I have come to the conclusion that which tube you run is quite dependent on what equipment you run. I have a number of output tubes that I have kept through the years. Keeping the same source and speakers: What was blah in one setup sounded quite good in another setup. I have kept tubes that sounded not so good in everything amp I tried them in, and then one day got a new amp and found those same tubes amazing sounding! That includes 6550, KT88. EL34, and 6L6. So maybe Thorman's one time experience is not a good rule to measure by. I must admit my Cryo experience is also limited, but the opposite.
With exact same output tubes ( in an A/B test ). I found the cryo versions more open sounding, with more detail, than the non-cryo versions. As far as dependability, there I cannot comment as I didn't want to keep spending money on more exspensive cryo tubes. But as with most things in life, advise is good but the best teacher still remains. First hand experience.
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