I’ve had my Freya for about 8 months and it absolutely chews through tubes. I’ve bought mostly NOS tubes that tested well according to the sellers, and each pair sounds great at first — but after three to four weeks, they are full of loud crackles and buzzing. So far, I’ve burned through gray-bottle RCAs, black-bottle NUs, CBS-Hytrons, Tung-Sols, and vintage Soviet tubes from Upscale Audio. I figured it was my bad luck or that the sellers overrated them. So I bought some new-production Tung-Sols from Cryoset— and the same thing happened. The only pair that have been mostly quiet have been the Shuguang Treasures, and they’re pretty hissy, with occasional static. I was about to switch to LISST, but it appears I’m too late.
Does this mean I have a problem with the Freya itself?
Is it the socket savers?
Is my electricity impure?