Vacuum tubes do sound better.
I was very skeptical about all the claims being made about tubes until one day at the barber shop I was listening to Harry Connick on a big old tube radio from the fifties. There was this uncanny sense of presence to the sound in spite of the virtually nonexistent high or low end. I kept hearing all this space and vocal presence inside this old monaural radio. And you had your 30 day money back guarantee. So I purchased the VTA70B kit and VTP101i pre-amp.