by customer Atom shop:

I’ve been familiar with the Chinese Shuguang brand of tubes for some time. I’ve got a very rare collection of the original nickel-plate 7025 Select Silver Series which went out of production long ago. Bellari used these in their early VP129 phono preamps. McIntosh has used the comparable grey-plate 12AX7 version in their gear. (my own Mac’s stock tubes)

A while back I upgraded my Mac 275 outputs to the Shuguang KT-88 Black Bottle series. THAT was no insignifigant improvement! What a gorgeous aural sensation.

Now come the Shuguang Psvane Reference Series. I got a pair of nicely-boxed 12Ax7’s to try between my Mac C2300 and same 275. No matter where I put them the result was another several notches higher in performance. 

Holy Freakin’ Crapolla! The short rewiew: greatly improved dynamics, wider and deeper soundstage, increased air and space in the upper octaves, more slam in the bottom and just plain better resolution in harmonic detail overall from top to bottom. If ‘it’ is there, you here it better. If ‘it’ doesn’t exist, there’s no filler added to color the sound. 

I used to cherish my NOS Telefunken ECC83’s in the Mac’s phono stage. Not anymore! This pair of Shuguang-ies have now moved in and made it THEIR home.  They might be a smidgeon noisier but that’s hardly heard with program. (My current favorites at the Mac outputs are a pair of NOS Tesla yellow-ink, frame-grid E83CC’s. A super match in performance characteristics with the Shuguang-ies.)

I’ve tried all types of tubes in my Macs and over time I’ve cultivated a select few which I rotate from time to time. Along with my eggs there’re days I like bacon; ham is always a tasty choice. Another option is sausage links. 

My tube collection gives me a lot of HIGH-fi possibilities from which to choose from to satisfy my aural tastes. At this point, though, the Shuguang gang could take over the neighborhood. I’m going to try their 12AT7’s as well.