From tubes to solid state

Fletchj where were you fifteen years ago? If I had been able to get those Sylvanias I probably wouldn't have hooked up with Curl to do SS amps, preamps and the like....

I just went from tubes (Rogue Magnum 120) to solid state (Plinius SA100 MKIII) driven by Rogue Magnum 99 pre and I can tell you the state is very solid indeed.
The Plinius amp is very tuneful, nuanced, defined and neutral. The Rogue in comparison had very rich harmonics and amazing depth but was dull and a little lifeless plus the bass was a little thick and ill defined. I liked the Rogue very much but to combine the negatives in sound and the cost of new tubes every 2-3 years and I have less money for music and start feeling a little guilty about not being practical and buying solid state. The Plinius is more often reminding me of real instruments in my room than the Rogue was anyway. My speakers are Maggie 1.6 and I could image if I had other speakers I might have kept the Rogue but, maybe not, my system is not dull but it lacked high end air with the Rogue and not with the Plinius. I had also tried the Innersound ESL amp and I preferred that to the Rogue too.
These comments are after 20+ years of listening (primarily)to tubes.

I'm using both SS & tubes. I went back and forth with ss and tube preamps until I found a tube unit that I can live with (BAT VK30se). For the power amp, I found myself switching between a Classe CA300 and my CJ Premier 11a. The Classe had more punch but I found that I spent more time enjoying the CJ tube amp. I sold the Classe and now use the CJ Premier 11a tube amp biamped with a CJ MF2250 solid-state amp, both driven by a BAT VK30se tube preamp.

What next? I'd like to try a quality ss power amp mated to the BAT VK30se preamp. I'm thinking Pass Labs X150, Sim Audio W-5, maybe Krell KSA-200S or FPB200. I'm still researching and open for suggestions.

I've found the best results with a tubed CD player and SS preamp/amp. I get the power and slam I want with that nice cream and air on top which the tubes produce. I think everyone should have tubes SOMEWHERE in the chain, and find the best place for them is at the source.

RLB61: I agree in principle, but the tube CDP's I've heard (e.g. AA Capitole 24/192 MKI) are bit too ripe in the bass for me. So I prefer a solid-state CDP (preferably without preamp needed), feeding a biamped system where one can use tubes for mids/highs and solid state for bass. But certainly it is nice to have tubes somewhere in the chain to give the mids a palpabiity, and smooth out the highs....
All this gets complicated and expensive,unfortunately.