300B king of tubes?

I have tried other brands of 300's in my Audio Note amps and found the WE to be much better in every regard. Yes they are expensive but worth every dime.

Enjoy The Music (www.enjoythemusic.com) has a review of all major brands of 300B tubes in their archives. They pronounced the TJ Meshplates as the best 300B. The Westerns were second, I believe. You can pick them up new for $350. a pair. That said, I had them in an amplifier and wasn't impressed. Don't know if it was the tubes or the amp. I didn't have it long enough to find out.

I am frankly amazed that this thread is not overwhelming pro TJ, Full Music, Sophia, etc. globe mesh plates. I never liked any 300B until these tubes. I find them open, dynamic, very detailed, and with excellent bass. My only question has been whether there are sonic differences among these tubes that are all from the same factory. I have not had the opportunity to assess this. Has anyone done this comparison?

Stereophile did a review a couple of years ago and the WEs came out on top. They are pricey, but I got WEs and will replace these with WEs. My $0.02, Jim.

Get a matched pair of WE new production 300B's at @ $450-495 NIB off ebay or here. The KR's are Nordost-like sterile in harmonics in upper mids, disproportionately load energy at the transient, and have a more void-like space around players. The WE's are rugged with 40,000 hour tube life. Its a no-brainer. If you do this, however, you should also consider at some point maximizing your input tube performance (for the harmonics) and have good AC (for dynamics), or you won't hear it all the We can offer.