Here's my tube list, the ones I listen to the most are at the top, YMMV. I love female vocals and small venue live jazz through my Havana.
LM Ericsson 2C51 Gold Pin. My favorite, smooth, detailed an involving. Brent Jesse is asking $100 for this tube. At the $25 I paid it's an absolute steal!
GE 5-Star 5670WA - The detail champion, but this tube can sound a little thin an analytical on some vintage or vocal recordings.
Bendix 2C51- This tube provides a very happy middle ground between the Ericsson and the GE 5-Star.
1950's Raytheon JRP-5670 & 1964 CK-5670 Grey Plate Windmill Getter- A great tube top to bottom. Not quite as smooth or detailed as the Ericsson. For $7 this has the best price to performance I've found.
1950's Tungsol 2C51 - This is a very rich, balanced tube. It would rank higher if not for the loss in detail at both frequency extremes.
RCA Command - Maybe a notch below the Raytheon and Bendix in terms of detail. Overall a very good tube for the $7 these can be had for.
WE396a - Too much mid emphasis for me. However, to my ear no tube sounds better with Beatles recordings and some other recordings of that era. I may have got a crap pair off of Ebay though.
Havana stock tube - not bad at all, I used it for burn in.
6N3P-E & DR - A decent tube for the price, but a liitle bit off in the mid range to my ears. They seem more smeared than smooth.
LM Ericsson 2C51 Gold Pin. My favorite, smooth, detailed an involving. Brent Jesse is asking $100 for this tube. At the $25 I paid it's an absolute steal!
GE 5-Star 5670WA - The detail champion, but this tube can sound a little thin an analytical on some vintage or vocal recordings.
Bendix 2C51- This tube provides a very happy middle ground between the Ericsson and the GE 5-Star.
1950's Raytheon JRP-5670 & 1964 CK-5670 Grey Plate Windmill Getter- A great tube top to bottom. Not quite as smooth or detailed as the Ericsson. For $7 this has the best price to performance I've found.
1950's Tungsol 2C51 - This is a very rich, balanced tube. It would rank higher if not for the loss in detail at both frequency extremes.
RCA Command - Maybe a notch below the Raytheon and Bendix in terms of detail. Overall a very good tube for the $7 these can be had for.
WE396a - Too much mid emphasis for me. However, to my ear no tube sounds better with Beatles recordings and some other recordings of that era. I may have got a crap pair off of Ebay though.
Havana stock tube - not bad at all, I used it for burn in.
6N3P-E & DR - A decent tube for the price, but a liitle bit off in the mid range to my ears. They seem more smeared than smooth.