Seeking best sounding El-34 tubes for my power amplifier

There is no best sounding EL34. I learned this the hard way. I have about 300-400 tubes in my collection and thought the same way you do. All tubes will have their own unique sound. Many are really good sounding while others aren’t. But at times even the tubes that aren’t very good sounding are the best sounding in a particular place. For instance, on one of my tube preamps, a tube I actually think is the worse sounding from the tubes I have actually is the one that sounds the best because it’s a synergy thing. But if you want my opinion on a great sounding EL34, I always recommend Tesla brown base double halo getters made in the 70’s. I compared them to many tubes including 1960’s Mullards and I personally like the Tesla’s. But like I was saying, you need to put the tube in your circuit and hear if you like it, there is no best when it come to audio and something matching with the rest of your setup. 

There is no best sounding EL34. I learned this the hard way. I have about 300-400 tubes in my collection and thought the same way you do. All tubes will have their own unique sound. Many are really good sounding while others aren’t. But at times even the tubes that aren’t very good sounding are the best sounding in a particular place. For instance, on one of my tube preamps, a tube I actually think is the worse sounding from the tubes I have actually is the one that sounds the best because it’s a synergy thing. But if you want my opinion on a great sounding EL34, I always recommend Tesla brown base double halo getters made in the 70’s. I compared them to many tubes including 1960’s Mullards and I personally like the Tesla’s. But like I was saying, you need to put the tube in your circuit and hear if you like it, there is no best when it come to audio and something matching with the rest of your setup. 

Dear Low Tubes:  Since I need 16 tubes, 8 per monoblock, it seems important that I purchase a reliable tube. I do realize that there is no best tube and a great deal of subjectivity is involved. I have limited my search to new production tubes such as the Mullards made by New Sensor in Russia and the PS Vane tubes from China. Looking for a seller that has match quads or octets. I see many dealers selling the same tube for a selling price that varies as much as 30%. Is the higher priced dealer selling a better product such as testing the tube before its sold? Appreciate any opinions. 

@kjl1065, would tend to agree with lowtubes. But before you dive in and make your purchase, you may want to measure the plate voltage on your amps. Am not familiar with your amps. If they run 400-450 on the plate you may be ok with the PSVANEs. If higher take a pass on the PSVANEs or any china source tube. They will not hold up. Some of the higher priced VANEs are really nice sounding tubes but there are several huge tradeoffs.1. ELF- expect to have 20-40% ELFs with them. so a person needs to buy plenty of spares. 2. Tube to tube variability. Matched quads or sextets from China mean very little. You will probably have to buy a Maximatcher and double check the power tubes.  A few years ago had a pair of monoblocks with 8 EL34s per side. Bought 2 dozen VANE EL34s to insure I had plenty of spares. After the first six months, 30% of them had either shorted out or died. I had to dig into the replacement stock much faster than expected. 

With the Russian EL34s, 6CA7s, reliability is quite good. 

Sophia Electric RL-34 tubes have a clear detailed sound, but they are expensive. You can find them on ebay.