Feedback received via email from Kirk V. in USA:
“The tubes are magnificent. The change in musical quality is astonishing. This is the best investment I have made after spending thousands to improve the signal path. I cannot believe how much music I have missed until now.
Kirk”
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”
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
We sometimes receive amp owners question about tube substitute related to 6SN7. Here is a short summary:
Happy tube rolling!
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
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!
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…”
After over a decade of marketing Psvane tube brand from its ground zero back in 2009 when they just split off from the state-owned Shuguang tube factory in China, Grant Fidelity have made the decision to discontinue the ENTIRE LINE of Psvane branded vacuum tubes, effective 8pm Mountain Standard Time, Sunday, Feb 7th, 2021.
WHY?
When one supplier tries to restrict their business partner from doing business with another supplier, common sense is that the act is often derived from the fear of losing its existing and future market share.
What can cause one brand losing market share to another new comer? It is often due to its products losing competitiveness on the market – either quality, or price, or both.
No one will waste their breath to suppress another supplier who demonstrates no threat at all – especially when for tube reselling business, it is common practice for a reseller to carry multiple tube brands at the same time to provide a range of options to their customers.
Psvane has been in process of transitioning from supplying for high end tube audio only to include the mass guitar amp consumer market. This transition, we firmly believe, will compromise its high end vacuum tubes quality control. As a matter of fact, we had seen decline of the tube re-testing results of the Psvane stock we have received over the time leading up to this current event, despite of our specified screening parameters. The confirmed test results decline is our main reason to seek Linlai™ brand as additional supplier to maintain our top quality commitment for our high end clientele.
Psvane brand made it clear to Grant Fidelity that Psvane are OK with Grant Fidelity to carry any OTHER brands of tubes originated from China, Russia or other European origins EXCEPT Linlai™ brand due to their ‘personal grudges’ (related to financial interests of how to divide the profit while they were all still with Psvane) with the owners behind the Linlai™ brand. Grant Fidelity is simply NOT allowed to do business with Linlai brand and Psvane brand at the same time.
From Grant Fidelity’s perspective, this dictation from Psvane on whom Grant Fidelity can, or cannot, do business with is absolutely unprofessional and unacceptable. It is a form of supply chain bully in our opinion. The conflicts between Psvane and Linlai shareholders are their internal matters. Grant Fidelity will not tolerate to be forced into a position to pick sides on such internal matters, and certainly will not risk our own inventory supply & quality with it.
It is Grant Fidelity’s absolute principle to ALWAYS operate as an independent business and thrive to hold our high level business ethics and standards. Grant Fidelity work for our customers by providing quality products, at their deserved fair price, and with our best possible service. Grant Fidelity do NOT bend to the interest of any particular tube suppliers, period.
Here is the run-down of the events for those who are curious and care to know:
Psvane act #1: In November 2020, we received written communication from Psvane’s top manager expressing ‘concerns’ of Grant Fidelity carrying their direct competitor – Linlai™ branded vacuum tubes. (If you have read our post about ‘Who is Linlai™‘, you will understand the owners of Linlai™ Tube factory used to be a core part of Psvane team, and exited Psvane due to irreconcilable disagreement on profit sharing resulted from Psvane’s growth. )
Grant Fidelity response #1: Our business is to serve our worldwide customers. Offering product varieties to our customer is our legitimate independent business decision. We expressed our concerns that the action of Psvane trying to interfere free market competition by restricting us from carrying their competition’s products, may not be legit in western business context and we are not willing to participate such a controversial act.
Psvane soon-to-follow act #2: Unilaterally dropped Grant Fidelity’s recognition as ‘top level reseller’ and raised our purchase cost by a ‘very significant’ percentage. (What’s the logic behind this? To revenge because Grant Fidelity didn’t bother to obtain their approval to expand our own product offerings with their competitor’s brand?? )
Grant Fidelity response #2: We agreed to the significant price increase, and plan to adjust our Psvane product mix to focus more on high end tubes, and less on mid-level products to reduce the impact of cost increase, of course all on condition that the high end tubes must come with actual high quality.
Psvane immediate act #3: Unilaterally announced to STOP offering tube ‘selection & screening service’, with the tube testing equipment that is owned by Grant Fidelity, provided and located at Psvane factory since 2009 (Psvane’s beginning of operation) till now, 2021. (What’s the logic of this act? Providing Grant Fidelity non-selected mixed quality of tubes, including those we have clearly set criteria to reject for the past decade, so that Grant Fidelity’s reputation will drop to sell ‘Chinese crap’ as some angry customers have expressed online, when they got sub-quality tubes from Chinese vendors?? )
FYI, in the past 12 months, Grant Fidelity have returned 161 tubes (valued approximately US $20,000+) from the Psvane factory deliveries, EVEN AFTER the screening at the tube factory with our provided test equipment, and AFTER we paid a price premium for the screening and selection service. That is nearly every other day we have identified a defective tube from the supply of ‘so called screened’ Psvane tubes. In the past decade, we have returned thousands of defective tubes all together to the Psvane factory.
Grant Fidelity response #3: We are immediately collecting our valued $5000+ tube testing equipment from Psvane tube factory, rather than leaving it there to collect dust and serve NO quality control purpose it was meant to for us.
Psvane immediate act #4: Sending a written notice to us to request us to STOP selling Psvane branded tubes all together, with reason as ‘We Psvane don’t want our Psvane products to be compared with Linlai™ tubes’.
Grant Fidelity response #4: We refuse to be cyber-censored. Grant Fidelity is NOT a puppet to any supplier. And yes, we indeed found the quality deterioration of Psvane ACME series test results vs. Linlai Global Elite series in the past months when we had both in our inventory, before the current Psvane discontinuation event. Many inferior quality Psvane ACME tubes were mixed into our inbound Psvane factory shipment even after we paid for price premiums. There is also event that Psvane refuses to acknowledge ‘red plating’ is a potential quality problem for the ACME hybrid plate design.
After these 4 rounds of back and forth, I, as owner of Grant Fidelity, have come to clear conclusion that, we, Grant Fidelity, can no longer do business with Psvane. The business interaction with Psvane is no longer acceptable to what we are accustomed to in western business practice. Grant Fidelity will NOT be forced by anyone to limit our supplier to a specific brand only, plus quality dictated by such a brand – It will put our very own hard-earned business reputation at great risk from a Chinese supplier, who apparently do not understand how to deal with competition in a positive manner, and accept the fact of a failed partnership with their ex business partners is their own internal matter, not ours. In our opinion, Psvane’s right action should be focusing on improving products to maintain competitive edge to continue winning new customers. There is nothing to fear from healthy competition, if what Psvane offered is indeed preferred by the market. The very act of Psvane’s attempt to control us is the exact proof that Psvane themselves are lack of confidence in their own products in coming competition.
What NEXT?
Starting immediately as of Jan 26th 8pm Mountain Standard Time, 2021, we are putting a ‘pause’ on all outbound order shipping, when we count inventories to get ready to return ALL Psvane branded tubes back to Psvane factory. The shipping pause will be until Feb 6th, 2021.
From 8pm MST Jan 26th to 8pm MST Feb 7th, customers may still place online orders with us for Psvane tubes that we have in stock and only for those we deem quality meet our criteria. This is to allow customers to have final window of time to purchase Grant Fidelity approved quality tubes. All orders (including ALL brands of tubes, not just Psvane) placed during ‘pause’ time will be packed and shipped by end of Monday Feb 8th, 2021. If any orders are found not possible to be fulfilled due to quality issues we identify at packing phase, you will receive full refund by end of Feb 8th, 2021.
Online orders for ALL Psvane tubes will be PERMANENTLY CLOSED as of Feb 7th 8pm MST, 2021. We will cease to resell any Psvane tubes as of that cut off time.
All past Psvane tube orders and new Psvane tube orders fulfilled by Feb 8th, 2021 will have our tube warranty still honored in the form of either refund (minus shipping cost), or credit to replace with other brands of tubes of buyers’ choice.
We are rolling out more Linlai™ branded tubes VERY SOON- specifically, [Linlai™ Global] branded tubes that Linlai™ factory has embraced with production and quality screening to western standard, but not ‘just another Chinese tube brand’. You will see more [Linlai™ Global] tubes added to our website in the next few weeks. You can also learn more about this new brand from [Linlai™ Global] official English website.
The final words:
Hope this post has answered all the possible guessing and gossiping of why Grant Fidelity cease to resell the entire Psvane line of products. Now you have the entire drama scenes 🙂
All GF Special Edition tubes and Shuguang Treasure tubes will NOT be affected by this event and availability as usual as seen on the website.
Happy Listening,
And enjoy our precious freedom of choice, plus freedom of expressing opinions without any form of online offline censorship,
Rachel @ Grant Fidelity
We have wrapped up our close-out of all Psvane line of products from our website as planned, as of Feb 7th, 2021.
All categories / product listing related to Psvane brand has been marked as [DISCONTINUED] throughout the website. The listing contents will be left on the webpage for the time being, for past customers to refer to when needed. All Psvane tubes stock status has been changed to ‘out of stock’. No order for any Psvane products can be placed as of Feb 14th, 2021.
What next? The Post Psvane Phase…
We will be adding available Linlai™ Global tubes to our website in the rest of February. To have a first peek of what will be available and tube models etc, you can for now view the [Linlai™ Global] factory’s official English website. Our website [Premium Vacuum Tubes] will be updated shortly once we complete the entire wrap up of Psvane.
Our [Linlai™ Global] tube stock will be replenished once Linlai™ factory is back to work from the lengthy Chinese New Year holidays – which will run till Feb 22nd at least, then factory will produce new batches of tubes. We will update [Linlai™ Global] stock status as soon as we have updates and new deliveries. We will also open known-available tube models for backorders soon, for those who cannot wait 🙂
Stay TUNED!
Rachel @ Grant Fidelity
Eric D. from France is an industry pro specialized in ultra high end cabling. His audition skills are professional and field proven, and here is what he said about after owning a pair of [Linlai™ Global] E-845 top grade tubes:
“The Linlai E-845s are very nicely built. You can tell by looking inside
the glass tube that they are manufactured with care. When brand new,
they performed nicely, but it was after about 120 to 150 hours that they
really came alive. They really need that burn-in time to reveal their
full potential. I’m not the patient type, but this time I was glad I
waited.
All the qualities the best 845s are renowned for are there. Let’s talk about dynamics first : a bit timid during the burn-in time, dynamics become quite exceptional after 100hrs and when tubes and amp reach their optimal operating temperature. They are extremely fast, with lots of impact and speed, speed and more speed. Extension in the bass is quite impressive and treble is exactly what you expect : not a trace of harshness but lots of details. Midrange is just exceptional, voices come alive to a point that I’ve very rarely experienced before. The timbres of acoustic instrument are very real, and that is quite obvious on violin or cello.
Soundstaging is outstanding, both in depth, width and accuracy. And there’s air between the instruments, something you can only hear when you are in the presence of real high-end gear. Pitch-black silence is another telltale sign of that.
On rock or blues, you can easily identify what guitar or amp is being played. A Strat sounds like a Strat, and there’s no mistaking a Les Paul or a Tele for anything else.
Comparing them to a pair of RCAs a friend brought around, the Linlai E-845s did at least as good as them in all fields, but they have a greater sense of immediacy, something that makes you feel more connected to the music….
Thanks a lot Rachel, those tubes are real keepers!
Cheers,
Eric”