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Change the tubes anywhere between 10,000 and 100,000 hours, depending on the tube. In other words, at the earliest when you're 75 years old, that is, of course, if you like the stock tube sound that iFi provides.
I won't speak for iFi but from the pics I've seen it seems like it would be easy to change out the tubes. This is called "tube rolling" if you don't like the stock ones.
I'll tell you what, though, I'm generally a solid state guy, but even I like the tubes that iFi has incorporated into the iTube and now the Retro, so I don't imagine you'd want to change them out, least you want a tube sound that is "unnatural" and "flubby."
Hi,
The EL84x that we use, there isnt anything that is really "better" (more expensive yes, but nope not better).
The ECF82 can be changed but please be careful as a lot of tubes thesedays should come from reputable sellers only as there is not an "infinite supply of NOS" (if you know what we mean, as there is a lot of Grade B and Grade C stock gradually coming out now that the Grade A stocks are pretty much exhausted),
We can provide some info on these tubes and why we chose them if people are interested...
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