I think that is a very good point WM. I have mainly been bought up on ss for Hi-Fi. First decent setup was a Rotel something with a big silver front and knob in the middle paired to an Akai reel-to-reel, a Sony TT with Ortofon cart and KLH speakers.

I have heard one setup that did not exhibit much distortion that I could tell. It was Titans main system. He uses Nestorovic Labs 200watt valve amps for his main speakers and I could not hear any 'valve' like distortion. He does have a Krell dedicated to the subs below 250Hz though so this might be a good reason why..

Listening to his second McIntosh system though, I could hear distortion, though only a bit.  This system let the McIntosh do the full frequency.