Orpheus10, the reason it seems subjective is only because the industry as a whole really does not want to talk about the science. For that I point you to the writings of Norman Crowhurst regarding feedback and its effects, also to
http://www.atma-sphere.com/papers/paradigm_paper2.html
and if you have the time, I recommend reading 'Chaos' by James Gleick. Inside that book (a good primer for Chaos Theory) you will see some interesting waveforms, some of which you have seen before if you have spent any time around audio gear. BTW, Norman Crowhurst actually has charts of the strange attactors that govern the behavior of audio amplifiers using loop negative feedback, although he had no idea at the time that years later those charts would be associated with strange attactors.
General Electric also proved some fundamental rules of human hearing the mid-60s, which for the most part was totally ignored by the audio industry (how we perceive volume through the presence of 5th,7th and 9th harmonics). This work has been extended in the 21st century by Dr. Herbert Melcher, a noted neuro-chemist, who has discovered that as an audio reproduction system violates human hearing rules (too much of the wrong distortions, too slow, stuff like that) that the processing of sound moves from the human limbic system to the cerebral cortex- and for this he actually has hard numbers!
IOW there is plenty of science, much of it on-going, to support why tube power seems more powerful; like I mentioned before, its not about the power, its about how the technologies distort.
http://www.atma-sphere.com/papers/paradigm_paper2.html
and if you have the time, I recommend reading 'Chaos' by James Gleick. Inside that book (a good primer for Chaos Theory) you will see some interesting waveforms, some of which you have seen before if you have spent any time around audio gear. BTW, Norman Crowhurst actually has charts of the strange attactors that govern the behavior of audio amplifiers using loop negative feedback, although he had no idea at the time that years later those charts would be associated with strange attactors.
General Electric also proved some fundamental rules of human hearing the mid-60s, which for the most part was totally ignored by the audio industry (how we perceive volume through the presence of 5th,7th and 9th harmonics). This work has been extended in the 21st century by Dr. Herbert Melcher, a noted neuro-chemist, who has discovered that as an audio reproduction system violates human hearing rules (too much of the wrong distortions, too slow, stuff like that) that the processing of sound moves from the human limbic system to the cerebral cortex- and for this he actually has hard numbers!
IOW there is plenty of science, much of it on-going, to support why tube power seems more powerful; like I mentioned before, its not about the power, its about how the technologies distort.