Lol, you ain’t lyin’. These tubes get HOT.
You are correct in you thinking here. Definitely not recommended to leave tube amps on.
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Could you tell if these tubes had been opened before? Burned in?
Glad to hear you’re already enjoying even before the balanced cable! 
Honestly, the tubes look brand new as well as the packaging for them. I’m sure they’ve been used, just not sure how used. Either way, I’m not noticing any pre-burn in issues. Sound is very clear and precise.
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He’s got the bug! Welcome to the rabbit hole, Alice 
I actually have been trying out some different tubes on the LP lately, yes. I got a couple of sets, including those Gold Lions. I need more time with the new tubes before I can say anything meaningful. I’ll post some thoughts in the official LP thread when I’m ready (edit: I should mention that you should move LP questions to the LP thread from here on out, especially since the LP does not appear in this thread title).
However, there’s no reason NOT to try new tubes if you’re curious and have the money. Tubes can change the sound subtly or dramatically depending on what you want and where you get them. I’m still learning the ins and outs of tubes so I won’t be of huge help on that yet. If you buy brand new tubes though, you’ll need to burn them in. Burn-in times can also vary wildly. Just keep that in mind.
I upgraded them from the stock Electro Harmonix. They’re better, slightly better in every way. Worth the upgrade? Probably not if your stock tubes are still good. But yes, they are better. BTW, you can do better pricing than that. I recall I paid around $70ish for a platinum matched pair.
Where did you buy yours?
Hah, you ain’t lyin! Let me know what you think! I’ll stick w/ my stock tubes for a bit.
Also, I played w/ my DAC for pre-amp tuning so I don’t hit the dreaded 11-12 volume increase. I had to to reduce it by 10dB so @ 130 (unity gain level) the volume was as loud as I wanted it. Volume control is now consistent from 0 to the volume I want 
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There’s no decrease of sound quality performance with adjusting pre-amp via DAC, right? If I didn’t have a DAC w/ pre-amp, could I just not decrease the pre-amp in Equalizer APO by 10?
Are these the exact tubes you purchsed? I don’t see anything in the description about them being platinum, also the box says “gold”.
Thanks!
Yeah. The “platinum” designation is just on the tube matching that you get as identical in performance pair of tubes. They tend to all use no specification meaning no attempt to match was made. Then gold meaning it’s withing a certain tolerance, then platinum meaning it’s withing an even tighter tolerance. The idea is that you get the same level of sonic performance from both tubes.
Read though the LP thread so you know what to expect when burning them in. They’ll take 75 to 100 hours.
Gotcha, thanks for the info. Do you think the $75 upgrade is worth the sound improvement?
Every little bit helps but honestly it’s a minimal improvement. They’re hybrid amps so the sonic difference isn’t nearly as dramatic when you tube roll on it. For now I’d skip it and use the Electro Harmonix until they die, just replace them then.
Save your money for a balanced DAC… like a Geshelli Enog 2 pro. If only there was someone in the community that was selling one at the moment. 
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Wouldn’t I get more of a sound improvement from tubes than a DAC? I’ve read at a certain tier DACs don’t really improve the sound, and the Topping E30 is considered a great DAC.
That amp is a hybrid, with a solid state output stage. Tube rolling is not such a big deal in that case.
A balanced DAC would at least raise the gain . This wouldn’t matter if you did careful volume matching, but it would give you a perceived bump in sound quality if you’re like most people. It would also help eliminate ground loops, but if you don’t have a problem with that, you don’t need the solution either.
I’d stick with what you got and enjoy — you don’t have junk! And buy new headphones if you have money burning a hole in your pocket — that’ll give you most bang for buck in changing sound at least.
Thanks for the reply! I feel like the LCD-X is a great headphone, so I’ll stick w/ that for now 
As for buying a new DAC… what is a recommended quality balanced decently-priced DAC?
I had my Geshelli Enog 2 Pro attached to the LP for a long time. Getting rid of my DACS now that I bought a high end DAC.
It is! But for some reason in this hobby one headphone usually doesn’t cut it:
That looks like a lot of $$ sitting on a table. I guess that’s the rabbit hole of this hobby 