transistors in general have the characteristic of loosing low level detail and adding odd-ordered harmonics that make the sound harsher.
Once detail is removed and the harmonic structure is tainted, no amount of work downstream will get the music back. So yes, there is a huge reason to use tubes.
The drawbacks: tubes are often noisier and you may have to spend some real cash to get a quiet phono section if you are using low output cartridges. Tubes do need replacement as they wear out.
My advice is to avoid phono sections that use tubes that are out of production and those that use 6DJ8s (which tend to be microphonic). Doing this will avoid a lot of headaches!
Once detail is removed and the harmonic structure is tainted, no amount of work downstream will get the music back. So yes, there is a huge reason to use tubes.
The drawbacks: tubes are often noisier and you may have to spend some real cash to get a quiet phono section if you are using low output cartridges. Tubes do need replacement as they wear out.
My advice is to avoid phono sections that use tubes that are out of production and those that use 6DJ8s (which tend to be microphonic). Doing this will avoid a lot of headaches!