Elrog 300B Review - The Best 300B Ever?

First of all, I need to apologize to @VinylSavor because I put myself on the waitlist but had to change my mind at the last minute. Thomas had notified me that 300Bs were ready the very next day a friend asked me if I wanted to buy a used pair of Elrog 300B! (I still may order a new pair of Elrog 300B, just not now because of the economic uncertainty of the WGA strike).

I know some of you guys may think it's funny that I have a high-end tube headphone amp (EC Studio 300B) but am running cheapo EH tubes. Well, the fact is, I did have the resurrected WE 300s until one of the tubes died. You guys can read about it here:
https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...tric-300b-impressions-and-measurements.12404/
https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...electric-shameless-warranty-runarounds.13321/

Also, what's the rush? I've been in his hobby long enough to know that the most important thing to do is to enjoy the music RIGHT NOW instead of fussing and worrying about optimizing (listening to tubes instead of music). This process of optimizing eventually comes anyway and is best done at a deliberate (slow) pace. The sad fact is that 80% of people (thanks to HF FOTM mentality) usually trade away a critical component of their system before optimizing it to anywhere over to 90% of the system capability, thus needing to start over again. An audio system tailored toward one's sonic vision rules over any individual component.



tl;dr: The Elrog 300B is the best 300B ever period.

 

Very rarely does any piece of gear much less a vacuum tube / valve surprise me these days. I've been at this too long. Where so I start to qualify my statement. Well two things:

1. Very few modern production tubes have the expressiveness of vintage tubes. I don't know why this is. There is no measurement can indicate this. Maybe, just maybe an indicator emissions (per spec) when a tube is brand new (many new production tubes tend to have emissions lower than the spec.) However, as tubes age, the emissions will decline, so this as a measurement may not necessarily make sense. Many new production tubes mimic the tonal signature of vintage tubes. Some specific Chinese tubes do this. But somehow, they never quite generate the same emotional response of vintage tubes. They always sound a little bit deader, never having the same microdynamics. These tubes get close, do a good job mimicking say a 2A3, but are never quite there. A handful of manufacturers like KR get very close, but there are other issues (poor support) with them.
2. I actually dislike the 300B sound. I know the 300B, or the "classic 300B sound" has many adherents around the world. However, I kind of wonder now if this is bullshit because of the rarity of authentic WE 300Bs (or any of the resurrected WE 300B series, one around the late 90s and yet another one today.) and the marketing prowess of the people behind the resurrected 300Bs runs. The deal is that almost everyone I have spoken (the SBAF audiophiles who are super persnickety and know exactly what they want) dislike the classic 300B sound. They describe it as warmpoo, syrupy, bloated. To avoid any confusion, I never stated that the WE300 was great or best in my original glowing review. I do think I may have said something that the current 2020ish production of the WE300 was the ultimate expression of the classic 300B sound. It's up to you guys to read carefully. You guys know the deal.

So this is where the Elrog 300B comes in.

1. With respect to point number one above, after I let the tubes warm up for 10 minutes, it was like: Wow! Dang! I felt the previously reviewed 300Bs were close to vintage expressiveness, maybe a few points behind. Better than EML 300Bs, which are significantly better than the rest (various Chinese and bigger brand Eastern European). The Elrog 300B easily belongs in the echelon of vintage DHTs when it comes to expressiveness and exhibits none of the deadness of 99% of modern production tubes.
2. With respect to tonal signature, the Elrog 300B is 100% neutral. I rarely use this term because it's relative. However, I think most readers understand when I say this that this statement applies to the overall universe of shit that I have heard for years, taking into the account the universe of transducers (headphones) and sources. I have heard the Elrog 300B as being described as neutralish with maybe a slight hint of dark. I think the best way to describe the Elrog 300B has neutral with honest highs (no stridency, no sharpness, yet also not rolled like classic 300Bs). And of course, most importantly none of the classic 300B bloat. The fact is, I would only deal with the 300B before because the Studio B amp has 1.5db of feedback from the OPTs tertiary windings. This feedback lessens the stereotypical warmpoo and rolled sound of the 300B. With the Elrog 300B in place, I will change the resistors and reduce the feedback to 1db. (The idea is the tweak around the Elrog because it's that good).

It's because the Elrog 300B satisfies these two simple, but yet difficult to reach requirements, I am willing to say that they are the best 300Bs I have heard had the pleasure of hearing. Again, I don't use "best" lightly.

 

Now here are the probable downsides:

If you really love the classic 300B sound, you are probably going to hate the tonal signature of the Elrogs. On the EC Studio B, we are going to get something that is not only neutral (OK, there's still a bit of SET bass which is unavoidable in any SET amps - we just aren't going to get PP bass), but also incisive, precise and articulate. That attack, ring, and shimmer from the first chord of AC/DC's You Shook Me All Night Long ain't going to be blunted. The sibilance in Alanis's vocals in her is completely present. The difference is that they are presented normally without any of the unnatural exaggeration of say a GSX on high-gain (OK bad example because amp is known to be needles in the ears, but you guys get the idea). Finally these last two points not to be taken lightly: the top end of the Elrog 300B has plenty, plenty of air; the dynamics are incredible. Again, if you are looking for DHT to baby you, the Elrog probably ain't your tube. I have a drumset in the room across from me where my daughter practices. That snare drum in a good recording is gonna HIT you. It's not going to be smoothed or warmpoo'd over.

Now with the above being said, I think do those 300Bs amps with shitty OPTs that already sound kind of soft, the Elrog could be a great match. It really depends upon the sound that you want at the end of the day.

FWIW, I used a vintage WE396a (slightly warm) as the driver tube. The Schiit Yggdrasil LIM (dark sounding source) with JAR600, Grado RS2X (F cushions), and ZMF Caldera headphones. The Yggdrasil is being fed by this USB PCI card on the PC side: https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...usb-break-out-pci-usb-card-with-unison.11822/

When I get a chance, will put the EC/Elrogs on the AP to see measurements, namely the distortion patterns.


The Elrog 300B look sexy

 

Thanks. Got them for cheap so it's a form of risk mitigation before I dived into the real-deal. For all I knew, they could have been horrid sounding. Expect me to order the real deal, possibly as a loaner for the community here (if that's OK for you).

When you are going to manufacture a 45 tube?

 

Yeah, this is why I switched to the EH with the Caldera but with otherwise same upstreaming components. The switch to EH was unintentional because one of the WEs broke, but it worked. These modern WE 300Bs are weird because while they have that 300B lower-mid bloom (or "warmpoo"), they also have an upper mid/high sharpness, at least with some of the EC amps. Some vintage RCA 2A3s also have this character, but not to the the WE300Bs extent. The Elrog while being honest all around with more evident air doesn't exhibit this sharp characteristic of the WE300. LIke the EH, no sharpness, but also more extended and not as overly warm. YMMV of course depending on system and mods / tweaks / updates to Caldera which I know @zach915m has already implemented.

Oh, I know what you mean. Not going to mention any specific brands and models, but this is why I derogatorily refer to one as "golden royale princess smoothpoo".

 

Elrog 300B
(used 80% emissions per spec)
300-ohm load
2Vrms 1kHz stimulus
APx555 HPSA cheat mode on
WE 396a driver (same to be used for rest in this post)



Compare to others (fairly new):

WE 300B
300-ohm load
2Vrms 1kHz stimulus
APx555 HPSA cheat mode on
WE 396a driver (same to be used for rest in this post)


WE300B (put into other channel)


EH 300B
300-ohm load
2Vrms 1kHz stimulus
APx555 HPSA cheat mode on
WE 396a driver (same to be used for rest in this post)


Distortion measurements show absolutely nothing, at least nothing that I can see that may explain why these three 300B tubes sound different from each other. At least not with this specific measurement. Unless you guys are seeing something of significance I am not. Oftentimes, certain measurements are totally useless.

 

It's harmonic distortion. Anything other than the 1kHz signal should not be there. Red and blue are L and R. Will post the single WE on the other channel because the two triodes in the driver tube could be different.

 

Same as above except 100Hz stimulus instead of 1kHz

Elrog 300B


WE 300 (single tube)


EH 300B


Again, nothing discernable in measurements that tell us how different these 300Bs sound. Maybe I (along with many others on SBAF with experience of these tubes) are imagining things. Maybe it's placebo. Or maybe we aren't measuring the right things.