The scary thing is when one of us spends mucho dollars for a boutique tube and then it doesn't last long. As reported by some who have purchased the Shuguang and Psvane CV181s, and a couple of people on other forums who bought the Pope 6SN7 and reported that they went noisy after 500 hours. You never know when you buy one.
Over the years I've been very lucky with tubes, having lost only a handful over the past 20 years. For example the EI EL84 matched octet in my Cary SLA30. I installed them at least 15 years ago and they are going strong. I don't use that amp a lot, but I've certainly put on a couple thousand hours over 15 years and they all test as almost new. I picked up 16 Amperex CSN 6922 and 7308 about 20 years ago. Eventually sold 6 for far more than I paid for the 16. Of the ten I kept, only one has gone bad.
I'd feel sick if I dropped $300-$500 on a tube and then had it go bad in 6 months.
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