Elrog 300B Review - The Best 300B Ever?

Door number #3

 

This could help explain sense of dynamism (initial hit) and speed/space versus richness/warmth/easier going.

Similar to how your burst tests at different frequencies help understand headphone driver qualities/sound.

If we can do this for tubes in some different spots from 20Hz to 20kHz also, it might be very revealing.

(There is something I'm working on that is best explained by impulse response to account for sonic differences as well.)

 

I am well and truly out of my depth but would like to ask whether there's any significance to the tail end of the IRs being on a general downslope? I'm also seeing that the tail ends are resembling square waves somewhat, like there are groupings of twos with more pronounced dips between each grouping? Could be staring at ghosts there, no clue if I'm being very silly just now.

First four in order.

 

System Synergy to match Personal Preference is something that many miss in pursuit of measurements as a guiding principle for component selection. Learning to listen and then actually doing it requires effort that many are not inclined to undertake.

I see 10 to 20 dB less 2nd harmonic distortion in the WE300B vs. the Elrog which might infer more dryness of sound for the WE300B.

So much to yet be learned. I would like to see Distortion vs Frequency profiles of these tubes including the following:
1) THD+N (traditional)
2) 2nd harmonic (voicing)
3) 3rd harmonic (voicing)
4) 4+HD+N (crap factor)

 

It's certainly interesting. Not many can justify a >$2k spend on audio consumables, though, so perhaps this thread is sadly perceived as less than relevant to most.

Would be interested to see the results of a survey of the cost of SBAF user rigs.

Edit: Actually, I went ahead and created a survey here.

 

I'm kinda with @GuySmiley'sMonkey on this one, but at the same time even with me likely never going THIS far down the rabbit hole it really ought be at least academically curious to more people. Actually attempting to quantify vintage tube magic's not something I've ever seen done in a convincing manner.

 

Oh, I totally agree. The correlation of measurements and auditory experience has always been a big part of SBAF and I find it fascinating to the extent that I can understand.

My point, which wasn't well made, is that people who aren't in the market for expensive tubes might possibly ignore the thread entirely (based on its title) as they perceive it as irrelevant. I wasn't trying to belittle your comment or the work Marv has put in. Sorry if it came across that way. I'm just speculating why "no one is noticing" that it's the "most interesting thread" on SBAF.

 

Probably rash of me to suggest an attribute correlation based on a single point distortion measurement. More useful for input would be a distortion vs frequency profile such as this one:

Studio B Gold Lion tubes 0dBu 300R load

Legend:
Blu THD+N
Grn 2nd harmonic
Yel 3rd harmonic
Red 4+HD+N (crap factor)

Observe a relatively constant H2 over frequency but a definite decrease of H3 from low to high frequencies. Crap factor is relatively constant, increasing at low frequencies but remaining below H2 and H3 below 700 Hz.

 

So just so I'm clear, these are pre-Thomas Mayer ELROG under test? Anyone have experience with the current ER300Bs, be they the "plain jane" ER300b, MO, or fancy pants TM versions?

 

I hope to acquire a pair to audition and measure. Depends on @VinylSavor production queue.

 

I have to agree on transients being important, and disagree on nobody cares.

I think literally everyone cares about metrics that can help them make better audio decisions.

The problem is they need to be boiled down to something that is digestible. Not a single number, but also not 8,000 words of audiophile prose, and not 20 arcane charts. It doesn't have to be 100%. It can be 80%. It can do nothing more than iindicate a direction, and that's already better than marketing buzzword bingo and CAD drawings of MELF resistors and single-metric tabulated rankings and figuring out WTAF some of these reviewers are talking about.

This is a communication problem. Solve it and win. Seriously.

I've given some thought to it, proposed some graphic panels to boil it down, but in the end I can't participate. I'm a manufacturer, nobody would believe me.

Hopefully someone here can figure it out. Or take something proposed and run with it.

But, as noted in the comments this week, it takes more than just running with it--it takes more content. Quite a bit more. And that means time. And commitment. And that's a helluva lot of work. I'd really like to help, but I am afraid if I'm involved it becomes partisan and contentious.

 

Sigh, I would be happy just doing research. But that's a totally different track.

 

I have the current Mo version. Using for around 2 months now. Don't know if it's that "tube magic" but have had no desire for anything else after getting these. I have ordered a Stellaris prior to getting the Elrogs which I fully intend to hold my end of the deal with Donald, but SJR + Elrogs are amazing, and one can be perfectly happy with these + any decent headphone which doesn't require a nuclear power plant to drive (like Susvara).