2019 300B tubes that are worth the money?


OK, I'm not a super rich audiophile that has unlimited money to blow.  I have a pair of Cary 300 CAD300-SE monoblocks i bought used that currently have a pair of TJ/Full music tubes in them.  I am, overall, very happy with the sound.  So does anyone have a strong opinion that any of the $1000 a pair current production 300b tubes are really worth the money over my $300 pair?  Would my money be better spend on a needle upgrade for my turntable?  :-)
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Showing 3 responses by jambaj0e

I have heard the WE 300b reissue are not that great, and that even the Psvane WE300B is actually better, too.

I definitely recommend the Psvane ACME Supreme 300b, though!
So sadly, after a year and 2 months, the Psvane Acme 300b tubes on the right channel of my Cayin Ha-300 amp started clicking and emitting white flashes. No other sound coming.
I swapped out those tubes for the stock tj full music and now my right channel is about - 20 dB lower, regardless if if swapp around the 300b tubes, the 6sn7 tubes, or the 22de4 rectifier tubes around. 

Amp is only 1 year 3 months old. Tubes bought from chi-fi audio. So aside from having to get my amp fixed (someone said it could be the Cathode resistor damaged by the voltage spike of the bad Acme 300b), I now have to buy new 300b tubes.

So is there a better place to buy them in North America? I absolutely love the sound of the Acme 300b, but are there other similar fast and open sounding 300b tubes I should get instead? 

I've had the new Western Electric 300b tubes on my Cayin HA-300 for 6 months, which is just a bit over at $1500, and I think it's worth having. My previous Psvane ACME 300b had one tube that just blew after 1 1/4 years, making it out of warranty.

The WE300b has 5 year warranty which gives me peace of mind. Now on to the sound quality. The Psvane ACME has a bit more air and openess up top, but the WE300b wins out on the liquid and beautifully lush mids and more textured body in the midbass and bass. The ACME has the bass extension, but I did find it a bit thinner than I'd like, where the WE300b feels more impactful without sounding slow. Both have excellent soundstage and instrument separation.

Both tubes needed at least 100 hours to sound really good, and around 200 hours to sound amazing. I feel like I'm rediscovering new and old music again now that my WE300b have reached its peak performance!


My chain is as follows:Custom PC --> Sablon 2020 Panatela Reserva Elite powered USB Cable --> Chord HUGO TT2 --> Morrow Audio MA6 XLR Cable with Furutech CF-602F and 601M Rhodium XLR ends --> Cayin HA-300 DHT 300b Tube Amp (Western Electric 300b + Sylvania 6SN7 3-hole Bad Boy tubes) --> PlusSound X6 balanced cable with gold-plated copper wires and Furutech miniXLR & 4-pin XLR terminations --> Audeze LCD-3 Fazor headphone. PS Audio Stellar Power Plant 3 + Audioquest Thunder 2m power cable for power regeneration.