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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

Linlai™ Global E-6SN7 on Feliks Euforia Headphone amp: from Germany

We have just received the feedback below from Greg K from Germany! Greg owns a ‘Feliks Euforia headphone amplifier’ which came with Psvane CV181-TII as driver tubes.

Read about his first impression after swapping to [Linlai™ Global] E-6SN7 for 26hrs – it might help those who wish to know how the E-6SN7 compared to Psvane tubes: (note: Linlai tubes full burn-in will take approximately 100hrs)

“I have now burned in the tubes for a good 26 hours so far.And on the Feliks Euforia, where the Psvane CV181-TII were before, a lot has happened. I listened with the Audeze Lcd 2 C headphones which are quite neutral. And relabelled 6080 Sylvania power tubes which also arrived on Saturday.

Compared to the Linlai Global E-6SN7, the Psvane are quite neutral in sound. I noticed this immediately after the exchange. This is no longer the case with the Lin Lai, they play much warmer.

The bass has increased considerably where before they were bloodless in direct comparison to the Psvane CV181-TII. The good thing about the Linlai is that the mids and highs are relatively unchanged compared to the Psvane CV181-TII. I didn’t notice any loss there, they seem to have gained a bit of sparkle.

They are also more accurate, closer to the music and go a bit deeper in the highs and a bit longer in the low end. Detail resolution is also very good, I like it better than the Psvane tubes.

Vocals are a bit more distant and more central than with the Psvane, or less voice accentuated, which I personally find better.

All in all, they are definitely worth the money and improve the sound of the Feliks Euforia dramatically. Before I was always getting disturbed by something, but that has gone since the first hour since the Linlai have been in. I don’t regret buying them. Much more the Psvane that you can book at Feliks.

It makes the Feliks neutral but cold, with the Linlai it’s just the opposite.

That was my first impression and I know they still need a little time to burn in. But they are getting better by the hour. Linlai has done a really good job. It also shows that after such a short time they are already so open and show the direction they are going in.

I am enthusiastic about the tubes. And I wanted to tell you that much about how good they are in the first hour.

With Kind regards
Greg”

Is the ‘Top 10% Best of Best Grade’ worth the money?

You may have noticed that our tube offerings are priced to different gradings – the best, also the most expensive, grade is ‘Top 10% Best of Best Grade’ at a price premium over typical ‘factory QC pass grade’.

Is the ‘Top 10% Best of Best Grade’ worth the money? What are you paying for the best grade?

Tubes, like most bulk commodities, are graded according to their tested parameters from lab equipment. Although vacuum tubes are industrial products, they are not cookie-cutting universal exactly the same when rolling off the production line. Consider tubes like premium coffee beans: They are all coffee beans, but not all the same coffee beans, and are not sold at all the same price.

Tubes are hand-made products. Many human factors play into the final quality and lifespan of tubes. Tubes are also live creatures – they are not in static fixed state through their lifespan – they change with the environment they work in, and change itself unexpectedly like a ‘living creature’.

An example on 300B tubes:

A factory QC pass grade 300B tube can have 60-70% of full emission but still considered ‘QC pass’ by a tube factory. Our selected ‘top 10% Best of Best grade’ will have minimum 85% up to 110% of full emission. The top grade will have approximately extra 30%-50% emission (in comparison terms between the two grades) to allow your tubes last much much longer.

Additional screening of our ‘Top 10% Best of Best Grade’ also have matched transconductance to the best possible range and no other imperfections in tested specs.

Why called top 10%? Because these tubes only take about 10% of the entire tube production batch. They are rare and hard to come by, when ALL parameters considered.

This comparison on 300B grading also applies on other tube models.

If budget isn’t an issue, we as buyers would personally go with top 10% best of best grade on these high end tubes, to make sure to get the best possible commodity for longest time enjoyment. 

Hope this helps with your tube purchase selection!

Rachel @ Grant Fidelity

Can your 6SN7 replace my 6SN7GT, 6SN7GTA, 6SN7GTB?

We sometimes receive amp owners question about tube substitute related to 6SN7. Here is a short summary:

  1. GT stands for ‘Glass Tube’.
  2. GTA is an enhanced version of original GT version – to allow higher plate dissipation than the GT version.
  3. GTB is variant of GTA, with a heater warmer control to further enhance reliability when this tube was used in TVs.
  4. Very early 6SN7 tubes can handle max 300V. Today’s new production 6SN7 tubes can handle max 450V.
  5. In short, new production 6SN7 can replace your old 6SN7 without frying the tubes. But you should not use a NOS 6SN7 designed to handle 300V, into a modern circuit of 450V.
  6. All our listed 6SN7 tubes (no matter what suffix it has) can electronically replace 6SN7GT, 6SN7GTA, and 6SN7GTB.
  7. Do check dimension clearance to make sure the different glass bulb shape can fit into your amp space!

Happy tube rolling!

We are ‘Global Shopping Friendly’: Multiple Currencies & EU / UK Zone

We now offer multi-currency shopping to worldwide customers in US$, Euro €, and CAD$!

You can simply select your desired currency on the right side of this website, and view all product pricing in that currency, shop and make payment in that currency. 

Currency exchange rate is updated EVERY MINUTE in real time, as per global foreign exchange market. (Please note exchange rate posted on xe.com is for mid-market rate reference only. Retail banking exchange rate is usually higher with a retail banking spread added by the banks.)

We have also added ‘Direct bank transfer’ payment in US$, Euro and CAD$ method besides Paypal & Credit Card payment methods. 

For EU/UK zone customers, starting Jan 1st, 2021 for UK and July 1st, 2021 for EU, we will not ship any orders valued BELOW 150 Euro or 135GBP due to new VAT regulations implemented in these regions. Orders above these value threshold will not be affected and will be shipped as usual. 

For EU/UK zone customers, we strongly suggest customers to choose ‘Express DHL’ shipment method. Although paying a small extra cost than other shipping methods, you will have real time full tracking from start to finish, the fastest shipping transit time and customs clearance in destination country is automatically done by courier DHL Express with digital invoice pre-submitted by us – no need to line up at a local postal office for pickup and if any tax amount due, you usually can pay it before delivery date online with DHL. It is time saving and hassle saving! 

Happy Listening and Happy Global Shopping!

Grant Fidelity

6SN7SE Globe Tube Tips – ‘You Raise Me Up’

Some amps have preamp 6SN7 tubes placed in a very tight real estate – i.e. two tubes are placed very closely to each other so the new high end 6SN7 with curved larger / wider glass enclosure cannot fit in side by side.

A customer from Europe recently told me his solution and I think it is worthwhile to share! That is – use a socket saver to raise one of the tubes up!

Just google ‘8 pin socket saver’ (not ‘socket adapter’ which may change pin layout connections) and make sure to purchase from a reputable audio parts vendor. Some lower quality socket saver can introduce current leakage to your circuit and cause unexpected noise issues.

Happy Listening!

6SN7SE Globe – ‘The SE blows them all out of the water’

Feedback received from Craig M. on GF Special Edition – Treasure 6SN7SE Globe:

“Rachel,
I got my SE’s today!  I must say … I have spent a LOT of money on boutique 6SN7 variants and I have never heard anything like this before!  I am running a DIY 6SN7 line stage that was designed by Jack Elliano of Electra-Print.  This is by far the best 6SN7 I have ever heard.  I have NOS Sylvania Bad Boys, TJ, Black Treasure, various JAN and there is NO comparison!  The SE blows them all out of the water…”