***Is It Me Or Have Todays Modern Tubes Gotten REALLY REALLY Good***

You are correct.  That's why I purchase industrial versions of Amperex 6DJ8s and RCA 12AU7 clear-tops.  Telefunkens were generally used in home audio and notorious for being faked and well used despite good test scores.  It is a problem but I have had 40+ years experience using NOS tubes in my gear.  Luckily, most of the tubes in my current gear are either rated for 100,000 hours purchased new (subminiature tubes for my pre-amp and phono stage) or exotic but common new tubes from the 1980s (6BG6 Russian output tubes at $6-7 each).  

I can only speak for my experience, have atmasphere ma-1 and mp-3, rolling 6sn7 and similar on pre amp discovered that the cv181-t black treasure on the pre amp sounded amazingly good compared to stock and nos chrome domes, well that's not the end of the story. When NOS high quality and conductannce used these were better than the black treasures tubes, not all NOS are created equal that's my conclusion.

When Sylvanias were rolled into the ma-1 and entire different sound developed, more e coherently sounded was implemented

Very very happy with my amps and pre 

One of the worst NOS brands is GE.  They were always mediocre.  

Hi freediver, i read with interest your thoughts on the Quad VA one and was wondering how you thought the Cayin sounds in comparison. I have owned the Quad for about a month and love the sound but was curious about tube rolling or if the Cayin would be an upgrade ?  Also can i ask what user issues you had with the Quad?   Thanks!

Hi raiths.I don't see the Cayin as an upgrade as far as the sound is concerned.That little Quad amp is amazingly musical.About the only real difference I hear is when running KT88's in UL mode.Bass slam & definition is deeper & has a little better tightness over the Quad but the mids, when running EL34 in Triode mode are right at the level of the Quad.The ONLY reason I sold my Quad is because even with glasses I didn't want to be poking around the inside of the Quad to bias new power tubes.I will say that the Cayin is simply awesome from an ease of use factor and being able to switch from EL34 to KT88 with a simple re bias AND the triode/Ultra Linear modes makes for a hugely enjoyable amp!