6H30 replacement

I think the difference depends on the vintage of the DR tube as well as the circuit in which it is used. My line stage, a Veloce, uses the 6h30. When I bought it new, I got NOS DR Reflectors and ran them for over 5 years-- I heard a noise in one channel and eventually traced it down-- it was not one of those tubes (thankfully, I kept them). Using the Electro-Harmonix version as a stop gap, the system sounded lifeless, sterile, no ambience or air.  I was told the Sovtek is more punchy sounding but still the same "quality" as the E-H compared to the DR. Found a replacement quad of the DRs- from '77 if memory serves. Never used. Back in business. 

I've seen comments by others using ARC equipment that using the recherché DR variant made little difference. 

Not an easy tube to find, particularly from most tube dealers we rely on; Andy did not want to even talk about that tube when I last spoke to him about it. 

It is a big negative in my estimation that the rolling options for this tube type seem to be so limited. I am no tube guru, so have no idea of a direct equivalent. Interested to learn what you find. 

Good hunting. 

If you must go western, the 5687 is far closer to the 6H30 than the 6DJ8 family of tubes and would be my personal preference. J8‘s will burn up in no time at anything like the bias h30‘s generally run at. Again I have used these in my builds, and in the right application they are a fine tube.

From the jacmusic site:

It is found in many amplifiers, such as: Audio Note M3, Manley Jumbo Shrimp,Ayon CD player, Audio Note DAC 5 Signature and Audio Note amp kits, M5 preamp, M9, KR Enterprise 32BSI integrated SET amp, Modwright 9.0 and Modwright Sony and Denon modded CD players, Modwright Sony NS999ES CD player, Opera Audio Consonance Cyber 800, Zanden, Manley amps, LUX 300B amp,Kondo M1000, Artemis Labs linestage, Emotive Audio Sira, Ray Samuels B52 and Raptor, Audio Tekne TFM-9412, Sonic Frontiers Power 2 Amps, Audio Experience BALANCED A2 preamp (YS-AUDIO, HONG KONG), Ongaku, Audio Note, New Audio Frontiers Legend II preamp, Loth X JI300,Audio Thrills, Mastersound, Sophia Electric KT88 Tube Amplifier, Icon Audio PS3 phono power supply, Almarro.

@dekay  I have the Telefunken ECC803S-diamond mark-gold-pins, which are magic, I just checked and I have over 40! not 20 as I thought. My father was a tube madman so the Heritage will get a pair of them in the input sockets.

The thing I want is to get the Sovtek replaced for something that sounds better and it appears to be that I can either get the DRs, for which I have yet to find a reputable dealer, of go with Upscale

the question would be are the Electro-Harmonix 6H30Pi Gold Pin superior to the sovtek? I know they are from the same factory

Pesky, while the specs look close, the 5687 is not pin compatible with tbe 6H30.