BEST DEAL ON NOW: Do NOT wait the Tube ‘Crash’ Season

Holiday shopping season is almost here! Many online retailers are seeing shipping volume increases, and the courier efficiency is limited at the same time due to labor shortage or simply sheer volume increase in the supply chain.

 In the past, we have seen patterns of significant increase of at least 30-50% more tube shipment damages before and during the peak holiday shopping season – from Black Friday / US Thanksgiving till the New Year holiday.

For this 2024 shopping season, do NOT wait till the last minute to shop for best deals. We put them on NOW to avoid shipping crashes. Two types of deals are available:

  1. Look for ‘Warehouse Sale’ orange badge in the catalog for any tubes except [Linlai™ Global] Elite series – Limited quantities are available at the deal price until they are sold out.
  2. Deals for [Linlai™ Global] Elite series tubes during this holiday shopping season are available under our TubeVIP membership only. The discount is guaranteed to pay for the VIP membership cost itself, plus you get the VIP membership perks!

Please note: There will be reduced outbound shipping from Dec 10th 2024 till Jan 4th 2025.

Happy Tube Shopping!

Grant Fidelity

Ship to Europe Pilot Program: Import Charges Prepaid by us!

In response to European customers request while they seek top quality vacuum tubes, we are starting a pilot program for shipping to selected European countries with Import Charges Prepaid, as of Feb 1st, 2024.

Terms and Conditions:

  1. First set currency to EUR

To participate the ‘EUR – Import Charges Prepaid’ pilot program, you MUST first set purchase currency to EUR from the website currency selection dropdown list. If you see the webstore pricing changed to EUR pricing, your country is currently included in the pilot program.

Placing orders with pricing in currencies other than EUR (such as USD or CAD) do NOT qualify for ‘Import Charges Prepaid’ pilot program to European countries. If you prefer to handle import tax process yourself at the receiving end, you can still place order in USD currency. In this case, you must pay all import charges to your countries’ tax authority directly at the time of import & delivery, at your own extra expenses.

2. Prepaid Import Charges are quoted by DHL portal

The Euro currency price shown on our website has been calculated to include Import Charges such as duty, tax and customs processing fees to major western European countries, as per estimates provided through DHL Express International shipping portal. If your country has other special levy for imported goods not included in DHL portal quotation we have received, it is not included in our website quoted price (this might be the case of some Eastern European countries) and such levy must be paid by the buyer once we present you the customs invoice we receive from your country.

Important Notes: When your order is shipped with Duty and Tax Prepaid by the sender (that is us), if DHL in your country requires any documents for customs clearance, please forward the request by email to us – our email is the order confirmation email you received from. Please do NOT provide documents from your side to DHL without confirming with us first, in order to avoid customs confusion on tax & duty assessment resulting in double taxing.

3. Use DHL Express shipping for smooth delivery experience

We ask ALL European customers who wish to use the ‘Import Charges Prepaid’ pilot program to use DHL Express shipping option. We engage DHL Express as import broker to bill and collect import charges from OUR shipping account. This can greatly speed up delivery process.

If for some reason such as missing paperwork, DHL still requests you to make certain fee payment before they can deliver the shipment to you (yes sometimes DHL processing errors do happen), you can make payment promptly first so that you can receive delivery right away. You must request and keep your ‘import charges’ invoice / receipt from DHL, scan them as picture or .pdf files, then send them to us via email for your fee refund. Please note the refundable import charges is between the actual charges and maximum UP TO 20% of the item value in your order, excluding any insurance and shipping freight charges in the order.

Special note about Germany as destination country: Due to Germany’s new tax regulation requesting overseas suppliers to register German VAT ID and file annually when offering international shipment with ‘Duty and Tax Prepaid by seller’, we as a foreign business (outside of EU with limited volume of business to Germany) have decided not to proceed to take on such extra administration burdens from our end, hence NO ‘DUTY AND TAX PREPAID’ option is available for German orders. German customers can still place order with us at our web price WITHOUT VAT. Your German VAT and other relevant import fees levied by German customs will be collected by the shipping carrier (for example: Post Office or DHL Express) directly from the receiver (that is the customer located in Germany) prior to shipment delivery.

4. Postal office parcel shipping option doesn’t work for ‘Import Charges Prepaid’

If you opt to use Postal Service during checkout for your order (ie. the cheaper shipping option), please place order in USD currency which excludes any import charges in the pricing. The carrier (Postal Service) in your country CANNOT and WILL NOT bill import charges back to sender (that is us in Canada outside of your country). You may have to line up at your local postal office service counter to pay in person or pay online for your country’s import charges out of your pocket, prior to taking Postal Office international parcel delivery.

If you used PayPal or Credit card (processed by Stripe) as payment method to pay an order in Euro currency, your Euro funds paid to us were automatically converted to US Dollars when PayPal or Stripe releasing funds to us at the time of your order (we do NOT receive Euro funds to our banks from these card payment processors). In an event of processing refund, keep in mind that we can only refund the US currency equivalent Euro amount at the time of refund. There may be a small shortfall to you, due to exchange currency charges by financial intermediaries and due to unexpected international exchange fluctuations – we have no way to claim these charges back so they will have to be born by the buyer in the order.

5. Pilot program maybe subject to change or cancellation without notice, but all orders will be honored

Due to the complexity of regulations in multiple European countries, this Import Charges Prepaid Pilot program may be subject to change or cancellation. The success of the program relies on the accuracy by DHL shipping portal, and destination country’s policy stability over long term.

Please be rest assured that if your order was placed with ‘Import Charges Prepaid’ with us and payment completed,  we will honor the program terms and conditions, even if the Pilot program is cancelled before your shipment delivery.

We hope the above pilot program will allow our European customers to have better understanding of the total cost to expect when placing tube order with us in Canada!

Happy tube rolling and happy listening!

Grant Fidelity – Premium Vacuum Tubes

Treasure 6SN7SE Globe: ‘I got the chills from this thing’

Feedback received from customer Noah via email:

“Hey there, I just received a Treasure Globe  6SN7-SE

I dropped it in my (Schiit) LYR+ / BIFROST and I’ve been listening to it on my (Sennheiser) HD800S. This thing is mind blowing – thanks for selling such a great tube in Canada.
I got the chills from this thing. It completely evens out the tone of these headphones while still keeping a massive soundstage. I have been using them for every genre and it all sounds good, as long as it was mastered well.  I’m going to have to get more spares . . .  “

Push pull amplifier – tube troubleshooting

Below are procedures that customer needs to complete to identify faulty tube, before submitting a warranty request:

  1. For Push Pull tube amps – 2 power tubes (either EL34 or KT88 – these are the most commonly used power tubes in push pull amps are used per channel. You may also see 2*300B or 2*845 type power tubes in recent years’ design)  Total 4 tubes are used for two channels together.
  2. If your amp is making abnormal noise such as loud static noises or obvious humming etc, you need to identify exactly which channel (left or right) have problem, and exactly which tube is causing the problem.
  3. As amplifiers are of stereo channel – i.e. 2 channels symmetrically, a simple way to identify a faulty tube is ‘divide, swap and confirm’.
  4. Split 4 tubes to 2 groups first, then only install 2 tubes (Group #1) in left channel and use your two previous known good tubes in the right channel. Turn on the amp and see if problem presents in left channel that you installed the new tubes (Group #1) . If No, go to step 6. If Yes, go to step 5.
  5. Split the 2 tubes and install one in EACH channel (in two symmetric sockets in left and right channel), and split your two previous known good tubes in the other two symmetric sockets in left and right channel. (Do not worry about ‘blending’ your new tube and previous tube in one channel in this troubleshooting process.) Identify which channel (left or right) presents problem – the tube in the problematic channel is the faulty tube.
  6. Since you didn’t find problem in step 4 with 2 tubes (Group #1), now use your other 2 tubes (Group #2) and repeat the same process in Step 4. The tube in the problematic channel is the faulty tube.
  7. If you found more than one tube is of problem in the troubleshooting process, identify EACH tube’s problem and describe THE PROBLEM SEPARATELY on a piece of paper, along with that tube’s serial number (if the tube has a serial number on the base, or on the metal tag inside the tube).
  8. Now take a CLEAR & HIGH RESOLUTION picture of the tube and the paper (showing the problem message you have written down) together. You need to submit this picture when contacting us to file for factory warranty claim.
  9. Wrap this piece of paper containing the information to the corresponding tube and attach it with an elastic ribbon and have it ready for shipping. DO NOT USE ANY MARKER TO WRITE ON THE TUBE ITSELF.
  10. Contact us via email to file factory warranty claim – Please provide ALL information you feel pertinent about the tube problem, including but not limited to: your amp make and model, describe the event of tube problem you have experienced, and if using an entirely different set of tubes resolved ALL problems. If problems still exist when using other tubes – chances are that your amp might need a check-up by amplifier service technician before you use a new set of tubes again in the amp. A problematic amplifier can damage a perfectly fine set of tubes, and this will not be covered by tube factory’s warranty.
  11. Once your email is received by us, we will reply you within 48 hours about warranty return shipping instruction. There is NO NEED to ship known good tubes back to us – extra shipping and handling can easily damage fragile but perfectly good tubes. Only ship known faulty tube for warranty process, unless we instruct otherwise.

We appreciate you take the time to isolate the problem. Refusing to conduct the troubleshooting process will not move your warranty process forward – not all tube problem can be reproduced in the lab testing equipment, if it is intermittent only. We need customers to work with us to quickly have your tube problem resolved under factory’s tube warranty policy. It is a team work between buyer and seller.

 

Thank you.

Grant Fidelity

 

‘Treasure 6SN7-SE GF Special Edition’ – ‘better than ANY tubes I have ever used!’

Treasure Globe 6SN7-SE (pair or single, GF Limited Special Edition)

Mark S. acquired a pair of Grant Fidelity special edition Treasure 6SN7SE top grade with us recently for his Moon Audio Dragon Inspire IHA-1 Tube Headphone Amp. Below is his feedback via email. We hope this will help other headphone amp owners when choosing upgrade 6SN7 tubes!

“Rachel,

Bless your heart! My order of the Globe 6SN7 tubes arrived in just 3 days! (seller note: Mark ordered our Express shipping upgrade for extra cost)

I realize that there is a break in period for the tubes, but they are already better than ANY tubes I have ever used! 

For the first time, my amp has ZERO noise with headphones! I can’t believe it. Also, I have never heard the sound so incredible as it sounds with these tubes!

Thank you so much for your great service and the best tubes I have ever heard!

Very best regards,

Mark”

A floating piece of glass inside the tube – What is it?

If you have been playing with vacuum tubes long enough, you might have run into a situation that a new tube, shipped from a vendor, arrived with a piece of floating glass inside (see reference picture below). What is it? Where does it come from? Is the tube damaged beyond useful?

 

Here is the answer:

  1. This piece of floating glass is a broken-off piece from the tube filament glass stem. See picture below showing where it is exactly broken off from.

 

2. This broken piece is often resulted from the heavy filament structure in vibrating motion during shipping and handling. However, since the tube glass stem is a wide structure supporting the full filament structure – a small piece

broken off from the tip won’t hurt the tube structure’s integrity at all.

3. We see this ‘floating glass’ from TJ Full Music 300B tubes, but not much from other Chinese brand such as Shuguang 300B tubes produced in southern China. Our guess is that the glass supplier for Full Music (located in Northern China) is likely different and glass production technique isn’t exactly the same.

4. This piece of floating glass won’t affect tube function at all and won’t interfere with the vacuum capacity inside the tube. Glass is non-conductive. User only needs to stand the tube up, let the floating piece to fall to the bottom of the tube enclosure, plug the tube into socket vertically, then it is all done!

Customer feedback on GF Premium Tubes:

Here is an email feedback we received from customer Thomas L about his personal experience of buying from Chinese vendors vs. Grant Fidelity:

“Hi Rachel,

  Just thought I’d give you a little feedback with my recent purchase.  

  Your tubes are expensive (adding in all the fees and shipping).  I think you would agree as well, although you may argue nothing is cheap with this Audiophile hobby, which I would agree as well. With my recent purchases, I think it was pushing around $2000 CAD.  This was for 5 845s, and two pairs of 300Bs.  Honestly, I had been looking at the GF tubes for a while now, never had the $$ or the guts to pull the trigger as the number of tubes that I need for my amps in total would put a dent in my bank account.  With the boxing day / black friday sales, I figured it would be a good time or timing to replace my existing OEM tubes.  So …. Here’s what I have learned.

  Prior to this purchase, I had been buying tubes online from China or locally from a friend.  But what did I get exactly?
  *  Noisy tubes.  

  *  Tubes that broke after a listening session.  

  *  Tubes that looked like they were shorting out (they were supposed to be new!!!!).

  Then I had to contact my friend or vendor in China to have the tube(s) replaced.  And on one occasion I had to pay duty for the replacement tube.  

  So, after I plugged the GF tubes in my amp(s), I had a moment where I was thinking, “this is what I get for paying a premium price.”  

  The tubes are quiet, like very quiet.  The difference between OEM vs the GF tube is obvious.  I used to think that my amps were noisy, but only after I plugged in the GF tubes, I realized a good amount of noise was actually from the tubes itself. 

  Balanced sound stage.  I am referring to the left and right channels.  With that comes a solid image.  You have vocals that comes directly to you.  I’m particularly picky when it comes to this as I hate to hear vocal lop-sided.

  Last but not least, sound quality.  Smooth, very Smooth but not losing both top and bottom end.

  Overall was it worth it?  The decision is leaning to a Yes.  With the tube and sound quality accounted for.  And most importantly, this is a case where I plugin, dial in and enjoy the music without having to worry too much about reliability (knock on wood, so far so good).  

  Lastly, great service.  Thanks again for the quality products and super fast shipping.

  (Now, I will have to save up again for the next tube upgrades).

Which 845 tubes to get: The popular upgrade path for Line Magnetic LM-518IA tube amp

Line Magnetic LM-518IA integrated 845 tube amp is the first Chi-Fi amp that was very favorably reviewed by Stereophile back in 2015 and got onto Stereophile’s annual award list later on. It can be considered an achievement milestone for the entire Chi-Fi industry, IMHO.

Before this amp become popular, most 845 amps on the market are monoblocks, which inevitably cost more to produce, more to ship and deliver, which result in less people can afford them. A well made integrated 845 tube amp has brought the retail price mark to below $5000 range. I personally think this is a major contributing factor that has brought Single Ended Triode (SET) 845 amps to the horizon of average consumers.

Of course for every budding audiophile or seasoned music lover, tube rolling is like an addiction – why not try other tubes when there are multiple offerings of 845 tubes from China too?!

We have combed through our past year’s tube order history and come to the statistics of the popular tube upgrade path for this Line Magnetic LM-518IA (now it is called LM-608IA in China, and the western version is LM-845IA):

Most popular (67%): Linlai™ Global Elite Metal Plate E-845

I am not sure if this is to do with FOMO (fear of missing out). 2/3 of our tube upgrade customers went straight to the best of best, also the most expensive 845 tube models we carry, and never looked back! From a vendor’s perspective, the ‘Linlai™ Global E-845 metal plate’ also has zero warranty rate in the entire past 12 months! We will rate its reliability as full 5 star.

Second popular (22%): Linlai™ Global Graphite Plate 845-DG

This tube is a nice upgrade from the commonly used stock 845B tubes from China in almost all new production 845 tube amps. The stock entry level Chinese 845/845B tubes tend to sound dry and harsh without much magic. The 845-DG upgrade tubes offer excellent ‘performance to price’ ratio, aka ‘bang for the buck’, with a unique overhang filament design, coupled with solid graphite plate.

Why is 845-DG not as popular as the more expensive metal plate E-845?

Besides the previously mentioned FOMO mindset, its reliability record is good but not as stellar as the E-845’s zero warranty record, we think the ‘dollar cost per listening day’ for 845-DG really isn’t much lower than E-845 – probably much less than a cup of java. Why not just ‘straight to the point’ could be some customers reason to opt for the E-845 instead.

We have been closely watching the warranty rate trend of 845-DG, and highly suspect some cases are related to users’ amps were not providing the right level of ‘load’ to these graphite plate high power tubes. Please note that ‘underload’ a graphite plate tube over a extended period of time can create excessive gas in the tube, eventually trigger an internal short tube failure. Users are strongly recommended to regularly check the amp bias and keep it in optimal range, besides keeping the amp’s power supply voltage stable with a proper power conditioning device.

Third popular (11%): Linlai™ Global WE845 Replica tubes

Why the ‘Western Electric’ replica version of 845 tubes are not as popular? We think the reason might be western customers do not have the same fetish to ‘Western Electric’ as the eastern customers in Asia do. Western Electric never made a 845 tube – the closest is a 284A, so ‘Western Electric Replica’ doesn’t hold 100% truth as per Chinese tube manufacturers claim. All three tube manufacturers make WE replica 845: namely Shuguang, Psvane and Linlai. The WE Replica tubes are always priced with premium towards the glory of ‘Western Electric’ – so your money goes not just to the tubes, but also to the marketing.

Having said that, WE845 replica is still an excellent tube. Its slim bottom allows it goes into some high end 845 amps such as Nagra brand, while all the other ‘fat bottle’ 845 such as E-845 and 845-DG cannot fit in.

We hope this objective statistical information can help you to narrow down your 845 tube choice for the Line Magnetic 845 tube amp!

We unfortunately cannot give sonic description of each tube with this amp (or any amp) – a system’s final sound will be very much influenced by the speakers used, and the system synergy, and the subjective opinion of the listeners. We suggest you search on audio forums or facebook user groups to find a system similar to yours and read such users’ sonic description, and see if it is to your liking.

Happy Listening.

Rachel@ Grant Fidelity

Get TubeVIP Insider Pricing

Finally, the world seems turning around from Covid theme, to a bit normal-life theme! Let’s celebrate the world’s re-opening with ‘TubeVIP’ Insider pricing!

What is TubeVIP?

Step 1: Sign up for our TubeVIP membership with perks of extended warranty on high end tubes, current & future exclusive member-only insider pricing and specials, plus more perks to come!

TubeVIP Membership is priced for US$29.99-$39.99 per year. Read ‘TubeVIP membership’ full details& perks HERE.

Step 2: Once you have completed your order for your desired TubeVIP membership, your account will be assigned to to VIP membership status instantly. From here on, when you login to your account, you will see our current ‘TubeVIP member-only pricing’ on relevant product listing pages. You can place order from here on with all membership perks attached for your new orders, for the duration of your membership.

Please note the current TubeVIP insider pricing is limited to Linlai™ Global Elite series, WE Replica Series and DG Series. Grant Fidelity’s Special Edition tubes are not included due to their limited availability.

Happy Tube Rolling, and enjoy the summer!

Rachel @ Grant Fidelity