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

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

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.

Some tubes sound better than others in each individual application. Why? No clue.

As jond is alluding to, there were materials and processes for tube making in their hay day that are now known to be hazardous. So it follows that whatever those specific processes/materials were, made for a superior tube, among other factors such as superior quality materials used back then because of competition and volume.