Favorite 300B: Sophia vs KR



Which do you prefer; S.E.T. Princess 300B Carbon Plate or KR 300B WE Clone?

I've only experienced NOS 40's/50's WE so my expectations are pretty high. Which do you think captures the essence of the WE most closely? I'm trying to keep the cost down as much as possible so EAT is not an option, as much as I was blown away by their KT88. I considered current WE but they're not in production until Spring 2011.

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sakahara
Is there a way to recognize the Sophia Royal Princess clone? I recently bought two pairs very slightly used. Also have a pair of standard Princesses.
What I was saying is that Sophia Royal is an clone as well and not that others making an clone of it. Sophia's are made at TJ Full Music with special order / control / requirements of Sophia.
Oh, I just re-read my post and it may sound that I really like Royal's, but I am not.

All I was saying is that no way I will be using any Chinese made clones, include Sophia's, in my amp, ever.
I compared them to AVVT 32BL and AVVT 300B C37, where both of them are simply superior to Sophia's.

Sophia's do not sound natural to me, they have to metallic tone on top and to upfront midbass, they are simply not balanced enough, which is totally not acceptable in that price range, imo. Also they are not airy enough and goes not further than 2D kind of picture, while AVVT's are totally 3D with everything in the place: deep bass, smooth mids and lovely top end, where detail aren't forced, like at Sophia's. It seemst that Sophia's tell you how the music must sounds like and not just let you enjoy it, especially with complex things, they just don’t keep up the level.
These tubes are USD 500-600 range, sound and quality wise, but even then, I wouldn't buy them.
Their metallic tone was in their "Mesh" model I owned in the past as well, sold it pretty fast.
If these tubes were the only 300B's on planet, I will be changing my amp fast.
They had around 100 hours on them, if somebody interesting.

It may sound to negative, but I simply don't accept any faults anymore, especially for such money.