6H30 tubes

Source: Audioasylum Tube section, some remarks made by Victor Khomenko, Mr. Balanced Audio Technology (BAT)

6H30 <> 6N30 confusion

"...It is the same tube, just the misinterpretation of the Cyrillic notation. The Russian lettering looks like 6H30n-DP, but its phonetic equivalent is 6N30P-DR, so some people "translate" it, other keep it original."

"...I guess I should take some blame for the confusion. When we launched the 6H30P-DR tube in the West, we simply shortened its name to 6H30. In the original Russian notation they all have the Pi at the end, indicating the miniature construction. So every 6H30 is the Pi tube, but some have additional letter after that."

And Conrad-Johnson's Lew Johnson said in March 2005 Stereophile: "actually, that's matter of some debate, since the tube is labeled in Cyrillic. It could be called a 6H30π (last character is Pi) or 6H30R just as accurately."

About DR versions

“… having compared the NOS ones (the -DR versions made in the late eighties and eary nineties) with current production ones, I can tell you the new ones are getting quite good - early ones, from 1999 and 2000, were crappy. Today if you compared the two kinds, your preference might go either way. I personally still prefer the NOS kind. The -EB is also quite good, they were just a notch below the -DR in ruggedness. The main difference between the NOS tubes, that went through the MOST stringent quality control in existence, and the lesse varieties is in quality.”

Viewpoint: Whole audiophile community should be grateful to BAT for introduction of 6H30 tubes in audio designs. Look the proof: beyond BAT 6H30 is now used in reference level pre-amps of Audio Research and Conrad Johnson, just to name a few.