Russian Tube Preamp, No Return, Here I go again

In support of what Chak says about expedited shipping, I have purchased various capacitors from Russian vendors on eBay.  The shipping time is very short, sometimes as little as 4-5 days.  Much faster than buying from Canada, most of the time.  I stopped using one Canadian parts supplier because customs was so slow.

My experience on many shipments has been 1 to 7 days outbound from Russia and 1 to 5 days inbound usa, in addition to actual mail time. These steps are spelled out in ems tracking.

Japan is no doubt the high mark of modern audio manufacturing. Lets take speakers as an example: where are the Fostex parts made? The Berylium in TAD? The basket for literally all cone speakers?

Now about capacitors and resistors. Maybe a few topline examples are assembled in Japan (or UK etc.) Even then the raw materials?

I am not saying I like it. It is just how things changed over the last 20 years.

From everything I've read there's quite a thriving hifi scene in Russia and Moscow in particular. The preamp looks solidly built and given the relatively low price and positive feedback it seems like a reasonable gamble. I hope it gets to you soon and you post some impressions @elliotbnewcombjr

I noticed they spelled Vacuum tubes as vacuuum tubes on the preamp.  That would make me pause. I hope you get it quickly and it sounds good. Today the USPS stated they are planning to do away with 2 day delivery on Priority Mail, the price to Mail anything is going way up and your daily Mail will arrive much slower. I don’t know why the president doesn’t get rid of the Postmaster General, as he is a leftover from the previous Admin. Until Congress repeals the law that the USPS has to have the pension money fully paid up for the next years in advance (no other company has to do this),, the postal service will lose money. They lost 7 billion in 2020.