Navigating USA tariff – ‘de minimis’ duty free ends May 2nd

USA currently still allows ‘De Minimis‘ duty free import for goods valued below US $800 per person, per day, of China origin. However, this duty free treatment according to Trump executive order will only be effective until May 2nd, 2025.

The good news is that this US $800 ‘de minimis’ duty free threshold covers most of our tubes. For those over US $800 pricing, it is also worth mentioning that tariff is applicable only to tangible goods but not on intangible services included with a purchase.

To catch the May 2nd de minimis duty free import deadline, the shipment must crosses the USA border BEFORE May 1st. At this time, we STRONGLY recommend customers to place order with EXPRESS shipping (it is only $15 extra compared to USPS shipping) to be sure the parcel will be processed through customs before May 1st. We cannot be responsible for any parcel delayed by USPS to post May 1st customs processing – and we expect long queues will form as we get closer to the deadline.

European Customers: Rebate for import charges

We have retired the previous ‘Europe import charges Pre-Paid’ pricing for Euro orders in order to adapt to the ever changing import rules worldwide.

We have adjusted our website EUR pricing to ‘excluding VAT’ basis so now you see a lower EUR pricing on our website. Europeans customers can also choose to place order in USD currency – both USD/EUR orders to Europe will qualify for import charges rebate.

When your parcel enters European customs, if any import charges occur and paid by you at delivery, you can submit 1) the copy of customs charges bill and 2) proof of payment to us within 7 calendar days for a rebate equal to 50% of the actual customs billing amount, but no more than 50% of your country’s VAT on the net vacuum tube price.

For example: if customs billing is 200 EUR (50% of 200 EUR = 100 EUR), and you bought a tube priced at 800 EUR, and your country’s VAT is 19%. The maximum claim you can file with us is 76 EUR (800 x 19% x 50% = 76 EUR). Please note the import charges bill must be the official bill so be sure to keep it in order to take a photo or scan to .pdf file. (An email stating ‘I have paid this much’ does not suffice for the claim). The rebate of customs billing is issued by a reverse fund to your payment method used.

Linlai Global E-845 vs. Psvane ACME 845: ‘almost immediately sense the superiority of the Elites’

Received from customer James H. via email:

“When looking for a review of the Linlai Elite E-845, I could not find anyone who was able to compare it to the Psvane Acme 845, which is the tube’s nearest competitor….

I have the Line Magnetic 845 Premium which uses a pair of 845’s & 300B’s. I will say that the Linlai (Global) Elite E-845s have taken a very long time to sound good for me. It took about 75 hours for me to begin to like them. I do like them quite a bit now after about 100 hours.

I also have a pair of Psvane Acme 845s… which will be up for sale very soon. I did not really have to A/B the Acme’s with the Elite’s to almost immediately sense the superiority of the Elites. The Acme’s were veiled, cloudy, dark, reticent, and very much stuck in the speaker box compared to the Linlai Elite E-845s which have the opposite traits. The Linlai Elite E-845s are just in an altogether different league than the Psvane Acme 845s.

Frequent Order Tracking Questions – Read before email

Here are answers to the frequently asked order tracking questions – please read it before using ‘contact us’ form to send email. It may have answered your question and save you time to write emails!

  1. Order placed – when will the order be shipped?

Answer: Typically within 48 hours (2 business days, excluding weekends and holidays that our business location – Alberta, Canada, observes locally). If for some reason your order cannot be shipped within that time frame, you will receive an email from us with details.

2. Can you send me tracking number once order is shipped？

Answer: All order shipping updates are done automatically to our online webstore order system. Please use your email (the one you used to place order) to login your account to see most up-to-date updates. If you didn’t register an account at the time of order, you can register it now with your same email. The website will send you a password automatically for you to login. You can change the default password if you wish after you login.

3. Why I didn’t receive the account login credentials email or any order updates?

Answer: The most common reasons are – Reason #1: you might have a typo in your email address when you register your account so the emails cannot be delivered. Simply register a new account with your correct email again. Reason #2: your email server blocked our email as spam. It is common these days that email server blocks out automatic emails. Please add grantfidelity at gmail dot com in your email contact list and mark us as a ‘safe sender’. Reason #3: For those using gmail, automatic emails are often routed to sub-folders in your inbox or Spam folder – Inbox subfolders are called ‘Promotions’ or ‘Social’ or ‘Updates’. You can find those Gmail inbox tabs in horizontal in your gmail inbox top header. Be sure to check your spam folder too, and add us to your safe sender contact list.

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