28 watts from a pair of el84's. Is this even possible?

[TUBEDUDE]

So it's more of a non-musical reference then. J K.
It's odd that for music playback systems, which normally require higher fidelity than what we do with our instrument amps, they get away with a sound that is harder. I would think that is less desirable.
Is the high plate/low current ok, (if more clinical in audiophool speak), in playback applications than instrument amps? Because we drive tubes into saturation and generally cover the full dynamic range of the tubes, whereas the playback amp is in a more controlled linear range, due to compression and limiting in the recording process? Color me confused.