Tubelike solid state: Ayre Vs Aleph

I've run tube amps and a Pass Labs X-150 on my Apogee ribbon speakers. The only difference I hear between the tube amp sound and the X-150 is the X-150 totally pulls the music away from the speakers. It provides the ultimate in transparency. I have heard a lot of Apogees being run on tubes and solid state including Conrad Johnson, Classe, Sonic Frontiers, Krell, Aragon, Acurus, Levinson, and Jadis. The only solid state I would settle for over tubes is Pass Labs.

I've been listening to a couple high end ss amps this weekend- the rowland 8tihc, and the edge nl10 (not in a high enough resolution system). I have to admit that the solid state amps in the big leagues are very nice to listen to. They don't sound like tube amps, but they aren't harsh sounding or annoying by any stretch of the imagination. The rowland seemed to get the instrument tex and harmonics very well. There's a weight to a monster ss amp that I don't get from a tube amp.

We put a tube dac (cal 24/96) and an audiomecca transport in front of some piega p40's. Outstanding, excellent excellent sound. Main characteristic being that it was very easy to listen to yet high resolution.

One of the problems with lots of high end ss systems is that you listen and initially you are impressed. You yak about how great it is and all. Two hours later, you quietly admit that there's really something vaguely annoying about this system. You quickly put this out of your mind because it's so expensive, yet it's still there. I didn't get that with the rowland setup at all. It was notably 'relaxing' to listen to. Very refined. Almost an 'elegant' sound to it.

I just ordered an ayre v-1x, so I will likely get that in the next week or so. Details to come !

Has anyone compared an Ayre amp vs. a Gamut D-200?

If so what are your thoughts?

KF