Do vacuum tube test values reflect sound quality?

@lewm  one section of a dual triode could be used for the gain stage and the other section could be used as a cathode follower in a single ended preamp. So both sections still being used.

I use my tester to rule out shorted and weak tubes. Also I prefer balanced triodes as close as possible.   Other than that it’s a crap shoot.   
 

How a tube sounds in any given amplifier, especially a preamp level tube, highly depends on how much local feedback is used on the tube in that specific circuit. Generally, high gain stages, like the first stage of a phono preamp, use little if any feedback on the tube. In a cathode follower circuit, there is nearly 100% feedback giving little if any gain, but a much lower output impedance which, of course, is the reason for its existence.  In other words, high gain stages are particularly fussy about the quality of a tube whereas low or no gain stages with lots of feedback like cathode followers are pretty much agnostic about the providence of the tube.

You can notice (bad measurements == bad sound) when something’s really wrong:

• Severely mismatched triodes and/or tubes (north of ~ 25 - 30%)
• Extremely weak or below nominal results (transconductance)
• Consistently noisy tubes (microphonics and intermittent noise you just have to use your ears)

If you want to compare NOS or extremely strong testing tubes versus much less strong testing tubes - the latter will (probably) not last as long as the former in service, but will generally sound just as good (if not better), and may still last a long time.

If your matchings (triodes, tubes) are within say 10% or better, don’t worry about it beyond that. In the past I’ve bought super premium matched / tested / noise-selected / cryo / curve-matched / brawndo enhanced / etc tubes before, and found NO difference to just decently-testing tubes. Yes it can be dependent on the component & slot you’re plugging them into - but usually not that much. I’ve never needed better than Upscal’es "Platinum Grade" screening and testings service. I also like to buy new production power tubes that have been burned in a bit before matching (to screen out early failures).

Thanks everyone for the replies!  Very informative!