Foeraus, I think your comparison of the Golden Tube amp to a solid state amp is like comparing apples to oranges. But at least so far you are the only one that has made a direct comparison of one tube design (Golden Tube) to another like your VTLs.
Tube & solid state both have their advantages & disadvantages, matching the type of amplification to one's speakers can be a critical factor in deciding which direction you want or have to go.
Generally speaking some of the best solid state amps only offer a 2.5 dimensional sound. I too have owned the Aragon 4004 MKII and when paired with a good tube preamp it was much closer to a grain free three dimensional sound and to this day it still represents a major audio bargain at its price point.
My above post on Golden Tube Audio gear was not so positive although I did think the gear looked damn nice at the time. On loan from a local HiFi store I tried a Golden Tube used preamp & power amp (can't remember the exact model numbers of either but it was a few years ago). The store manager told me I would not be overly impressed with it and it turned out to be true. Maybe if I spent more time with it and had the chance to tube roll I could of possibly came to a different conclusion.
