My two cents: I have tried several brands of KT88’s in my VAC Phi 200’s and have come full circle back to the Shuguang Gold Aero’s that the VAC’s came with. Very elegant, musical sound with great resolution, superb sound staging and zero fatigue. I also still have the factory Shuguang 6SN7’s which seem to be nice, too! While I haven’t tried NOS tubes yet in these amps, I am confident that VAC is pretty particular about the tubes they use. Plus, their cost is reasonable. I have used some NOS preamp tubes in my ARC SP-10 and my CAT SL1 Signature. British Mullards and German Telefunkens. They certainly are quiet, clear and non-microphonic. Maybe better. I’m not sure.
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?
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?
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- 59 posts total
I have a Phi 200 also and I dont use any old stock tubes in this unit. NOS KT88s are stupidly expensive and I have found that rolling the driver tubes usually has more influence on the sound. However, Kevin of VAC swears that you need a matched quad of 6SN7s so I use the stock tubes out of laziness. I do use old stock in my line stage, DAC and some of my other amps. |
Shu GA Looks awefully nice,,,but out my budget atnthe moment,,will have to stay with 1990's Shugaung labeled ARC. The Defy takes 12, = huge financial decision. But will consider https://tubedatabase.co/tubes/gold-aero-kt88 Shu WE6SN7 Sweet, and my guess competes with NOS https://www.ebay.com/i/293397411041?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-117182-37290-0&mkcid=2&itemid=293397411041&targetid=596465759468&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9025123&poi=&campaignid=6470636538&mkgroupid=81597521470&rlsatarget=aud-622524040958:pla-596465759468&abcId=1140476&merchantid=101678628&gclid=CjwKCAiAu9vwBRAEEiwAzvjq-44USXq61h4O1PlFAWFTXhnjDbxpJiqcXZNH-GKiSycSVV-8yiSnXRoC6gAQAvD_BwE |
OK just got back from looking at ebay’s listings for Shugaung KT88 ~~~Rediculous~~~ Snakeoil Also noted some so aclled ~~Gold lions~~~ one crazy listing has like $5K /quad. ,,No no no, A KT88 is a KT88 is KT**. Miniscule dif. As another member noted well, ~~~The heat and soul ofa amp is in the preamp, AU section. . The Defy came to life when I added the E80CC.s But I have to confess, running criss crossed speakers wires to the Thor’s tweet (1 black to the mid woofers, 1 red to the wteet= i had no idea what was going on), I decided i will not ~~upgrade~~~ the KT88’s from my current Shu KT88’s , madev for ARC/1990’s, to any other KT88, as all the KT88 listings are overpriced. Shugaung is using snakeoil to push their ~~Super KT88’s~~~. Blind testing, no one could determine which Shugaung is in the amp. I’d rather take ~~tube upgrade $$$~ and put the cash into recap the Jadis with M SGO. = a super mod vs a tube upgrade MINI-mod EDIT~~~~ OK just got back from cking Psvane KT88's, the CLASSIC Model, their lowest priced KT88's. At 1st glance I was impressed with the build,,so i walked back to my Defy 7 to ck the Shu KT88 build. Appears ~~~Identical~~ = no reason to ~~Upgrade~~, and Psvane also offers ~~Upgraded KT88's for more cash... = Snakeoil. My goal is to expose fraud, scams, lies, false beliefs/opinions which have plagued the audiophiles minds with hype these past 40 years. Once the AX's arrive this week, I will do a shoot out with several labs tubes. I will make a video late sunday night and will post the link here. |
- 59 posts total