This review page is supported in part by the sponsors whose ad banners are displayed below

2. Create Audio Golden Jazz Series vs Luxury Series
Mariusz: The Takatsuki tubes seemed closer to the carbon sound, a little like the Create Audio Luxury Series in terms of timbre. But they added a better lower midrange and the music grew extra energy. Clearly this was the most interesting tube in terms of very mature refined timbre. But we can also hear that they have a rolled-off treble like the Chinese Luxury series. This of course is a flaw. With both Create Audio versions this was a bit boring but here you could get emotionally involved. For me there is no question that the Takatsuki are very very similar to the NOS Western Electric 300B I use in my amplifier at home. I like that.

Tomek: Decidedly yes on the Japanese. I won’t get lengthy. This presentation really involved me. Superb, really superb!


Rysiek B.: Playing those tubes after the Luxury Series was the golden middle for me. This was by far the best sound I heard here. Ever. I never experienced something like that before and no system did sound so good, fluent and holistic. I am shaken. That’s how big the change was introduced by those tubes. This is a very mature sound.

Rysiek S.: I’m tongue tied by emotion like the Piglet in Winnie the Pooh. This is something worth living for.


Janusz: I cannot agree with Mariusz that there was no treble. For me it had exactly the right amount. In some pieces there was even too much but only because those discs are recorded that way! These tubes differentiate perfectly, show exactly how a recording was done. They are incredibly even from top to bottom and in beautiful proportion. I never heard anything like this maturity, refinement and lack of bias. I must have those tubes.

Summary II: While the descriptive part was short, the listening preceding it was not. Instead of talking we listened to discs also from outside the comparative list. Those are by far the best tubes I heard in my life and only a direct comparison to the Western Electric 300B from old stock—really old and not from the last reissue—might change that assessment but I wouldn’t bet on it. The smoothness and midrange saturation coupled to incredible energy shattered not only me. The two Create Audio tubes are fantastic and unbeatable for the money. They differ from each other to introduce valid choice. But the Takatsuki is in another league (also financially) yet when you look for something at the top, there are only the old Western Electric or the modern TA-300B.