KT 88s - Gold Lion re-issue vs others

I've used the SED's off and on for a few years. They are not a linear tube in my experience. The upper bass is a bit prominent (maybe not a bad thing in some systems) and mids/upper mids can be a bit uneven (in some systems this might be seen as having beneficial 'sparkle'). Most often when I have tried this tube I've moved on to SED 6550's.

The GL KT88 is deserving of its reputation, linear, extended, tight bass, etc. Sounds like you already have the right tube and would not be happy with the SED KT88.

I would not pay the price for the EAR tubes unless you also have the corresponding $20K cables, $100K speakers, $50K electronics and are just embarrased by using plain old $200 (per quad) tubes. :-)

FWIW.

If I were going to experiment with other "88s",I would try the Shuguang Anniversary "black bottles".These are on my "to try" list.
Concur with the "Winged C" comments.Found them a little bit brittle on the top-end.

Go Gold Lion, no need to look back.

Ditto the Gold Lions.They tightened up the bottom end on my amp a great deal.IME,changing the signal tubes netted a bigger change in the sound.

I have them both and have tried a few others as well. I like the Gold Lion reissues for robustness and warmth, relatively speaking. I like the SED KT88s for extension, treble clarity, and reliability.

I used the Gold Lions in a pair of deHavilland KE50A monoblocks, 2 per. I used the SED KT88s in an Air Tight ATM-2 and Cary SLI-80.

Currently, I'm using old stock Tung Sol 6550s in the KE50As, which sort of split the sonic difference between the new Gold Lions and SED KT88s.

JJ KT88s can be very clean-sounding and extended as well, but some find them hard on top. I didn't, but they weren't as reliable in my Air Tight as the SEDs. But neither were the Gold Lions, which blew up at an alarming rate in the Air Tight ATM-2. SED KT88s I found the toughest. The Air Tight threw huge voltages at start-up, and thus stressed tubes to an extraordinary degree.

The KE50As are very soft-starting, so the Gold Lions do very well in them.