Fidelity and appealing sound are different issues. Most old school recording engineers hated digital recording at first because it didn't sound as good as analog tape. They deemed that digital was inaccurate and blamed it on flawed methodology, "rounding errors" etc. But the fact is that the tape, like tubes, were coloring the sound artificially in a pleasant way while digital was only trying to be neutral.
Nowadays, tape is pretty much dead, tube-based recording consoles are pretty much non-existent, as digital audio workstations can achieve similar colorations at a much lower operating cost. Tubes are pretty limited to instrument amps, mic preamps, and audiophile amps. Now digital modeling of various forms of coloration are taking over, which is of course highly offensive to tube fans.
But the simple fact is that when it comes to artificial colorations, digital systems will eventually win. There's no limit to the variations and control offered by software, we just have to figure them out because unlike analog they don't come built-in. Software processes can also be used on multiple signals simultaneously in a mix and rendered faster than realtime, while analog devices are very costly one-trick ponies that only work on a few signals and only in realtime.
There are very powerful tools in the hands of amateurs these days, and you can no longer just buy killer vintage analog gear, get "that sound" that nobody else can get, and call yourself a studio engineer. Now more than ever sound engineering skill is the greatest asset a studio can have.
