I've owned every CAT from the Sig. Mk1 through Ultimate 2 and never had ANY problems with tubes; that includes the wonderful sounding Sig. Mk 2 that used the 12AU7s.
After six CATs over maybe 15 years I decided it was time for a change and went with an Atma-Sphere MP-1 Mk3 w/phono and all upgrades. Glad I did! As much as I loved the CATs, the A-S has taken things to another level.
I've tried several passives, some quite expensive and found all of them to be very boring, lacking dynamics and sterile sounding.
As for solid state, in my experience, they sound two dimensional compared to any decent tube preamp.
Just my two cents.
After six CATs over maybe 15 years I decided it was time for a change and went with an Atma-Sphere MP-1 Mk3 w/phono and all upgrades. Glad I did! As much as I loved the CATs, the A-S has taken things to another level.
I've tried several passives, some quite expensive and found all of them to be very boring, lacking dynamics and sterile sounding.
As for solid state, in my experience, they sound two dimensional compared to any decent tube preamp.
Just my two cents.