There is definitely magic in tubes. The human ear was not wrong for so many decades before the transistor came to town to take that throne away.
Didn't realize Antique Sound Lab was still around. I had their "the wave" monoblocks many moons ago but they were much cheaper then. Not that the current price is expensive.
In fact I had an all tube system with a tube CDP from Kevin Deal, a tube preamp from Dennis Had and tube monoblocks from Antique Sound Labs driving a pair of stand mounted Soliloquy speakers. Total system at retail did not even break the $4K mark all together and it took me a while to put it together during those years being out of college, young family and all the household expenses...
It was sheer magic of listening sessions for literally years for me.
Not because it was somehow better than todays expensive gear but because it was simply musical and extremely engaging and I forgot all about gear and dove into hours and hours of music, bathed by the warm, romantic and engaging sound that was so pleasant to the ear.
In fact I am sitting right now taking in album after album of favorite music and there is only a pair of my favorite headphones and nothing but tubes between my ears and music. Once again, simplicity rules and it is all about the magic of music.