PSVANE 12Au7 12At7 12Ax7 "-T MKII" 2020 production run of small signal/driver tubes

@decooney ,

I did not find the midrange to be more forward nor laid back. But it has more "presence", such that the you can "see" the music better. Vocals feel more real to me. But all this is after letting the only about 30 hours of burn-in. Honestly I like this tube and I don't think I want to focus on the hours. I would rather enjoy the music that they make.

But again - the bass improvement is just so good. I hope this continues. If it improves, that that wold be a bonus. BTW, when the tubes were new, I kept them "ON" for the first 24 hours. Then for the past few days I have I warm up the tubes an hour before listening and promptly switch them off after I am done listening. So more rush to burn them.

be really nice to know that a modern chinese or russian made 12ax7 can truly go toe to toe with old stock faves

good old 12au7 and at7 still very plentiful and reasonably priced

but nice ax7's have been pretty pricey for some time...

  @milpai   Perfect!  That's plenty of time imo, and yes at least 45 minutes warmup helps getting that torroid transformer in the back and other bits warmed up for the tubes to do their best. Reading up on your Rhumba, the tubes should last a long time in your preamp, noting comments "they are not run that hard." in this preamp. Very nice. I’m using the std version u7 tubes as small signal input tubes for my mono amps right now. So far so good. Tracking good reports like yours on the "Art" series. Happy listening.

@johnss @milpai @audioman58 checking back on the PSVane 12aXX "Art Series" tubes. Are you still using them?

I ask becauseI kept using my MKIIs and went a bit sideways this past few years rolling back through my best vintage 1960s tubes, Mullards, others for a while.. For the holidays past week I decided to try some re-issue Gold Lyons 12au7 12at7 pairs for my monoblock amps. Realized I had not tried them before - never did. Bought two pairs. Bummer, must have gotten a bad batch or they were not packed well after match testing - and from a reputable seller too. Sounded really good for 8hrs then started popping/crackling really bad. Thankfully, sent them back today. Had to go back to my vintage Mullards and then retried my PSV MKIis. Still pretty smooth. @audioman58 felt the Art Series were better made/constructed, IIRC.  

Reading back through this thread I realized I never tried the Art Series like you guys did. I’m wondering if all of you are still fans and still happy with your Art Series small tubes - and/or still using them?

@decooney ,

I see that you revived the thread after almost 3 years. Things changed between then and now. I did try a pair of NOS Mazda 12AU7 and loved them for their naturalness and definition in general. I had purchased warranty of 2 years on them and wanted to preserve them. Close to that time, a Psvane representative on this forum mentioned about the new Horizon series tubes, which he said were more neutral compare to the ART series. I had "alright to very good" experience with the Psvane tubes, as you have read my experience above. So I decided to give them a try.

For me, these are so much better than the Art series in every way. I found that they present the music without adding anything to it. I have experienced the "warmth" with the Genalex. But I liked the naturalness of the Mazdas. These fall along the Mazda lines, so much that I did not bother to take the Mazdas out now. Honestly, I like these better than the Mazdas in the bass, there these are a bit more taut. And these are priced at $49 (I paid $55) for the pair, on Amazon. So you really lose nothing and can return them if you did not like them. There are a couple reviews that compare these to the Art Series.

The only concern for me is - how long will these last? I installed them at start of September; so nearly 4 month now. They have been doing their thing and I have not focused on them. I am just happy that they allowed me to enjoy the DAC upgrade very recently. Hope this helps.