Thanks @atmasphere this all makes sense.
I guess I hear on different recordings that the different settings sound better. Really record-dependent. Triode sounds better on a flatter and more balanced/produced record like a lot of the 80s/90s audiophile pop/rock (Dire Straits, Toto, etc) and ultralinear seems to sound better on sparser jazz arrangements like Bill Frisell’s Valentine or Dominic Miller’s Absinthe.
I guess I hear on different recordings that the different settings sound better. Really record-dependent. Triode sounds better on a flatter and more balanced/produced record like a lot of the 80s/90s audiophile pop/rock (Dire Straits, Toto, etc) and ultralinear seems to sound better on sparser jazz arrangements like Bill Frisell’s Valentine or Dominic Miller’s Absinthe.