2019 300B tubes that are worth the money?

Add me to the list of audiophiles warning of reliability concerns with Sophia 300B tubes. Mine failed <3 months in Sophia’s monoblock amps. Their customer service was disappointing. In sonic comparison to my set of vintage WE 300B tubes (1930’s manufacture), the Sophia’s were good but not great. Original WE are a bit thin in the bass, but the midrange is magical with Voxatix speakers, Rhythmic subs,  and Colibri cartridge. Sophia’s bass was stronger but not enough to recommend them with their reliability issues and unique approach to accountability. My amps are one off monblocks built in So. Korea,

I agree, avoid Sophia, also had a bad experience with them.

@argonsteele Thanks for the tip and review of the PSVane WE 300B replicas. I'm going to try a pair; can't go wrong at that price.

I sell a decent number of Sophia tubes.  In that time, I have had one 274B fail.  It was under warranty and replaced within a few days.  The only thing they asked (KR and Emission Labs ask the same) is that the tube be returned so they can test it.  

I have had exactly one tube fail from each of the three companies I mostly sell (KR, Sophia and Emission Labs) and all three replacements occurred quickly and without issue.  

I have not seen Sophia have a higher failure rate than the European counterparts but, I also have never sold any of the tubes that they used to source from TJ Full Music.  They have shifted suppliers and I believe the net result is a much lower failure rate.  

JJ's are pretty good value for money - I much preferred them to Genelex Gold Lions at about the same price. I decided to go for broke, though, and ordered a set of new Western Electric 300B's made at their new plant in Georgia; should be showing up in a couple of days! 

+1 on Takatsuki 300B

It comes down to your values. I replaced the OEM tubes in my Woo WA5. The difference was very profound. Tubes like Sophia offer an intermediate step up. If you want the best sound your system is capable of, then the Takatsuki are the way to go. But the level of difference will also depend on the rest of your system. If you have a very highly resolving system, the difference will be profound… if not then it will be less.

Also, what improvements would you get elsewhere if you applied $2,000. What is value of $2K to you? I have many interconnects worth more than that… pretty much a no brained for me. They sound glorious.

The fact you are thinking 0f putting some more money into a cartridge… makes me think perhaps you should stick with what you have and take a hard look at your overall system. Maybe read Robert Harleys book on High end Audio and consider the whole system. This might inspire other changes first… or not.