Feedback received from our long time customer Barry H. in Vancouver, Canada:

“I now own Space-Tech Laboratory SE-845-100W mono blocks that are single ended DHT pure class A triode OTL power amplifiers that were designed and hand built in Vancouver.  They came with Psvane 845 Hi-Fi tubes and I was very happy with the sonics. Unfortunately, the adhesive holding the base to the glass failed after a year so I went looking for replacements and found Grant Fidelity’s website where I bought a set of Psvane WE845 tubes.  They are great tubes but I couldn’t find the correct configuration of preamp tubes to make music the way I liked.  I then ordered a pair of Psvane 845-TII Black Special Edition tubes that provided the warm texture that I enjoy.

Over the last year, I have upgraded my digital front with a KT-150 based upsampling DAC, re-clocker, switch and linear power supplies to the point where I was suspecting that the Black Special 845 tubes were holding back my system’s potential.  I went back to Grant Fidelity and found the new tube manufacturer, Linlai.  My logic was that if a group of Engineers left Shuguang to form Psvane, who are now a premium manufacturer, then the group who left Psvane to form Linlai must believe they can produce products at or better than Psvane.  Rachel’s honesty about their warranty was all I needed to order the factory grade version of the Linlai 845-DG.

After the 845-DG arrived I listened to them for 2 hours and then began the burn-in process for 7 days, listening each evening for about an hour.  They did improve until the 150-hour mark to the point that I did not hear an improvement at 175 hours.  My impressions of the 845-DG vs the Psvane 845-TII (Black Special Edition) after 175 hours are:

I call them(Linlai 845-DG) 300B tubes that were fed performance enhancing drugs!  Smooth, delicate, air, no harshness and wonderful dynamics. A blacker background with a wider and deeper soundstage with clarity of all instruments.  I can discern a cedar top guitar from a maple one. Cymbals and bells float with a long decay. Bass has the articulation and warmth that I crave so, in comparison, the Psvane 845 T-II sounds like they are wrapped in a Kashmir sweater that must be smearing some details. The vibration of strings on upright bass and piano are easily heard. My addiction to snare drum rim shots is satisfied.

These 845-DG tubes have turned my system into the best I have ever experienced in my home and I couldn’t be happier. They and can lay claim to being expertly designed and built!

Barry H., Vancouver”