Tubes vs. solid state.

I'll take boobs over both tubes and SS anytime! . . . however, in the frequent abscence of the first one, I use my ears. . .

Seriously, I would probably choose CJ over SIMAUDIO every time. . . on the other hand, I do not deem myself a tuboholic or SSian by any stretch. . . . to me it's all in the design, execution, and end result of an individual component, and whether it matches or not the particular emotional musicality that I am after. If you wanted to listen to some SS that moves me, Give a listen to Belles ref 350A, GamuT I250M, Bel Canto Ref 500M and 1000M, Rowland 312. Other brands/amps that I suspect may be of the kind I may like, although I have not had the opportunity of hearing them yet are: Pass XA.5 series, Accuphase, Chapter Audio.

The list of those I do not care about in SS, class D, or tube technology is far to long to be worth mentioning.

Interesting concept about our hearing becoming accustomed to bad sounding equipment. That does not happen to me. In fact, bad sounding equipment sounds worse with time. Positive changes tend to quickly become assimilated into the sound and they become less noticable over time.

SS amps need very careful matching to reach their potential. The correct preamp and cables will make or break a SS amp. In fact, a cable can make all the difference between music that is involving, and a sound that is unpleasant.

If your SS amp has been in storage, it probably need 200-300 hours to break-in again. That is the likely reason for some improvement based upon the information provided.

I have read articles about how your ears adapt to the sound given them, for instance, if there is too much high freq info the ears tame the high end (I forget if it was a physical or physcoacoustic effect). Maybe that is what you are experiencing...

FWIW whenever I go to AK Fest (hi fi show in Detroit) I go into each room and listen first and find out what the gear is after (in the hopes of being impartial) and always prefer the rooms with tube gear to the solid state gear which sounds flat and lifeless in comparison.

ymmv

As a side track and a very pleasant one, talking about boobs has reminded me of a nice film with lovely well you know mammary glands. Anyone see la belle epoque, this was one of Penelope Cruz's early roles.
Then there is also After the Fox with Peter Sellers, an oldie but a classic. Kind of like tube amps, old but hot I mean classic.

It depends what tube gear is being compared to what solid state products. There are good and bad products in both camps. Generally I lean towards tubes in the preamp with a solid state amp but to each his own.

Anyway I think that all of us on this thread have been booby-trapped from time to time and whats even better, they usually come in matched pairs.