Tube amplifiers are the best way to listen to music.
High frequencies appear to be softer or are severely rolled off.
Although tube amps have much better quality than most conventional systems because of the price class they're in, solid state amplifiers can produce a much better gain which is far closer to the original signal the source provides. Vinyl records are the best because they are analog while digital sampling ruins the sound. CD doesn't have a low enough signal to noise ratio. The new DVD super audio is a huge improvement. CD was invented to be perfect sound without waste.