![]() I got the opportunity, and thought yeah, it was time for one. Having said all that……no one has done a 300B Shootout since around 2005. Besides, even if a “consensus” of reviewers tell you that such and such is the best, it doesn’t mean you’ll hear it the same way. Would it be more definitive with a panel of listeners? Probably not, just more complicated. Even if all the control variables were lined up like ducks – my room, my system, my biases, and most of all, my hearing, could never be fully accounted for. So is this a “definitive” review? Absolutely not. Some things just sound like shit when they’re cold. Chinese power triodes like the 300B have come a long way in the last few years. I did try to represent the music that “typical SET listeners” would likely play. No, 300B tubes weren’t designed to pound out heavy metal, rap or techno. I wanted to judge these tubes as “all-rounders”. The music ranged from Springsteen to Mussorgsky, but in between, mostly well-known jazz. The rating scale was 0-10, with minimum 0.5 increments allowed. So I came up with a list of musical pieces, the attributes I’d be listening for, and a rating scale. I needed to select some music that could be used to analyze the strengths or weaknesses in each tube. While I ‘lived with’ all these tubes, I realized that I needed some kind of test methodology in order to compare them. Missing from class photo: Shuguang 300B-98 The tubes on review here are the workhorses providing daily duty to thousands of 300B amp owners. And many of those who are fortunate enough to own the likes of a Western Electric, Elrog, Takatsuki, KR, etc., are likely to keep them boxed up much of the time. In my view this is still an important review: the 300B is not a cheap triode by any means, and the most desired variants border on unobtanium. I did make an effort to get others, but none were forthcoming. With the WE Rep dropping out, only the Shuguang Treasure B-Z remained as a “premium” tube hence, we can call this a comparison of “common-man”, or everyday 300B tubes. One of them had a short, and since it was the only pair available at the time, they were unfortunately eliminated from the review. I played music over the summer with all the tubes – I can’t say anything definitive about reliability, but they all performed well, with no issues, except for the Shuguang WE Replica tubes. Before starting, I ran all the tubes in for 12-15 hours, since they were new. By that point, I’d even forgotten the prices on some of the tubes! Which probably helped me stay more objective. September was when most of the critical listening sessions happened. The Finale amp stayed with me until the end of October, and many of the back to back shootout rounds were done with it. These amps were different in character, but both were quiet and resolving enough to make the differences between the tubes clear. And since I wasn’t sure how long I could keep the Elekit, the very kind folks at Finale Audio kindly provided their super-refined F-3008 FFX SET amp, as well. ![]() Thetubestore provided not just the tubes for this review, but an extended loan of the Elekit TU-8300R, the infamous “red amp” that won my heart over the summer. I had help there, so some acknowledgements are in order first. ![]() That said, each tube had its strong points, and I tried to take a somewhat objective approach to the comparison work. The bottom line? All of the 300B type tubes in this review are darn nice to listen to: the differences between them aren’t as dramatic as one might expect. This was a fun assignment, but also tedious. What can I say, life has a way of changing our priorities, and I’ve been backlogged. Notably to WoS readers, when I say something will be posted “by the end of July“, it might be best not to expect it until the leaves are dead on the ground. I seem to chronically underestimate a lot of things. ![]()
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