Importance of input tubes to sound quality?


I've been running  good pair of Mullards in the input section of my LSA Statement integrated for almost two years now and was contemplating rolling them for a really good pair of 6922's. The Mullards replaced the stock tubes and made a slight difference in the openness of the stage, though that may have been confirmation bias.

Before I drop several hundred dollars on a pair of tubes, do different levels of input tubes really make a difference in sound? Can they do so on a physical level (as in, is it physically possible for them to do so)?

Ditto for the stock 12AX7's in my Jolida phono stage.

 
simao

Showing 3 responses by simao

Okay. But how does the sonic sig of input tubes differ from that of output tubes?
Thank you, atmasphere. I was hoping you'd chime in.

And thank you to everyone else, too. Looks like I'll be rolling soon!
The LSA can only take 6922's. Upscale Audio has a bunch of them at various price points and quality (that's where I got the Mullards from). I just remember someone at some point saying that the input tubes (like on a pre- or in a tube-cd player or whatnot) had little to do with the sound.

However, I'm not sure how much stock I put in that.