soundhaspriority wrote:

Let's not go there.

What's this "let's?" You went there.

Perhaps if I backpeddle a little:
Tubes are frequently incorporated into equipment said to have a
characteristic sound that is felt by many people to be desirable.

No, equipment said to have a characteristic sound that is felt by many
people to be desireable may have tubes or not. One could make the same
statement about transistors, or transformers, or gold plated switch
contacts.

I agree
that equipment has been constructed that has all of the "preferences"
associated with tubes, without the principle drawback, which is greater
noise.

What preferences are associated with tubes? If you were talking about
guitar amplifiers, I could see that certain high levels of distortion
of the type that's easy to get with an overloaded tube might be
considered an important part of the sound, but you're talking about
microphones and preamps. You don't want distortion there, particularly
10% or more 2nd harmonic distortion.

With that out of the way, would you be so kind as to address my question?

I think I already have. Find something that has the sound you like and
don't be biased (pun intended) if you discover that it doesn't have a
tube in it.