Tvad,
Nice to get a reply from you and others. I have had both exact tubes in preamps (AA M3A) and a CD player (Tjoeb 99). They were nice (not exceptional), and they were not worth this kind of money when compared to other brands (Philips and Amperex) that sounded as good or better in my system. And BTW, stating that 400.00 for a pair of tubes is NOT "black and white" thinking as Glory states; rather, it is thinking influenced by a semblance of economic reasoning. When Wall Street hits 20,000, it will make economic sense to pay this kind of money, but until then . . .