The Ultimate 300B Tube: a 50-Year Quest
My visit to the Opera Audio factory in Beijing happened to coincide with a visit by Mr. Zhe Sheng Liu, a tube designer who owns and operates a tube factory in nearby Tianjin.

He was there to have Opera listen to a new 300B he’d been working on, a design intended to push forward the state-of-the-art. While it’s not noteworthy that a supplier visits his customer for feedback on new designs, what is of interest is that Mr. Liu has been designing and building vacuum tubes since 1955 (that was the year he was graduated with a degree in vacuum-tube design). Even after more than 50 years of tube design—including the 300B—he still has great enthusiasm for his work.

His factory produces the 300B for other Chinese tube companies (who re-label them as their own). He was scheduled to be at Opera for just a few hours, but we ended up having lunch together and spending part of the afternoon listening to his new creations. He was interested in my comments regarding the sound of the new tube.

We first listened to the Consonance 300B-based monoblock power amplifiers with the stock tube and then to the amplifier with the first of his experimental designs, which featured a different plate material. There was no difference between the two tubes’ technical performances. Sonically, however, the new tube was instantly recognizable as significantly superior in saturation of tone color, soundstaging, bass extension, and detail resolution. In fact, it wasn’t a close call. The difference between this new tube and his second new model, however, wasn’t so clear cut.

The one we just listened to (I’ll call it Tube A) had more warmth and a more intimate sound, while Tube B was more vivid, sharply defined, and detailed. Tube B also had greater soundstage depth and a more solid bottom-end. Nonetheless, it was an interesting comparison, and remarkable that this man is still pushing the envelope in 300B design more than 50 years after designing his first 300B. The new tubes will be sold by Mr. Liu’s company under the name Full Music.

Next: Chinese Audio: More than Budget Integrated Amplifiers

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