Solid State vs. Tubes - What if Transistors came first?

@atmasphere 
Sorry man, but vinyl is the absolute most compressed and limited medium on the market. There's plenty of albums out there arranged just to accommodate the technical failings of vinyl. Like, for instance, the lousy bass response near the middle third of the record. Personally I've never heard a record or turntable that had the low noise and garbage of a compact cassette. Maybe they're out there, but my cellphone has a lower noise floor, less distortion, and better dynamic range than any turntable I've ever heard. You're not going to find a guy less sold on vinyl than me. I've heard it. I genuinely don't like it. I hardly grew up with it and never learned to look past it's glaring failures to see redeeming virtues. I'll never look at anything but lossless digital as the best. 

Actually, digital is generally more compressed than vinyl. The technical advantages of digital are theoretical only these days. Take a gander at the Official Dynamic Range Database sometime. Even hi res downloads are compressed. Read em and weep. 😢

@tubessuck:

Oh, yeah.  Forgot about the people MAKING the music, I guess:

https://www.guitarplayer.com/gear/guitar-essentials-five-things-you-should-know-about-tubes

Not that THEY are important--only the musicians, after all. What the heck do THEY know, anyway? A.

I approached that Dynamic Range Database with an open mind and lots of interest. I came away with understanding that either dynamic range is not reliably coinciding with my perception of pleasant recording, or that Dynamic Range Database is, in reality, a random number generator. Basically, I found it useless for all practical purposes although I do not deny its appeal to number-crunching theoreticists.

As a minor error in previous post, google search digs out Unofficial Dynamic Range Database. Although an "official" one would imply seriousness and provide for convenient halt of all further questioning of the results, whoever put it there was fair enough not to proclaim her/himself as an official authority.

Tubes suck. I listen to classical. Tubes suck.