Great to hear.  I have been running the Russian 6N5P's in my ZTPre without a thought.

I have 10 7308's and I may try a swap during the holidays. I'm not sure if there is any benefit on matching tubes to locations just as long as they are the same tube type. Now that I have changed my power cables and XLR cables, it may be time to revisit the 7308's.  What would you expect to hear vs. the 6N1P's or 6N5P's?

Lon:

You put the bug in my ear, so to speak. I took my collection of Amperex JAN 7308's to a friend's and measured them all. I installed the ones that were best balanced with the highest output. I then swapped out my Russian 6N5P red-tips and I'm not going back. The 7308's seem to have crisper cleaner highs and a more transparent midrange. The bass is still excellent.  The 6N5P's were excellent, but the 7308's are better.

Darn it Norm, your changing out the 6N5P for 7308 and the results kept bouncing around in my brain and finally last night I realized that I had three matched pair (one was in my Torii Mk III, another in my Magnum Dynalab tuner, and the third in the driver positions in my CSP3-25. I am not currently using the Mk III and the CSP3-25 and I had a pair of Telefunken 6922s that also sound really good in the tuner, so I swapped out my wonderfully selected 6N5P from Steve and put these 7308s into the ZTPRE. (That means I now have Amperex 7308 in the ZTPRE, the Taboo Mk IV and the SE84UFO3 25th Anniversary Monoblocks, and an Amperex 12AU7 in the ZROCK2, I love that family sound).

I think Steve is absolutely right that with 6N1P (and I'll add 6N5P) the ZTPRE is a perfect vehicle to transfer signal clearly and without a strong character of its own. These Amperex 7308 however do have a character that enhances digital playback. As you say a clearer (I think slightly less grainy) treble, and a very open midrange (I find that true of the 6N series as well) and there's just a touch of classic tube mid-bass grease to the bass sound that I miss when it's not there.

So yes, I don't think these 7308 are coming out. The main system is sounding SO good. I have a few more weeks before this system gets moved upstairs and a new one set up downstairs . . . . May be the best time to send one of my Taboos back for 25th Anniversary mods to be thte amp for the second system, I'll probably do that after I get an ongoing sale of my Torii Mk III completed.

What did I do before Decware came into my life 21  years ago? I do know that my music collecting accelerated like a bat out of hell because music suddenly sounded right! I have storage issues now, but no real regrets as I have this incredible system to hear music on hour after hour. . . .

Wait until you get all those AC-12s in the system Norm!

Oh boy, you're going to have a great time with the P15 and those cords. And yeah, the 7308s should work really well in the ZMA.

Brace yourself. . . you'll do fine with the listening and new equipment, years of experience!

I'm definitely enjoying the sound with the wonderful red-tipped 6N5P in the ZTPRE today.

The Amperex 7308 offered a deeper focus on the individual elements giving them a meaty body and a rooted presence, at the expense of a bit of a closed in stage and compressed "atmosphere." These 6N5P are giving me a good share of body and presence but a more "fleet-footed" feeling to the entire presentation which actually presents a slightly more dynamic sonic landscape and a more defined sense of instruments in place, more separation and width.

I can and will live with either complement of tubes, I can see myself coming back to the Amperex soon, but with the fully modded ZROCK2 being all it can be the sound today with the 6N5Ps is really drawing me in.