I recently started getting into rectifiers.
After I bought the iha-1, somebody at head-fi suggested 5R4.
To my surprise, it was leaps and bounds better in terms of detail and sparkle, versus the 5U4 types I was using. I does the same for my Fire-Bottle.
To talk quickly on that, I've found the rectifiers behave in the same way for both my iha-1 and Fire-Bottle. I had the Fire-Bottle upgraded with IIPS too.
I know some said the rectifier doesn't matter as much after IIPS, I'm finding it does, but that's YMMV.
This is my scale as it directly relates to detail retrieval,
0 to 10 scale: (edited in a few I forgot)
JJ GZ34 - 0
JJ 5U4G - 3
RCA NOS 5v4g - 3
JAN-Sylvania 5Y3WGTA - 5
Mullard f31 fat base gz34 - 5
Preferred Series 274b - 5.5
Bendix 6106 (5Y3 Variant) - 6
Sophia Electric 274b mesh - 6
Psvane 274b treasure mkii - 6.5
Sylvania 5931 (5U4WG sub) - 7
GE NOS 5R4GYA - 7.5
Philco Sylvania 5U4G Hanging Filament - 8
RCA 5R4GY hanging filaments single bottom getter - 8
PHILIPS 5R4GYS (made in holland) - 9
NOS 596 (sub for 274A 5U4G 5R4)- 9.5
1940s RCA Jan Crc 5R4GY hanging filaments double bottom getter - 10
Apart from detail, each tube as it's own properties. Warm, nuetral, bright, soundstage, decay etc... I don't really want to go into specifics, because it's all opinion anyway. If someone sees a rectifier I've tried and has specific questions on it, I'll try and articulate more.
Also, I picked up some 6C8G and 6F8G, both round plates. You need an adapter for these, but initial impressions are very promising.
