Is pure class A ss the equal to tubes?

I will go with Nrchy. The more I interact with other audiophiles the more amazed I am that it is a matter of taste. I though I would never go back to tubes but, you guessed it, I got about 35 of them heating up my listening room and they're class AB.

And they sound wonderful at low volumes.

Truth is, my previous SS class AB didn't sound too bad at low volumes either. Or loud.

Theoretically, class A amps should have an advantage since there is no transition from push to pull near zero voltage as there is in a class B amp. This transition can be a source of distortion. But, for the high end amps which are usually at least Class AB, the transition is moved up to higher sound levels (i.e. it is not at zero amplitude) and the amount of distortion due to the transition is greatly reduced.

Maybe some people are more sensitive. On my amp, which runs class AB, the amount of bias is adjustable. If it is biased higher, it provides class A operation to higher amplitudes and becomes more linear. So if you are sensitive to this just change the bias with some reduction of power tube lifetime.

Listen for yourself and then make up your mind. This method prevents most cognitive dissonance.

Pass Labs Alephs do me fine.

Pretty much a hypothetical question.As Twl correctly pointed out, there are far to many missing pieces in the puzzle to answer definatively.Speaker efficiency and the impedence of the speaker in question can have a major impact on the sound of any amplifier type, not to mention, SPL levels, and many other design parameters. High efficiency horn loaded types,Electrostatics,planars, 4 ohm,8 ohm,16 ohm, 2 way boxes, 3way boxes,driver size,bass Q and so on,will react differently with different amplifiers. FOR EXAMPLE...On generic box type speakers with...let say a nominal impedence of 6 ohms and a sensitivety in the average of 88db at 1 watt.One would probably prefer the Class A sand amp at really low volume levels and/or perhaps very loud levels.Another example: Large planars like apogee and magnapan,...require large gobs of current and power to wake them up and generally sound more lifelike at higher volume levels.Hell..the original Quad 57 electrostatic from the 50's still sounds incredible with old antiquated low powered push/pull tube amps! Hook them up with a top shelf modern day tube amp, and the class-A ss amp will sound like it's broken at any volume!.High Efficiency horns are another think piece again...to my ears they sound far more life like with good tube amplification at any given volume level.Your ears,your room...your call.

Although I have made a case for the class A, solid-state amps (earlier in thread), my personal preference is for hybrid amps with a tube input stage and solid-state outputs. My feeling is that this setup provides the best compromise between liquidity and linearity...