Why no interest in reel to reel if you're looking for the ultimate sound?

"As to amplification, if the speaker is a difficult load, I would choose high powered SS"

I would have no objection to that, but my speakers are 92 DB and are easily powered by 70 watt tube mono blocks.

It seems that connoisseurs  of good music, like connoisseurs of fine wine prefer tubes.

Funny story; I was with some connoisseurs of fine wines, and every time they opened a bottle they poured me a glass because 3 glasses came in each bottle.  While they were going all "Ga Ga" over the wine, all I knew was that it tasted better than Mogen David, or Rosy O Grady.  If it had been fine music I could have commented.

I’m still trying to figure out how I’m going to buy some NOS Telefunkens for my tube phono preamp.

You can go up the ladder, but it ain’t easy if you have to come back down; although I haven’t gone as far as that cartoon.

My professional portable SONY cassette player with naked Grado SR-60 headphones provides a surprisingly high percentage of the sound of original master tapes. I find myself turning around, startled, thinking someone is standing behind me. So dynamic! Real, baby!

I have a SONY  KA3ES that I like, they come with exceptional headphone outputs.

Some people have the ability to hear but not the ability to "listen". I've noticed that my rig is sounding extra special; that's because of "the quiet grid". This means that almost everyone else's rig is sounding better, they just haven't noticed.

This "lock-down" has produced what might be the quietest grid in history. All that activity that's normally on everyone's AC outlet diminishes a "black background" and holographic imaging. Those are two very expensive items that are produced to a great extent by the expensive power supply on high end equipment, and now you're getting the end result of all that expense for free.

If I'm getting all this improvement, I feel certain you are too, because of the decrease in activity on your electrical grid.

Do some critical listening and tell me if you notice an improvement in your rig?