@rodman99999 Thanks. I think I'll have saved in the end by going for the gusto from the start and nixing the upgrade bug. The worst is doing a moderate upgrade and feeling like you've sidestepped more than stepped up and just kind of wasted your money.
If it's within a comfortable budget and I know I'll most likely end up there anyway, might as well go big vs stepping up the tube upgrade ladder and spending money on tubes that'll be shelved long before their life is up. Like if I have superior tubes, I can't see myself being like "hey let's swap in those old tubes that don't sound as good for nostalgia sake."
I feel like I can consider my new tubes a good "reference" pair. They exceeded my expectations. Now I can get a cheaper pair and REALLY see/hear if they are just as good. I'm not sure that everybody who says the "holy grail" tubes are a waste of money have actually heard them because I am blown away. It curbed my craving to do a quick upgrade of the power tube right away at least.
If it's within a comfortable budget and I know I'll most likely end up there anyway, might as well go big vs stepping up the tube upgrade ladder and spending money on tubes that'll be shelved long before their life is up. Like if I have superior tubes, I can't see myself being like "hey let's swap in those old tubes that don't sound as good for nostalgia sake."
I feel like I can consider my new tubes a good "reference" pair. They exceeded my expectations. Now I can get a cheaper pair and REALLY see/hear if they are just as good. I'm not sure that everybody who says the "holy grail" tubes are a waste of money have actually heard them because I am blown away. It curbed my craving to do a quick upgrade of the power tube right away at least.