I just wished I had more Chinese tubes to try, I heard good things about Genalex Gold Lion tubes and certainly not all of them are bad. One thing's for sure, there will be shortcuts and more often than not it's the stock tubes that suffer from their cost cuttings.
You are mentioning user induced tube destruction, though $hit happens and tubes are no match to a floor.
as for me, a tube in box is just metal and glass,
insert it in an amp and we go somewhere...
i am also of the belief that a tube by itself has no sound,
you have to plug it in and listen.....
and the character of any amp is developed not by the tubes alone
but in tandem with its output transformer....
tubes are easy, just go and buy them and you are go...
but what about the output transformers?
if you have an amp with very good output transformers
then maybe you do not need to change tubes...
unless they are shot and needed replacing...
this is the challenge to designers...
so in this regard, i think Mang Rod Teope is tops....
he can used any tube to bend to his will....