> Audiophiles... I don't understand why you want tube amps.
The ode to the way things used to be I think drives this market. Combine that with vinyl and you have a medium and listening experience that's superseded entirely.
Nope. Things have been this way even back when it was "the time when things used to be that way." When vinyl was popular, and before CD's were a glimmer in Philips's eye, the audiophiles held out RTR tape machines as the holy grail.
Sounds like an ode to the way things used to be. Yearning for the past, no matter the present. The folks who grew up on tape machines are fewer and fewer. I'm sure there were gramophone enthusiasts saying the same sort of things.
The ode to the way things used to be I think drives this market. Combine that with vinyl and you have a medium and listening experience that's superseded entirely.