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AUDIO FORUMS >> Replacement Tubes >> 300b tube comparison "Our Opinion"
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Message started by Steve08226 on 04/18/24 at 14:49:09

Title: 300b tube comparison "Our Opinion"
Post by Steve08226 on 04/18/24 at 14:49:09

We are long term Audiophiles some 50+ years, and we are somewhat new to tube rolling.

We've owned 3 different types of 300b tubes:
Western Electric 300b for about two years at $1,499
Wathern CryoTone 300b (in a complete set) since August 2023 at $1,196 for the 300B tubes
The new Decware 300b Tubes for 2 days for $299

Each 300b tube is fantastic in its own right, we are Restaurateurs so let us give you a food comparison. There is ice cream you can buy, and there is super premium ice cream that is a much better product than inexpensively made ice cream. One might like vanilla bean, one might like chocolate, and one might like strawberry. They are all better than the lower quality tubes, but one couldn't tell someone else what they should like.

These tubes are like that, all we can say is the Decware 300b @ $299 represents a fantastic bargain for a super premium tube. We've only had it for two days, but it sounds real good so far!

Just our Thoughts,
Steve08226

Title: Re: 300b tube comparison "Our Opinion"
Post by Hearafter on 04/18/24 at 20:21:27

Steve, So are you saying in your comparison that all 3 are expensive ice cream but just different flavors? Or that the Decwares are inexpensive ice cream by comparison? Not clear to me…maybe you could give us details on how the 3 sound compared to each other once the Decwares are broken in. I really like my Decware EL 34’s that came with my Torii Jr this year. Not as good as Nos Mullards but not that far off either. Steve D. Is doing a great job selecting tubes for the Decware brand. Hats off to Decware!

Title: Re: 300b tube comparison "Our Opinion"
Post by Steve08226 on 04/18/24 at 20:23:33

"These tubes are like that, all we can say is the Decware 300b @ $299 represents a fantastic bargain for a super premium tube."

Title: Re: 300b tube comparison "Our Opinion"
Post by Steve08226 on 04/18/24 at 20:33:27

IOHO/ The Decware 300b tubes offer an incredible bang for the buck bargain.

It's so close you would have to A/B between them to find the individual nuances.

We bought the Decware 300b tubes, and thought we would use them as the back up pair, because we sold the Western Electric 300b tubes with another system.

At this point not sure what pair will be our every day tube set (it's that close)!

Title: Re: 300b tube comparison "Our Opinion"
Post by Lon on 04/18/24 at 20:43:32

I have a pair as backup of Linlai 300B tubes that were inexpensive and surprisingly nice sounding--so I don't have any doubt that the Decware version would sound great.

Title: Re: 300b tube comparison "Our Opinion"
Post by CAJames on 04/18/24 at 21:10:49

My experience with my (non-Decware) 300B amp was that my bargain Chinese tubes sounded really good. But the "premium" 300Bs, Takatsuki in my case, sounded better. The difference was small, but noticeable and (to me) important. Whether or not it is worth a factor of 7 or so in price is another question.

Title: Re: 300b tube comparison "Our Opinion"
Post by Steve08226 on 04/19/24 at 15:10:57

Everything we've bought from Steve at Decware has improved our system 300b Amp, Zbit, ZRock II, all of our cables, all of our plugs, and the Decware Reference Speaker Cable ZSTYX.

We feel everything we bought is of the highest quality at a very reasonable price, you just have to be patient. We waited 2 years and 2 months for our Sarah 300b amp and after having it for a little over a month... we would do it again!

Now that being said, the ZRock II really is great, everytime we roll tubes we just tweek it a bit and the super premium tubes get even harder to tell the difference between them.

Just our thoughts,
Steve08226

Title: Re: 300b tube comparison "Our Opinion"
Post by Steve08226 on 05/02/24 at 17:44:27

Our Conclusion:

If we didn't compare them just moments apart we probably would have a hard time telling the difference between the Decware 300b and the CryoTone 300b.

For the price the Decware 300b is hard to beat!

We will be using the CryoTone as our everyday 300b tube, because we bought the complete set and figure why break up a full set of tubes.

Thank you,
Steve08226