I was surprised to find how good tube amps can sound. I expected bass and treble to be attenuated, and for what bass was there to sound bloated and underdamped. I expected the "midrange sweetness" that people talked about to be simply a result of lacking bass and treble. I wondered if "liquid vocals" might be a result of low-order harmonics. But what I found was that the little tube amps work quite well. A good tube amp sounds very nice, in my opinion.

I think that for what they are expected to do, tube amps do very well - surprisingly well, in my opinion. They are a hell of a lot of fun to play with, in the same sense that shortwave radio is fun to play with. And they really sound very nice too. I can easily see that's why they are so "addictive" with lots of audiophiles these days. But the high powered, high quality transistor amps are excellent too. That gives you the ability to have dynamic range that is impossible with less power. Having a good clean current source ensures that the rubber meets the road.