I changed a Tube and…

helomech -Interesting take  appreciate the info . 

I had the Gold Lions sitting new for years [ forgot i had  them ]  So it was an easy choice to use one of them .

I went digging deeper into my cabinets & found all kinds of  NOS tubes  .

Most being 12au7 & 12ax7's  these were bought 2015 / 2016 - must have thought I'd tube roll down the road  ?   Have Mullards , RCA Clear tops , Telefunken , Sylvania  etc..   

I had some receipts - sellers were Brent Jesse / Andy VTS / Bryce ? 

Do not want to go down the tube rolling Hole - did that with Amps / Speakers and wind up listening to equipment not Music 

I can see the logic in new production being reliable  but sonics are tricky with any thing  NOS vs New .  I'll probably pick up the Gold Pin as that was mentioned by Bill at Rogue - he did say NOS / Vintage could be better and mentioned Jesse & Andy .

Just a thought - The Gold Lions I have are 10 yrs old - I wonder if there is a quality difference to current production ?

Seems like everything made today suffers from less quality control / cheaper materials  etc.  [ everything = TV's, Refrigerators , Washer / Dryers , AC'S / Cars , EVERYTHING!! ]

Being in my 70s and having gone to rock concerts and having front row or very close seat...like Black Sabbath 1972 the old Academy music on 14 st NYC....I never noticed the changes...

Not sure how to link to the thread about AI’s use for HiFi, but therein you’ll find my input/driver/rectifier tube story.  In summary I have rolled tubes (mostly 300B), talked to folks, bought better amp and rolled more tubes, etc.  I landed on a fine sounding SET with WE300B power tubes, but as a friend’s insistence used my setup and asked ChatGPT which input/driver/rectifier tubes to try.  I had to describe my system a little further (speakers, inputs, cables, etc), but in the end I got a very specific suggestion (mfg, year, identifying markings, reputable sellers like Brent) for 12AU7, 12BH7, and 5U4G tubes that sound amazing to me in the real world.  

I share this to agree with your observation that the little tubes matter and that you’d probably be surprised how much difference the plate driver and rectifier tubes can make.  The AI reference isn’t any kind of endorsement or recommendation...

Enjoy the experimentation!

I bought a pair of NOS 1957 ECC83 long plate Bugle Boy for my Pro-ject DS2 Tube Box. They cost more than the DS2. 
 

They were worth it. A dramatic difference.