So it’s been a few weeks now since I got the WE396a in and they are well into 60+ hours of burn in at this point, so i figured I would share my thoughts so far.
I’m just gonna be honest and tell you straight out that the GE are not very good in comparison. The WE are noticeably more detailed sounding and add clarity to the sound, where the GE sounds veiled and hazy with less detail and a thinner sound when switching back. I notice a slightly bigger stage, width and height wise and overall the WE is a fuller sounding tube and injects a bit more warmth into the sound.
I think the WE compliments the EML mesh plates better as well, which could have some bearing on my impressions. The 300b mesh are more solid state sounding as far as 300b goes, with a focus on neutrality with very detailed airy highs and deep well controlled lows paired with the 300b unique presentation and mids. I feel like the fuller warmer nature of the 396a does a way better job of complimenting the mesh plates than the 5670W for a better synergy and balance throughout the tuning.
Overall I’m very pleased with the switch, and it turned out to be a nice upgrade for not a ton of money, the tube depot has more NOS 396a/2c51 in stock, all black plate d getter dated 1958 just like mine. I definitely recommend this as a upgrade to the stock GE.
Next I will be looking at a replacement for the stock rectifier, which is a 5AR4. I’ve been looking at wathen cryotone tubes (https://www.wathenspeakers.com/wathen-cryotonetrade-tubes.html) as a possible choice. Their process is quite interesting to say the least and their claims even more so. It seems a lot of people are starting to catch on, Steve Deckert of Decware swears by them apparently.