What the heck are NOS tubes?!

It's also possible that the sovteks were faulty; a lot of new tubes are bad. In general, if you're getting that 'rush' sound, it means you've got a bad tube in the preamp.

No way,the Sovteks were fine.I sent the phono board back to Rogue to have it checked out and they checked the tubes and tried other Sovteks LPS's in it then sent it back.Said tubes are fine,you wont do any better.No,I spent much time on this and I know what is going on.The NOS are just superior,period.

NOS tubes can bring levels of sound out of units that spending 1000.00 sometimes cant.I just put in 2 cv4003 mullards = 12AU7.I replaced the stock Sylvania that came with my Rogue 66 preamp.They where nice quiet tubes,I new i could do better and the NOS mullards have been a God send.Better bass ddead quiet and more clarity and space.If you use a tube preamp.Give some NOS a try you will be amazed.WWW.thepatrsconnection.com is a good source.Kevin at Upscale Audio is also very good at selecting the right tube for your application.

Another tube that you folks could try in place of the Mullard (or other) 12AU7's is the Amperex 7316. This was a military tube and very high quality. In the Atmasphere amps for instance, the Amperex was quieter, more dynamic and less distortion. All this, and a good price too! Most people are not perusing the 7316, so last time I bought some, they were relatively inexpensive, compared to the Telefunken and Mullards that are also extremely good.