From tubes to solid state. What do you loose...

I have taken Asa's suggested route by pairing a Supratek Syrah and a Plinius SA-102. You can experiment with tubes--I have been happy with either Ken Rads(black glass) or Sylvania metal base (the latter tend to be a bit quirkier with noise). I realize it may be heresy to say so, but I have heard the highly-regarded Tenor amps in an excellent system and room, and I actually prefer my combination, which can be had at a small fraction of the price. Compromise, yes, but pretty damn close to all I can imagine hoping for. I would not trade my combo for the Tenors, I know that much.

I switched from a Rogue Magnum 120 to a Plinius SA100 MKIII and I do not miss it. I listened to tubes for 20 years and this Plinius has made a believer out of me, solid state if done right, is great.

I think what Judith's alluding to is that even a tiny amount of 3rd or 7th order harmonic will add a discordant "edge" to a fundamental, thus giving it a sharpness that allows you to perceive it more easily.
Come to think of it I used to do the same thing as a kid by adding such a discordant harmonic to my Hammond organ playing by pulling out one of those upper "drawbars" to give color and definition to a melodic line. Listen to Jimmy Smith. It's that discordant upper harmonic that gets ya!
But alas not so great in amplifiers.
I use Pass Labs Alephs as a great compromise to achieve a neutral, clean, ultraquiet amplification that's regarded as somewhat tubelike, but with the advantages of only two solid-state gain stages.
Tubes act like natural compressors, so they get by with less wattage because their peaks are squashed, bursting forth with only even order stuff when clipping.
I prefer a CLEAN, unforced ss amp because of its linearity and lower noisefloor, and GREAT bass whomp, of course.
But tubes are great in a low-powered situation, like thosde great old radios of the 50s. Ahhh....

Subaru, i am still pissed-off at you for bashing the Vac Avatar, and now this!: "...tubes are great in a low-powered situation, like thosde great old radios of the 50s..." Just kiddin' dawg, i hope you are too?! Still, last time i listened Aleph 3, the bass was sloppy and midrange was recessed (is that imitation of tubes?) and it didn't sound very good to my ears despite stellar Stereophile review. Never mind the midrange, but why bass? Tubes, as tubes are might be pain in the ass, but what they do, they do it right and where matters most.

You miss nothing if you get something like a Rowland Concentra II, Pass or any of the great solid state amps out there. I have heard more glare from some KT88 equipped amps than I have ever heard from my Rowland with bad CD material. The biggest factor however is matching the amp to the speakers...tube or solid state.