2019 300B tubes that are worth the money?

Hi Gary,
Did the KR balloon 300b replace your Takatsuki or are they an alternative change of pace pair?
Charles 

I have to agree with @gsm18439 (Gary).  Rachel at Grant Fidelity has been a very reliable source for  purchasing  the higher end Chinese tubes. She stands behind what she sells. I believe that she now carries the Chinese Linlai brand.

I use the Psvane Replica 101d DHT tubes (Probably 6 or 7 years by now) in my Line stage and they've been durable and dependable.  I hope the same is true for their W.E.Replica 300b.

I use the EML XLS in my 300b SET mono blocks and they are exceptionally robust and reliable. I pretty sure their sonic character is different from the W.E.Replica 300b. Reported life expectancy of the EML XLS is 40,000 hours.  Mine test new after about  6 years of very regular use.
Charles 

My previous tube mono blocks used the 6SN7 as drivers and I used vintage Syvania and RCA. They were early to mid 1950s. The 6EM7 driver (1950s) and Mullard rectifier (early 1960s) tubes in my current 300b SET are both vintage and very good. I personally would not paint with a broad brush in regard to vintage tubes. There’s a wide spectrum of performance among them and all are not superior to current production tubes. Multiple factors to consider.
Many current production 300b are available and some are simply superb. Gary (gsm18439) made this observation in a post above and he’s absolutely right. Takatsuki, Elrog,KR,EML etc. can certainly hold their own in terms of sound quality and conveying musical beauty and truth..

IMO you can not go wrong with either the EML or KR 300bs. I used a loaned pair of the KR 300b XLS in my amplifier and they were exceptionally good sounding. Both brands  are upper tier quality Czech tubes. If  the KR has similar longevity as the EML then they'll serve beautifully for many years. 
Charles 

Some owners of very early EML XLS are reporting their tubes are approaching 40,000 hours and still  test/measure  very well.  that's  a remarkable  accomplishment by any standard. Further more they have truly excellent sound quality.  Expensive yet they are a very high value product.
Charles 

Argonsteele,
If you’re really happy with your current 300b tubes you may just want to leave things as they are. I can tell from actual ownership experience the premium level 300bs are worth their cost.

Takatsuki a superb sounding Japanese 300b. However I’ve had two of them fail in my amplifier over a 6 year period. Other owners I’m aware of haven’t had this problem.

EML XLS, Czech Republic, is a very rugged design and is exceptionally reliable and has a reputation for an ultra long lifespan. Just a terrific fit for my amplifier and the sound quality is superb.

Elrog 300b, German, another superb sound quality 300b. Unfortunately I had the early production versions and had three tube failures. It’s been reported that the current production has solved those issues.

I tried the W.E. Reissue 300b (1990s production) and they were disappointing and completely outperformed by the 3 tubes above. Perhaps the latest version Will be better this time around.

Keep in mind that certain 300bs will sound/match better in some amplifiers than others.
Charles