I've only compared the 845B's to the original Cary tubes in the 211's. My system gets almost daily use. That means I will probably need to replace tubes every 15 months or so. For me, its a matter of cost/value relationship - for the price, the 845B's are great tubes. Would some NOS RCA's be better? Maybe, but for the price difference, I will be happy with the 845B's.
Mark
Mark