TUBE AMP LOVERS - What SS amp makes you smile???

There are many, many solid state amps that gave me the same musicality and kept me smiling. Too many to list. There are some absolutely wonderful solid state amps out there and some absolutely wonderful tube amps out there. A good designer/engineer is a good designer/engineer.

This tube vs solid state bias/arguments is really not the issue.

Does the music reproduction in your system sound as really as you can get/afford? Is there any listening fatigue? Does something drive you away from listening?

Or are you just sitting there for hours, smiling and enjoying the sound? Some people are too much into equipment and not the actual sound.

The speakers are a big factor in this solid state vs tube debate also. Ability to drive accurately the speakers is very important.

So many factors. I know many people that have tried tube amps and can't seem to get the impact from them that they get from SS amps. So, there!!

I also, know many people that absolutely love tube amps sound. So there!!

I'll take either. pick a price point. Pick specific speakers. Find tube amps and solid state amps that are designed to accurately drive those speakers. Play your favorite, revealing music and go at it. That and only that is the fair test. One may still prefer one sound over another, but this is the only way to really judge. Oh and by the way, stop screwing around with biases and do the test blind.

enjoy the music and the long trip to get where you want to be.

I like my Odyssey Khartargo Mono Blocks, and my VTL ST 85 tube amp, they both sound good.

Tubes to First Watt M2 (Pass)…sublime.

Electrocompaniet mono-blocks - have had 25 amps and like these very much.

Smooth, yet authoritative. No SS glare, no roll-off, no loose bass.

First: I think Minorl's comments are spot on.

Now, to my recent experience. For many years I've been running an all-tube system using upgraded MFA electronics. For those who are familiar with MFA, you know what I'm talking about.

The other day, on a whim, I purchased an NAD C272 power amp. In my system, mated with the Lumi preamp, the NAD is shockingly good. In some ways it's a better match with the Magnepan MMG's than my mono tube amps. Bass is cleaner and more articulate, and the speakers sound more "detailed". No, the NAD is not as 3-D nor "sweet" as the tube amps, but I'm blown away at how good it sounds. I was running a pair of small subs with the tube amps and disconnected them with the NAD because of the dramatic improvement in the bass.

And, FIY, both of the mono amps have been completely re-tubed recently.

In short, for just a few hundred bux, far less than a complete set of NOS amp tubes, the NAD has put a broad smile on my face.