solid state vs tubes

Just wondering if the experts chiming in here saying emphatically that a SS and tube amp can't sound the same read the Carver Challenge? Pretty hard to refute what the conclusion was in that demonstration.

So Experts, are your ears better than the judges? I would love to hear your opinions on the challenge.

I find the post regarding the "Carver Challenge" interesting. I became a more serious audiophile in 1990, and so I do not recall this event. I have often thought of buying a 1980s vintage Carver amp. The "big kid" on my block always talked about Bob Carver and his magnetic field amplifers. This was in the early and mid-1980s.

Its a good question. I'm interested if more chirp in saying they have heard both sound the same or similar.

I have not done a/b comparison, but I know that tube amp systems I have heard helped set the reference standard I was shooting for in putting my current system together.

It uses an ARC tube pre-amp with a Bel Canto ref1000m Class D icepower monoblocks running OHM Walsh speakers.

I have heard my turntable and cart on a similar system substituting a Rogue tube power amp and PSB synchrony speakers. There are a lot of similarities between the two. Other than the distinctive soundstage of the OHMs, I think I would have difficulty telling which was the tube and which was the SS amp, though the SS Class D amps in my system have an absolute firm grip on the bass that might give it away.

Again, this concept is missing the point. A system should not sound like tubes or sound like solid state. It should sound like realistic and natural music. If you think something is tube-ish or solid state-ish, then you are not there. The amp needs to disappear.

If the question is whether a SS amp, in the proper SYSTEM, can sound musical and real, then the answer is an unequivocal yes. Ditto for tubes. If you are asking whether it is easier to accomplish this with a tube amp, then maybe. Perhaps that is why people come back to tubes - it is a bit easier to get it right the first time.

Because I like vacum tubes ...........