300B vs KT170

[JohnnyAudio]

300B vs KT170

PSVane 300B in modified Nobsound 300 monoblocks

Tung- Sol KT170 in Elekit TU8400

Clear winner in this comparison > KT170 !

Subjective impression, KT170's more alive and dynamic, a lot more punch.

The Elekit amp does have better transformers, maybe that is a factor.
The speakers used are Decware Headwreckers with Lii P-10 drivers

Just thought I'd mention this test and the result.

Maybe ARS can do a most scientific analysis, including frequency response.

 

[DVDdoug]

Subjective impression, KT170's more alive and dynamic, a lot more punch.

I think you don't know what "dynamic" means. If an amplifier messes-up dynamics that's regular-old distortion. It doesn't happen unless the amp is over-driven.

I don't know what "punch" is.

The REAL characteristics of amplifiers (and other electronics) are noise, distortion, and frequency response. Frequency response and distortion are almost always better than human hearing unless an amplifier (or something) is over-driven into clipping/distortion. Sometimes noise is audible. The ASR reviews combine noise and distortion as SINAD.

Speakers in rooms are a bit more complicated. See Audiophoolery.

And for subjective listening, What is a blind ABX test?

 

[MattHooper]

I don't know what "punch" is.

You wouldn’t last long in a mixing session then

Serious question : Is this just a feigned reply or do you really not have any idea what the term “punch” implies?

(which isn’t to weigh in as to whether the OP’s impressions were accurate)

 

[dfuller]

Frankly, I'm not surprised by this. 300Bs for all their subjectivist hype are kind of... not great. They have extremely low gain so they essentially always are run open-loop, but they also lack output power.

That said, you compared two amps, not two tubes. They're different setups entirely.