different, but they all sound good.  

These videos compare an 80WPC P/P KT-88 Melton with no feedback used in the circuitry vs a Yamaha RZ-Z9 Receiver in "Pure Direct" mode.  From my understanding, no feedback leads to a "softer" treble, and that is certainly obvious here.

Every amp is just a bit different, and there would be more variation in tube amps than solid state, so take it for what it’s worth.

All levels are within a couple tenths of a dB using pink noise.  While the difference is instantly obvious, you need a good set of monitors or headphones to appreciate all the nuances.

These are recorded on a Nikon D750 DSLR and no eq or room correction, either electronic or physical is used.

Pull them up in two browsers simultaneously and go back and forth for the best comparison.  This is something you would never be able to do at home or in a shop using the actual equipment and shows just one of the values of YouTube.

https://youtu.be/HTxZJBoOywM

https://youtu.be/FDIu2BFbt-Q

https://youtu.be/W66SQS1wDUA

https://youtu.be/ZxhDJ_eOlYw