[cddc]

Bloody expensive tubes, aren't they??

Indeed, they're bloody expensive, which prevented 300B amps from becoming popular.

Why a light bulb (essentially) can be sold for such high prices, or there are just too many audiophools?

 

[Whitigir]

Indeed, they're bloody expensive, which prevented 300B amps from becoming popular.

Why a light bulb (essentially) can be sold for such high prices, or there are just too many audiophools?

I know of an organic tube that cost a man his whole life , but that tube can also reproduce though

 

[BournePerfect]

@bobmysterious @LarsMan I just ordered the WE 300Bs from Woo, and the should arrive early-mid next week. I also finally received my new 5AR4 rectifier today, but haven't tried it out yet. It's from a Wathen audio, and they've got some pretty interesting cryo techniques and whatnot that caught my, and Steve Deckert from Decware claims they are the best tubes (various Wathen ones he's been testing in his own amps) that he's EVER heard-including NOS, fwiw. Coming from him that's high praise worth looking into. Will report later on what I hear, and still using the EMLs and WE 396a in the meantime. Food for thought.

 

[Whitigir]

@bobmysterious @LarsMan I just ordered the WE 300Bs from Woo, and the should arrive early-mid next week. I also finally received my new 5AR4 rectifier today, but haven't tried it out yet. It's from a Walthen audio, and they've got some pretty interesting cro techniques and whatnot that caught my, and Steve Deckert from Decware claims they are the best tubes (various Walthen ones he's been testing in his own amps) that he's EVER heard-including NOS, fwiw. Coming from him that's high praise worth looking into. Will report later on what I hear, and still using the EMLs and WE 396a in the meantime. Food for thought.

We-300b needs at least 550 hours burn in . Let’s get started

 

[BournePerfect]

I'm kinda glad they won't arrive this week-gives me time to evaluate this Walthen Cryotone rectifier for a bit.

 

[helljudgement]

These are the BEST of the BEST TUBES.

Have you heard any of these tubes? I don't want to discredit your opinions or single you in particular but if your ranking is based solely on reviews, popularity or price rather than your own first hand experience then this list serve absolutely no purpose beyond hyperbole. I've seen this time and time again on this forum with regards to rankings or opinions on gears without first hand experiences and this contributes nothing to educate users on the subject. If anything it only serve to steer users away from products that can potentially suit them more.

To keep this relevant I've heard the PSvane and Linlai tubes. I'd put Linlai above the psvane as it has a more neutral tone which fit my use case. Details, space, separation etc are all fairly close and probably indistinguishable to me unless pitted side by side. Main difference is tone.

 

[helljudgement]

.

 

[protoss]

@helljudgement

Everything is hyerbole.
I used to think like you, not anymore. Thinking that all reviews are useless, untill you hear it first hand. What you said about PSvane and Linlai tubes is falling into the same trap because it is "us" reading your opinion/review. So we should just dismiss your opinion/review too. Let's in fact dismiss every single opinion/review in every single subject while we at it.

All this is too give everyone a reasonable understanding of what is out there. For me this thread greatly educated me about hundreds of amplifiers I never heard about. Companies that are over shadow by other campaines. It also gave me a pin point accuracy of what I want and what I can afford and obtain and tubes to look out for within my budget.

 

[protoss]

Page one is the most important page here. Constantly updated!

Anyone can easily click page 1. Scroll through all the amps and choose if they like.

Example,
WBA Virtus 300B $1488
And
Gold lion tubes 300B $300

Now you have a $1800 300B tube amp with decent tubes.

I call this a success and wished someone did this long time ago.

 

[helljudgement]

I used to think like you, not anymore. Thinking that all reviews are useless, untill you hear it first hand. What you said about PSvane and Linlai tubes is falling into the same trap because it is "us" reading your opinion/review. So we should just dismiss your opinion/review too. Let's in fact dismiss every single opinion/review in every single subject while we at it.

I never once said or even implied that reviews are useless. In fact it has nothing to do with reviews at all. Take reviews with a grain of salt or a bag of gold it's entirely up to the individual. Ranking gears is entirely subjective and will require first hand experience especially so with audio which is entirely subjective in the first place.

What criteria are your ranking based on? Tonal qualities warmth/cold, tube bloom, staging, transients, decay, transparency, overall technicalities, longevity of the tube, branding or simply price? How can you conclusively say A is better than B, C, D if you've never heard any? Reviews to be serve as own's reference is one thing. Forming your own rankings based on solely on said reviews without stating you have in fact no experience with any of the items you've put on that list is just misleading. Reviews are at the end of the day just user experiences. I put out my experience with Linlai and Psvane because I've used both extensively for months. Even then I wouldn't place one over the other conclusively without first stating my preference for sound and what I look for in a tube at point of writing.

All this is too give everyone a reasonable understanding of what is out there. For me this thread greatly educated me about hundreds of amplifiers I never heard about. Companies that are over shadow by other campaines. It also gave me a pin point accuracy of what I want and what I can afford and obtain and tubes to look out for within my budget.

In the same way that you do not rank any of the amps you've listed, I have absolutely no issues at all if you've simply put that as a list of top tubes to potentially buy for one's amp. In fact I'd actually find that list helpful as I've even heard of some of these tubes. Based purely on prices, most can probably understand that any one of those will be top tier. Ranking them is entirely different matter. There are people who heavily rely on other's experiences due to lack of access or what not to make purchasing decision. A ranking list like this with no reference to gear or any audio description serve no purpose and will only downplay those not within the top n.

Your amp list on the other hand does have a purpose. It list amps without any preconceived notion or ranking made with no prior experiences and serve as a good starting point for anyone looking to get into the triode. To that I think you've done what you've set out to do.

 

[protoss]

Okay just dismiss the tube rank. It is simple. I heard only 2 and I mention this before. Shopia and Western.

Now why I rank western #1?

Simple, 5 year warranty. Every other company sucks compare to this. Shopia for example is 1 year warranty. Next is of course sound. Western sounded better to me.

The rank was a combination of five articles and buyer reviews combining into the list. Obviously it is not gospel truth. It is a great indicator. The rank is strong and I am pretty confident it is as close as accurate it can be.

 

[bobmysterious]

@bobmysterious @LarsMan I just ordered the WE 300Bs from Woo, and the should arrive early-mid next week. I also finally received my new 5AR4 rectifier today, but haven't tried it out yet. It's from a Walthen audio, and they've got some pretty interesting cryo techniques and whatnot that caught my, and Steve Deckert from Decware claims they are the best tubes (various Walthen ones he's been testing in his own amps) that he's EVER heard-including NOS, fwiw. Coming from him that's high praise worth looking into. Will report later on what I hear, and still using the EMLs and WE 396a in the meantime. Food for thought.

Good for you dude! I’m excited to hear your thoughts on both of the tubes. I put in the WE JW 396a after we talked tubes a few pages ago… Sounds nice!

 

[BournePerfect]

Okay just dismiss the tube rank. It is simple. I heard only 2 and I mention this before. Shopia and Western.

Now why I rank western #1?

Simple, 5 year warranty. Every other company sucks compare to this. Shopia for example is 1 year warranty. Next is of course sound. Western sounded better to me.

The rank was a combination of five articles and buyer reviews combining into the list. Obviously it is not gospel truth. It is a great indicator. The rank is strong and I am pretty confident it is as close as accurate it can be.

Well one could argue the WE is the original, and everything else is a knockoff. Accept no substitutes and all that. I do love my EML mesh though, which also supposedly have a massive life cycle not unlike a WE, so there's that.

 

[BournePerfect]

Page one is the most important page here. Constantly updated!

Anyone can easily click page 1. Scroll through all the amps and choose if they like.

Example,
WBA Virtus 300B $1488
And
Gold lion tubes 300B $300

Now you have a $1800 300B tube amp with decent tubes.

I call this a success and wished someone did this long time ago.

Now factor in average tube life...and you'll most likely find that WE followed by EML have WAY more bang for the buck at the end of the day.

 

[protoss]

This might be a technical question. Is it possible to revive or resurrect a 300B Tube?