Modwright sony xa5400 vs Modwright Oppo 95

Had the opportuniy to borrow a pair of broken in CV181 and didn't care for them at all. They were quite musical but found the soundstaging and imaging to be below par. Imaging was not pinpoint but rather came from a general between the speaker that was soft blurry compared to Sophias or my beloved Sylvanias W.

Wig, I find the exact opposite with the CV181.
That's synergy for ya.

Wig and Zmanastronomy,
Is CV181 interchangeable with 6SN7 in modwright Oppo/Sony?
I know it is not a direct replacement of 6SN7 as Filament Current of CV181 is .9 Amp versus .6 Amp for the 6SN7 and Max Plate Voltage is 300V compared to 450V for the 6SN7 type tube.
I am looking to get a pair of Mullard or Brimar valve.
Thanks for sharing the experience. Would love to know what others have to say about CV181 valve in modwright gear.

Tube rolling question!
Does anyone know the family of analog stage tubes (other than 6sn7) and rectifier tubes (other than gz34) that are compatible with Oppo bdp95 and sony xa5400? Thanks.

Wig, I also find your results exact opposite with the CV181.

Compare to the Sophia, Sophia is harder, edgier in a negative way, less musical and airy. Imaging and soundstaging similar.

As far as fuses, I'm using all HiFi Tuning. Keeping everything constant, volume, tracks ... I A/B stock vs HiFi-Tuning in my preamp and found HiFi Tuning much much superior. I repeated the test 7 to 8 times just to confirm my results. Also the direction of the fuse makes a huge difference. In the wrong direction, sound is limiting and very lean. FWIW, In the latest TAS, Shunyata can now measure differences in fuses.