HI,
OK this difficult as there are many variants.
In this family the E88cc is the more vivid one with a big soundstage and open transparent feeling sound. E188CC is more relaxed and easy going with better bass (exception Amperex Holland PQ 2 STAR 7308/E188CC). They sound more esoteric than Siemens and present information a bit upfront. Quiet tubes.
Though Siemens are more consistent in sonic signature over a wider period I cannot say the same of Holland and USA ones.
All sound amazing up to 1963-1964 after that they loose some magic, not much.
Propably metals were different though tooling the same.
I believe that same tooling created Dutch tubes, French tubes, British tubes, USA tubes, Indian tubes, Yugoslavian tubes, all different and of course with different coding.
Check the coding to see what is the actual tube.
French ones are very energetic even the E188CC, a nice alternative if you want that.
What to choose, I cannot say, depends on system, and how far you want to go with tube rolling ( and pocket) but a hard pressed answer:
Holland E188CC VR5 VR6 code
S&H E188CC G1 G2 G3 code
Amperex USA 7308 VR1 -VR5 code
Holland E88CC 7L6 -7L9 code
Amperex USA 7L6 -7L8 code
S&H E88CC A1 A2 code
Mullard E88CC 7L1 code
Dario E188CC VR7 code
I am not listing here the D getter ones for astronomic pricing they seek, but the best were the Holland ones from 1958.
From what I have learned Nos tubes are hard to find in excellent condition and noise free.
E188CC is more rugged in construction and is more balanced between the sections.
Generally a more linear sound comes from S&H, Mullard E88CC/01, Russian tubes and the more colourful from the rest. Every system is different and matching a good task.
