I saw the chart and i can only tell you what i'm hearing here and what i'm feeling. Even my wife, who's far from an audiophile can tell the difference. There's just something missing with this GG1 that the B3 had in spades.
What does the GG3 do over the GG1?
I have contacted the Australian distributor and will chat to him on Monday.
What is the rest of your system?
Do you really need Balanced?
I would go for the SE GG3, ditch Balanced and add Volume Control instead to save a LOT of money while tube rolling and with the VC, you can perfectly gain match your DAC with different gain tubes.
The KR PX25 and even more so the KR 242 will give you drive, dynamics, transparency and power in spades.
I bought a used Balanced GG1 w/VC a few years ago and loved it over my previous DAC a Terminator Plus. My pre-amp was an Allnic L-8000 DHT which I love and it shared a similar ambiance.
I took the leap of faith and upgraded to a GG3 with 11P, new VC and USB , it cost me almost as much as I paid for the GG1. It was easy to hear the difference and I liked everything but the USB. I prefer the S/PDIF output before and after the upgrade. The Allnic is sitting in a box now.
I like an easy, mellow, softer presentation and acoustic sounds/ female vocals which I think the DHT's do very wall. One of the differences between the GG1 and GG3 was the low end presence and articulation which the GG1 did way better than the TP but the GG3 really excelled at thru a pair of REL S/5 SHO subs. Another big upgrade difference was the background blackness and how the music just ebbs (swells) and flows so naturally.
I could agree with you that it doesn't have the attack or drive that my TP had. I don't know if DHT's are thought to lack drive or attack or if it has to do with the PX4's and might be different with the other tubes mentioned or a different rectifier.
This thread sent me down a rabbit hole and I found a review of the above mentioned tubes on a GG1. Apparently there are dramatic differences with tube/recti combinations. The PX 25 might be your cup of tea.
