Well, the favorite NOS tube really depends, to a large extent, on the equipment involved, and what it's mated to in the system. For my Jadis JP80 preamp, my favorites are Telefunkens for the 12AX7s and Amperex Bugle Boys for the 6DJ8s in the MC stage, as I prefer a rich, balanced sound. For the JA80 amps, I've liked both Teles and Mullards for the 12AU7 and 12AX7s (the Teles are smoother, the Mullards had a little more punch and energy--can you imagine being obsessive enough to change those tubes depending on the music you were going to play?), and MO Valve KT88s for the output tubes (wonderfully rich in the midrange and upper bass). However, were I running the JA80s into a speaker with a dark or rich midrange/upper bass, like my old Duntech Princesses, I'd probably opt for Tung Sol or the old ARC Phillips 6550s instead, as the KT88s were too much of a good thing in that case. For my Audio Logic DAC, the 6922/6DJ8s don't seem to matter as much to the sound, so I use Sovteks, but the 12AU7s make a big difference. Audio Logic supplies Mullards, I find them lively but with a glare in my system, so I use Telefunkens instead, which seem to have a more balanced frequency response in the unit. I'm curious to see others' favorites, particularly in Jadis equipment.
Favorite nos tube?
With the recent best of threads I decided to do one on tubes. I know there's alot of us out there so let's here from ya. Strangly I replaced my Amprex Bugle Boy 6dj8 for the Sovtek 6922 reflectors. The sovtek just seemed to sound a lot crisper and detailed to me. I have not tried any other nos tubes so your input will help me and others who will be tube rolling in the future.