Rather, they are people who enjoy music and feel that the sound of a tube product brings them closer to the real sound of music. Warmth, richness, and harmonic correctness are some terms they use to describe the experience. Listen to some of the great tubes amps of today, and yesterday, and tube lovers could hardly be called wrong. On the other hand, there are the solid-statesmen who figure that tubes are old school . They use words like slow, syrupy and bloated to describe toob-sound.
Solid state defines the term plug 'n play.
While there are camps that pitch their tents on both sides of the fence, there are also a number of people who see the pros and cons of each technology and would rather let their ears dictate preferences for components. I like this approach because my own experience has shown me that you can achieve great sound with either technology. This approach has also worked successfully for me with endeavors outside of audio equipment. For example, I have found that I can listen to and enjoy both The Stones and The Beatles and avoid any need to choose which one is better. I can even place their CDs side by side in my music rack without a curse being put on my listening room.