I don't claim to be any kind of expert at reviewing audio gear. About all I can state for sure is that I know what I like and don't like in audio.
I've owned nothing but ribbon/planar speakers now for 20 years, which have always been driven by solid state pwr amps.
I despise overly bright, etched, detailed sound.
I love a nice tight focused sound stage, I'll take focus&depth at the expense of a little width any day.
liquid mid-range is by far more important to me than big-time nasty bass.
In general I'd fall into the tube camp, but I've never owned a tubed pwr amp, (unless one counts that old Moscode 300 semi-tube amp I owned many years ago)
The ET3SE has replaced a Classic SE most recently. Prior preaamps were unity gain buffered. (home built) and a another tube preamp.
Initially the ET3 sounded very much more detailed than my classic with little warmth.. I was worried.
Bass very similar to Classis, Soundstage width about the same, soundstage depth a bit more on ET3.
Fortunately, after roughly 10hrs, the warmth is coming on.
at this point the ET3 meets or exceeds the Classic SE in every regard in my opinion. The ET3 seems pretty dramatically more detailed, tighter focus and I get more sense of the recording space ambiance. Maybe the improved inner detail is responsible for all this. Fortunately this added detail is beneficial without making my skin crawl like is so often the case with laser sharp systems.
My general comment would be that the ET3 sounds less tube-like in one sense as it's for sure more detailed, but on the other hand it still has the warmth I enjoy so much.
I have the option to keep my ClassicSE or, keep the ET3. at this point it's no contest. keeping ET3
all of the above is of course IMHO, and surely YMMV.
