Best 845 tube out there?


I am running a pair of Cary CAD-211AE monoblocks with the standard no-name Chinese tubes shipped by Cary. Whilst I am happy with the sound, I think I should buy a pair of 845's to keep as backup in case something happens to these tubes.

Because I will need to buy FOUR of them, this rules out any tube that sells for stupid money (e.g. vintage RCA 845 tubes).

The only current production 845's I am aware of are:

- Shuguang 845 "standard"
- Shuguang 845B
- Shuguang 845C
- Shuguang PSVANE 845
- KR Audio 845

I have found reviews of the Shuguang 845B and 845C, but there is virtually no information out there on the new Shuguang "psvane" 845. Has anybody heard this valve, and is it a noticable improvement over the 845B and C? Also, what do people think of the KR?
amfibius
Brf,
This is a good example of individual impression variance. I've heard the Psvane W.E. Replica 845 in direct comparison to the RCA Nos 845 in Jwm's Absolare PSET amamplifier. The Psvane, marketing hype or not withstanding, was clearly superior in sound across the board. I can accept that different amplifiers can yield various outcomes. What I heard is markedly different from your account.
Charles,
Charles1dad, I agree that everyone has their own individual listening bias and there is no universal best, only a best for you. I would be very interested in Jwm’s long term listening impressions. I found the Psvane WE845 to be very dynamic with a forward presentation. Initial impression was a bit of a “wow” but the “wow” factor was supplanted by the masking of inner detail and micro dynamics. The WE845 had a too much of an” in your face” with an aggressive presentation that drew attention to itself as oppose to the music.

It was just 5-years ago when a truly evolutionary metal plate 845 tube from China only cost $375/pr. How things have changed. I’ll stick with my 1959 United 845W JAN-CUE with the getter capsule and my 1941 RCA 845.

BTW, I use the Psvane TII series 12ax7, 12au7 and CV181 tube in my preamp with excellent results.
Since 2006 on I have experimented with all Super TNT (Shuguang) 845 models; B, and all metal: M (then C), True M 100w dissipation and W premium Nobleman model.

845M is the best to my ears, now they are about 3500 hours and still strong. All the rest where fine but all failed at 30 hours or 500 hours except 845B model that I now consider are the true standard for quality and duration. But not the best sounding.

For my 211 mono amps, now I'm thinking on the WE211 to replace my broken Elrogs that costed last may '13, 2100 euros here in Europe.

Tkanks for the review Tcscata.
Elrog ER-211 sound so good, lots of inner detail and subtle sounds, big elegant and beautiful. I have never experimented such a quality form a chinese tube yet. But they fail too soon and no guarranty. Elrogs betters old General Electrinc and Taylor vt4c by far in my opinion. Is a pitty.
Elrog failures and not speciffic cases.

Companys like Kondo, Absolare and Voxativ presented their products at the Munich Audio Fest 2012 with these super expensive new tubes, they didn't next year.

Air Tight after presenting Elrogs last year at Munich they still don't trust them to sell their ATM-211 with Elrog's.