A challenge to the king: Audio Research 5se vs Cary SLP05

Victor Khomenko of BAT used to have a page devoted to the why he went with the 6H30 tube. As I recall, some reasons for the 6H30 "Super Tube" were higher amplification, higher transconductance, lower impedance and it being more linear compared to the 6922. The low impedance of the 6H30 tube can drive a signal more efficiently than several more common tubes in it's place. IIRC it was also quieter. A year later many of the big names followed suit with 6H30 offerings.

In regards to the Reflector tubes, Reflector is a factory that made the DR tubes. ~ 1992 it was closed, purchased by Americans and reopened ~ 1999. The initial offerings were poor, then they greatly improved by ~2004. I think they make a regular and a DR tube now. The DR was a higher quality tube for military use. However, there are scammers out there that remark the regular 6H30 tubes as DR's. There are web sites devoted to ID'ing the fakes.

The only time I ever paid over $300 a tube was with the ModWright SWLP 9.0 SE pre amp. It used two 5687 tubes. Like the Russian DR 6H30 made for military, Bendix developed a 6900 tube. It was a "Super" 5687 made for the military. It was used in ICBM’s. It had twice the transconductance of the 5687 tube.

Due to needing five 6H30's (one for power supply, four for pre amp) I won't spend $1,500 for DR tubes, even if they were real. You can find two sides in forums, one says the DR's didn't make a difference and others say wow, couldn't live without them. Maybe some folks just got regular 6H30's marked as DR's.