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Electronically speaking, only stupid hi-fi has tubes. LCD TV with tubes ? Yes, says Mr. Fremer, a real color!

I like electrical amplifiers. The acoustic amps in old wind-up phonographs were a clever novelty, but, things are even better with electricity.

SS—more power and best control.

Only solid-states are true amplifiers. Tubes are graphic equalizers disguised as amps.

Digital amplifiers, like the NAD M2, because of accuracy, efficiency, and cost.

Solid-state for not requiring changing of the tubes and, also, some solid-state equipment is starting to sound like tube equipment to a certain degree. At the end of the day, it is a matter of choice.

Krell amplifiers, hunks of steel that house enough power to jumpstart a small planet.

Tubes equal distortion, distortion, and distortion.

Bi-amping with lower power, warmish tubes on top and SS on bass is the mode I seem to keep returning to. Easy level control of the more sensitive of the pair equals transparent tone control, and I have found, for my speakers at least, that the the same tube amp high output impedance that Mr. Atkinson frets so much about renders a tonal balance I truly love.

A tube preamp with a solid-state amp seems to keep the best of both worlds. My experience is that a tube preamp ameliorates just enough of the harsh high-dominated aspects of the solid-state amp.

No tube maintenance.

Solid-state or tubed, but single-ended, high-power. Basically, my ideal amp would be solid-state, single-ended, high voltage, and transformer-coupled. Low output, high-bandwidth. Yes, it can be done. And there are perfectly sound reasons for all aspects of my "ideal amp" to be valid. Signal is single-ended, no need to push pull or to mirror signal—at all. As well, the ear works via micro changes in signal, all correlated to one another and that is the kind of distortion seen in all those other amplifier types, specifically balanced signal and balanced designs. So they create a "hyper real" landscape that is based on overemphasizing and distorting the micro components, and thus render themselves "unreal" in the process. Single-ended amps get that micro part right, even if they have other flaws in the barely relevant objective technical measurement sense.

Tubes = Warmth of tone.

Most of what it does is good.

IMO, zero-feedback triode power amplifiers (single-ended or push-pull), if well-engineered, are in a class of their own. Personally, I have little present desire to own anything else.

Luscious and warm midrange. Plus I get to play with tubes!

The current offerings of both tubes and solid-state has certainly closed the gaps of what one or the other used to have/lack to the point that you could live with one or the other with little, if any, regrets. I still lean toward the tube side of things, though.

Class-D: Absolute minimalist approach. Allows for ultra-short signal paths and you can say that, the shorter the signal path is and the less components there are, the less there is for the sound to be affected by external sources.

Class-D

The triode's credible size of natural sound-sources is unmatched, emotionally unsurpassed, and, with the involvement provided, the speaker can outperform with 2Wpc.

Bitstream amplifier

Love the detailed, yet warm, sound of a powerful SS amp.

Love good solid class-A MOSFET amplifiers because they are as sweet as tubes without the maintenance.

Low noise, low maintenance, low coloration, and high fidelity.

Solid-state amplifiers, because they are faster to become hot and deliver more current. Unlike tube amplifiers, where you get a better sound when the tubes become hotter. You wait for a while for them to to become hotter.

But with a difference; find a sympathetic speaker and output transformerless (OTL) designs can have the greatest transparency and speed.

I moved from solid-state (Threshold T50) to single-ended triode (Audio Note Conquest) and there is no way to get back! A much more involving sound!

It's all that even-order harmonics and stuff.

Lavardin amplifiers and YBA class "Alpha" output stages. Close to tubes, very close, with transistor power and grip in the lows and they are cool running as well.

All the new tech, still to this day, doesn't sound as good as a tube amp.