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

@inna 
You are, in fact, dragging a rock through a groove made of plastic with force equal to hundreds of psi. The rocks wear out. I'm pretty sure the plastic does too. 

And this is kinda why I don't take vinyl fans too seriously. It's common knowledge vinyl is worth about 50 plays before it's lost noticable quality. 

And then there's the obscene expense in just competently playing the things, as you pointed out. What's a halfway decent DAC cost? A few hundred bucks? A couple Grand for a really nice one? For distortion and dynamics that absolutely destroy vinyl. 

As for tubes...

They're material and labor intensive to make. Nobody would have developed the technology if something smaller, cheaper, and more efficient had come along first.nobody is developing vinyl or tape anymore. And why? Because digital is better. When superior things are born, inferior things die. Like punch cards. Like floppy disks. Like horse and carriage. Like typeset. Nobody will ever again develop a new kind of tube, except Korg for whatever reason. Those are kinda cool. I might like to build a pre-amp with some of those. 

I have heard a few Korg audio designs.  No life. 

It's great that we all can choose what we want to listen to still.  Just buy something and keep this hobby alive folks!

kosst_amojan, no not 50 plays. It depends, can easily be 200-300.
But you are right, and I mentioned it before too - it's a rough ride. I am a tape head, anyway. I got one Maxell Vertex cassette that I played more than 500 times on my Nak. Yes, mechanically not as smooth as new when you rewind it, which I normally never do, I just checked a few times. It sounds very close to the first time. Maybe hundred times more before I have to replace it.

200-300 plays? What do you listen to, Metallica? Obviously there can be long term damage if the cartridge and tonearm geometry is not correct. It is not correct to call a stylus a rock. It’s an extremely small light smooth almost zero mass crystal with very low friction. Note to costco_emoji - try taking the quarters off your cartridge.