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Tubes, cheese, wine and cognac

Perhaps, similar questions have been earlier be posted.

I cannot explain why old made tubes should sound better, do they really sound better than new made ones? Or are tubes similar to wine and cheese and need time to get better?

What kind of tools or knowledge was available in 50s, 60s and 70s that is not available?

(Can Egyptian pyramids be built now?)

I didn't try any NOS old made EL-34 tubes in my amp. So far,  tried five different new made tubes , including Mullard, Gold Lion and Tang Sol Russian replicas. None of them have more than 10 hours or so. So far, Tang Sols are the best , Gold Lions, which were considerably more expensive are notably worse, Mullards sound the worst in my system. I didn't try Psvane yet, perhaps i will do that in near future. There are a few Chinese reissues, including UK El34 and El 34ph, the latter ones are twice more expensive. They put the tubes in nice boxes like chocolates and sell them more expensive. 

But would NOS tubes sound much better?

128x128niodari
akg_ca's avatar
akg_ca
2,178 posts
 

I recently had an issue with my REGA ISIS VALVE cdp/DAC . A power surge fried two of the four tubes and a couple of output transistors The pro tech recommended that I also upgrade all four tubes in unison , and go withc options below as a step-up contender and no pretender, up from current OEM units in order:

- NOS matched MULLARDs

- NOS matched RUSSIAN tubes … a particular and limited specific years vintage (his details currently escape me for the moment )

- Note: his take was to also stay away from all the pretenders made in China regardless ..a must-to-avoid unless your budget is severely compromised.

MY TAKE

(1) He first loaned me his personal set of the Russian tubes to first test-drive at home. These Commie options were good but I was still curious.

(2) I took a big leap of faith to contemporaneous buy the MULLARDS from a 3rd party dealer.…there was an immediate further audio performance step-up that was clear and unambiguous . It was not subtle.( maybe a Brit unit meshes better with Brit tubes?)

(3) Quality NOS tubes are Expensive …and yes , but well worth the investment for me in a $CAD 17K MSRP high-end unit . Probably because it has high-design and build quality, with both high-end Wolfson DACs and mutha-size power supplies ,,, a 45 lb heavy beast of a unit.

I can’t speak whether the degree of improvement in mine would be comparable in a budget system…. Maybe yes, or maybe no. If not, then maybe it’s not worth the added drain on your wallet in that case.

FWIW …

thecarpathian
4,185 posts
 

Might I suggest installing a while house surge protector to safeguard your new investment in nos tubes...

akg_ca's avatar
akg_ca
2,178 posts
 

@thecarpathian 

yep … already installed since that one-off crazy event ,

jond's avatar
jond
5,688 posts
 

There are certain things associated with tube production that aren't available now mostly due to environmental regulations. And NOS EL34s may sound better but NOS power tubes tend to be quite expensive. And interesting I found the Gold Lion KT77 to be the best of the current EL34 variants, horses for courses as they say.

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