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Sophia Electric EL34 or KT88 ??

Looking to upgrade my tubes on the Primaluna Dialogue HP Integrated amp. 
Curious what people’s preference would be between the two, and why. Aside from the SE rebranding, I’ve heard some pretty decent feedback about these tubes. 
They are expensive though, and frankly I’m
not sure why the different price classifications. 
Trying to sort out the sonic characteristics of each before dropping the dime on a matched set of 8 for the PL dialogue HP. 
Generally I like the factory EL34 musicality and tone. I love a holographic, real life feel and soundstage. I once tried a full battery of KT150 but sold them. Tried as I might to get acclimated to them, they didn’t have the Stock EL 34 magic. Seemed a little more dry. More powerful but also a tad more sterile. 

So would the SE KT88 be any different? 

Anyone with personal experience with these tubes?
128x128whacky

Showing 3 responses by johnss

johnss
566 posts
 
yes, have experimented with these. Pretty good tubes. Sophia electric was the first of the high end custom materials Chinese tubes. The work from PSVANE and Shuguang now surpasses them.

If you want to try KT88s the ones to get are the WEKT88 red base. best KT88 out there right now. To really hear the difference on different output tubes though,  first you need to replace those factory coupling caps used by PL. Put some copper foils from Jupiter or Jensen in the amp before you try swapping tubes and you'll really hear what the difference in tubes can offer.

If you like the EL34 sound the other tube set to try is the PSVANE EL34-UK...really musical sounding tubes. but PSVANE makes several versions of EL34, so you will have to shop for the UK version.


johnss
566 posts
 
replacing the caps is pretty straight forward if you know how to solder. but dont use a 9 dollar iron, get something better.
johnss
566 posts
 
All,
just a short note and update.

over the past 8-12 months have recommended the Shuguang WE KT88  plus to many.

thought I would provide a short update.

bought one quad set in Oct. 2019 bought a 2nd quad set in late Dec 2019 or early Jan 2020.

Lost one WEKT88 a few weeks ago from first quad.

Was playing some prestige jazz recordings last night and lost another red base KT88 while listening.

have to say; still best sounding KT88 have found, bar none.

But out of the 1st quad set, 2 have died, and now using the 2nd quad set as spares for the first quad. At 350 USD per quad, not a great result.

Shuguang and those sellers who market these WE tubes are selling at a super premium over their other Chinese tubes as well as the Russian competitors.

So they should last a bit longer than 9-12 months before giving up the ghost in an amp that is pretty easy on toobes.

Have to say, while still the best sounding KT88 I have heard, their quality and reliability reminds me of the chinese made crap tubes of 10 years ago, where you had to say a little prayer each time before hitting the power switch on the amp, otherwise the tubes would super nova on you, or in simpler words, garbage tubes.

Have had better luck with the Shuguang Nature sound treasure KT88-T. But also another pricey tube.....

May need to return to PSVANE or some of the Russian options....
Have had really good long term reliability with all the Russian made KT88s.


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