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Old Legendary tubes vs New Kids on the block Amperex/Siemens/Tele vs Psvane/TAD/Shugaung

Posting this on amps board, as pre tubes can make quite a dif on the amp ound. 
I just sent off all my oldstock tubes to a  guy who will sell them for me on ebay,,I am going all ~New kids on the block~ pre tubes. 
I am saying goodbye to my fav~ Amperex BB.s 
The only old stock i am keeping are the 2 tall bottle SQ Philips EC180's which will go in the AU section of the Defy,,i love the cool looking tall bottle of the EC180,'s, But i also bought some Psvane Au's , a sthey look quite impressive with taht double plate at the top,,,Will add some TAD AU's also on wish list, they also have thae cool looking double plate./high tech components.
I will roll the 3 labs, and see wich has the finer resolution/soundstage.
The 4 AX's will have to be the Shugaung, Maybe later on will add the TAD.
The cayin cd17 takes 4 6922's, for those I will go TAD, as they have the cool looking double plates. 
Which brings up this Q...will the old legends hold their top $ prices going forward, as folks begin cking out the new labs offerings, 
Psvane/Shugaung/TAD. 
I've not heard any of the new, as yet, I have the AU's/AX's arriving later this week. Since i sent all my old stock au/ax's off, can't compare to these new labs. Only compare from what i reacll the Defy sounding like  with Old stock. 
However as you guys know i still have that cheap chinese clone which is crippling the Defy's performance. 
The cayin SC6 is still a ways off, so a  true compare could only be made at that time. 
The cayin has 4 AU's, will roll both TAD and Psvane T series AU's. , Psvane has a  new ax out called T series,,,I will buy both the Psvane and the TAD, see which comes out for high resolution of fq's. 
Have you guys heard any of these newer labs, vs the old legends. 
On the power tubes, I have EH KT90's and also chinese KT88's i bought cheap off ebay,,so will roll those  when the front tubes arrive. 
Will not rebias the amp,,it will be a  justa  shortb 10 minute testing.
If I like the 88's over the EH90's,,I will add the Psvane KT88 C version to wish list, The C version is the newer KT88 from Psvane called the Classic 88, the older version is called the hifi 88. 
I will post notes over the comming year as these tests will be ongoing during the year 2020. 
What say you about these new kids on the block?
mozartfan
shkong78's avatar
shkong78
1,479 posts
 
In most case, I will stick to Nos tubes, but the problem is the availability of tubes in good condition.

But I had been impressed with Psavne Acme 805 and 300B tubes which had been working fine for 800 hours since Jan this year in my Line Magnetic 508 amp.

I have WE 300B made in 1940’s.

Psavne Acme 300B tube sounds sweeter than Nos WE 300B while latter give wider soundstage and tighter bass.


mozartfan OP
2,143 posts
 
@shkongInteresting post, OK so you've heard both and prefer NOS.
I have yet to hear the Psvane and Shuganug ,,Both new production look really nice, and although not cheap (paid $150/ four 12AX7's/Shugaung,,,at least i know they are new. From ebay listings on the NOS,,i can not understand all the testing values. nor make sense of what they claimn,,i do not want old worn out tubes. 
With new production, you can rest assured they are new. 
The amperex BB's that i like in orginal boxes, with full  print are $$$$$$$, = not buying. 
So please further explain what you hear in the Psvane Acme 300 B *sweeter* vs the WE NOS *wider soundstage...I know its hard  to express certain qualities in tubes. 
also we all need to keep in mind,  the old rule,,what you love in one tube, lacks a  certain quality of another. 
Also what kind of muisc are we talkimng about. I love full orchestra and needa  system/tube  which can bring the orch to full , dynamic sound. 
any amp can reproduce jazz, chamber classical,,but we know the 300B/845 offers the finest sound for jazz with a  FR speaker system,,maybea  horn also,,I never went for horn;'s.  
300B's on light jazz is phenomenal , but complex full range orchestra, it falls flat.
I presume a 300B tube and a  845/805 do not  respond well to alot of fq's comming at them. 
Whereas my Defy 7 with 12 power tubes, has no problem at all in whatever muisc. 
Back to tubes. 
Will be interesting if the latest Psvane/Shugaung geta  reputation, might drive NOS prices down to reasonable prices. 
Siemens//Tele/Amperex NOS  prices are way out of my budget. 


auxinput
2,920 posts
 
In my opinion, PSVANE is the cleanest and highest resolution tube you can get.  Very clean, like solid state circuits, but without any harshness.  Probably like a much better version of Electro-Harmonix.

Shuguang is very nice, but has a warm textured coloring to the sound.  It really depends on your tastes.

i think the real “select” Amperex are likely the most magic sounding tube, but like you said, insanely expensive.
mozartfan OP
2,143 posts
 
will take a few months to get some ideas about the dif makers of tubes.
I am experiementing with dif tubes that might work in the AX section.
Such as 12bz7 and maybe 12bh7
The E80CC blows away all AU’s ever made.


fact is
The E80CC is
~~The Holy Grail~~~ of all AU’s. Tele/Siemens AU is near worthless next to any E80CC.
now working on finding 
the ~~Holy Grail~~ of all AX's. 
I am trying to bring audiophile into the 21st century, stripped clean of all snakeoil
Its a  2 year projected plan ahead. 
The only thing holding back completion is ~~Funding~~~
jackd
1,065 posts
 
You guys can keep that overpriced Chinese junk and I will stick with my stash of NOS tubes purchased two decades ago. They will outlast me and my grand kids. The "gimmick" 6SN7 tubes are a joke as are most of their other "reproduction" tubes.
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