Soundstage, layering and tube differences


Within tube types, say el34’s, can anyone explain why one brand of tube like SED C’s have deep layered soundstaging and another, such as the Mullard reissue el34’s ,are more 2D? I just replaced my 10 year old SED’s with the Mullards ( which still need burn-in), but they are not nearly as 3D in my amps and are reported to be such.
Do some tubes resolve the actual recorded room acoustics better or is it a matter of harmonic distortion giving the illusion of soundstaging and 3 dimensionality??
jim94025

Showing 1 response by atmasphere

Do some tubes resolve the actual recorded room acoustics better or is it a matter of harmonic distortion giving the illusion of soundstaging and 3 dimensionality??
Yes. They are lower distortion, sometimes due to geometry being a bit lower distortion on account of how the electrons flow within the tube, the amount of actual vacuum, how consistent the cathode coating is, stuff like that.

If you like how well EL34s do, triodes can do it even better as they are more linear.