Two of the most satisfying changes to my system are attributable to NOS tubes. The first was a NOS Mullard in the power supply of a Modwright 36.5 linestage. My jaw dropped. The second was trying NOS Sylvania and Ken Rad 6Sn7's in a VAC 200 IQ power amp. The Sylvania were amazingly transparent. The Ken Rad's were full bodied, clear, wide bandwidth and my final choice.
What I like about this is that dramatic changes are available for a few hundred dollars, you can deep dive into researching the subject, you can gain access to some of the best ever made, and what you get probably won't depreciate. It lets you be a hands-on hobbyist again as audio increasingly moves to streaming (for good reasons) with locked-box appliances. Yeah, there's some current obsession with getting digital data to the DAC, but whether real or imagined, that's complete solvable beyond further improvement, but I digress.
Shout out to Brent, Vintage Tube, and catluck.
What I like about this is that dramatic changes are available for a few hundred dollars, you can deep dive into researching the subject, you can gain access to some of the best ever made, and what you get probably won't depreciate. It lets you be a hands-on hobbyist again as audio increasingly moves to streaming (for good reasons) with locked-box appliances. Yeah, there's some current obsession with getting digital data to the DAC, but whether real or imagined, that's complete solvable beyond further improvement, but I digress.
Shout out to Brent, Vintage Tube, and catluck.