What 2a3's Sound Best In Your Amp and Why?

I would like to know if anyone has compared the EM 2A3 gold with the KR 2A3 tubes.

Good Evening,

i am hesitating between 2A3 from Sovtek and 2A3 shunguang 2A3C?

Could someone tell me if there's a difference between those two? except for the price will i have a big difference in soundstage?

Thanks for any help provided!

Best regards

I have an SET Korneff 45 which can also use 2A3's and a Push Pull PVK 2A3 monobloc built around an amazing pair of '50's vintage Chicago outuput transformers. I have experimented with most 2A3s (except the very expensive ~ $1K/pair-but somewhat fragile single plate RCAs) including NOS dual plate RCA's, Sovtek 2A3's, AVVT mesh plate 2A3/s, Sophia Mesh plate 2A3's and the TJ Full Music 300B/2.5v drop ins. In the SET Korneff the RCA dual plate were the best. The Sovtek are great for the money. The AVVT are extremely detailed and have lot of punch but slightly less warm than the others. The Sophias are just slightly behind the NOS RCA's. In the push pull a quad of the NOS RCA dual plate are by far the best all around. The AVVT and Sophias are a close second and the Sovtek third but again the best bargain. The 300B/2.5 are great but just different with more of the 300B lushness but slightly less of the 2A3 delicacy. They are all great tubes and I am probably just splitting hairs between 9's and 9.9 on a scale of 1-10.

As S23chang said, it is probably going to depend on your amp. I've had 3 different 2A3s in my Paramours. The stock valveArts were OK, the Sovteks were better across the board and the mesh plate TJ Full Music 300B/2.5V(drop in replacement for a 2A3) was easily the best in my setup. The TJ had more of everything and was worth the price for me. However, the price is about 3X the price of a pair of Sovteks, so a "value decision" would have to be made....

Enjoy,

TIC

It depends on if your amp is any good or not.
If you can't afford the single plated NOS RCA 2A3s, the NOS kenrad smoked tube 2A3s pretty good sounding for the money.
The Sovtek is okay.

Thomas,
when I have a group of audio friends over to test out all my 2a3 and 300B tubes..My system contain the cary 2a3,cary slp98(at the time of testing) and cary 2a3 amplifier.we test the Kr audio 2a3 tubes/RCA/CBS/sovtel/EH gold grid and AVVT..The difference between these tubes on my avantgarde uno horn are so subtle that not worth mentioning,but when we try it on the box speaker( triangle celius),we can hear the differences between these tubes..AVVT sound the best...EH gold grid is not bad for the money..hope this help