Tube rolling Question

@petg60- In over 40 years of paying close attention/listening to tubes, and the opinions of those intimately involved; the ONLY small signal, Russian-made tube, I’ve ever seen mentioned(either octal or nine-pin/any family) in any comprehensive comparison, is the 6N23P. THEN, ONLY Reflektor’s SWGP, silver shield,1974-75 iterations, hit the top ranks. Those of other makers(ie: Voskhod), years and construction methods, varied greatly. Production of the really good sounding ones, was limited to an extremely narrow time frame. Once the sound was discovered, most NOS examples, of Reflektor’s star iterations disappeared, quickly. Of course; you brought up the 6DJ8/E88CC family of tubes, in which there have been a plethora of excellent tubes, manufactured over a couple decades(50’s and 60’s/Siemens, Telefunken/Amperex, etc), and still obtainable(though expensive). Try finding any of the good sounding 6N23P’s now, at bargain prices. I tried to find some, for my CDP, to try against it’s six Siemens(early Sixties/grey shield) CCa’s. No luck/unobtainium(at anything resembling a reasonable price)! The really good/very rare Russian versions, were a flash in the pan. Back to the 6SN7 topic: let’s hear about ANY Russian version, that’s ever been favorably compared, in a NOS shootout. Of course; as subjective as listening tastes are, as varied our systems, rooms and aural acuity- no one can EVER say, what’s right/best for anyone else. One can only listen/experiment, for themselves, limited by what they’re willing to spend, in time/funds and/or, how badly they desire excellence(whatever their perception), in presentation.

I consider spares indispensable.  I just hope my spares stash outlasts me.  I'd hate to have to miss a mortgage payment(proper priorities, and all).

Some good info can be found here: http://www.dehavillandhifi.com/6sn7_vt.htm Having tried the top twelve on that list, I’ve been using the Tung-Sol, Round Plates and Sylvania 6SN7W, metal base tubes for years, with no desire to move. SO GLAD I bought a few, before the prices went nuts! Some, that provide almost all the nice attributes as those, but- don’t sell for nearly as much, are the 1940’s, bottom-gettered, Ken-Rad(JAN-CKR) and bottom-gettered, Sylvania(JAN-CHS), VT-231/6SN7GT tubes. The balance of those twelve(that I tried), were all too warm/colored(for my taste, anyway). Here’s a very reliable source: http://www.audiotubes.com/6sn7.htm