I have tried a few different ( new production ) versions and always come back to SED...If you want a touch more body and warmth you can also get the SED Cryo "Black Sable" quads at Tube Depot....Same tube just a touch different sound than the stock SED el34...Each version of the SED el34 is great,just depends on what sound your looking for........Very reliable tube..I have been using SED el34 Quads for 10 years and never had a tube go bad.........
Anyone Tried TUNG-SOL EL34 REISSUES?
I have been using the SED Winged "C" EL 34s in my Shanling SP-80 monoblocks for over a year and have enjoyed their musical presentation. One tube is starting to have an issue holding bias so I decided to try something slightly different. A review of other posts about the new EL34s reveal a wide number of individual opinions, as I would expect, so I decided to try something different. I purchased a quad of the Tung-Sols from the Tube Store and will be installing them this evening. The system is open, detailed and fast for a EL34 tube based system with the SED tubes. My musical taste lean heavily towards acoustic, female vocal, jazz, classic 70s, and large orchestra classical. Presently my system includes the SP-80s (with NOS RCA 5691 and 5692s), Monolithic Sound PA-1 pre, Shanling T-80 CDP, a TT with a Denon DL 160 cartridge and an AES PH1 (RCA 6SL7s and NOS Mullard 12au7) phono pre. ZU speaker cables, Choseal interconnects, and Aurum Cantus Leisure 3 SE Speakers .