Fairly recently Psvane released new line of tubes called Horizon. I’ve seen a few good reviews for the line, so I decided to buy 12au7 and see what the NEW, IMPROVED tubes from China are like.
The tubes have been nicely packaged and measured really well – tightly balanced on transconductance, grain was balanced as well. Overall noise levels were good at -85/-86 level. But that’s where the good things ended. Despite low noise, one of the tubes was very microphonic, so quality control is still non-existent for the tubes.
I really hopped that the tubes would sound good because they are fairly priced around $45 for a pair. But my hopes were shattered as I plugged them in. The good news the tubes didn’t have sharpness at the top that Chinese tubes usually have. The sound was well balanced, even a bit on the dark side. However, sound stage was very small – reminding me of a cheap SS amp. Just to check my equipment, I replaced them with cheap GE 5814 gray plates tubes and all went back to normal. The sound opened up became three dimensional and darkness went away. Tried the same experiment with my headphone amp, same results.
Some would argue that to get the best out of Chinese tubes they need to be burned in for 100-200 hours. I would say – why??? If they need them to be burned in for that long, they should do it at the factory. That’s what the factories did before. Why should I suffer with garbage sound for so long??? I did burn them in for 48 hours – nothing changed.
These tubes are more expensive and sound worst than many old stock 12au7 available on eBay, so I still don’t see the point of buying them vs old stock.
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Fairly recently Psvane released new line of tubes called Horizon. I’ve seen a few good reviews for the line, so I decided to buy 12au7 and see what the NEW, IMPROVED tubes from China are like.
The tubes have been nicely packaged and measured really well – tightly balanced on transconductance, grain was balanced as well. Overall noise levels were good at -85/-86 level. But that’s where the good things ended. Despite low noise, one of the tubes was very microphonic, so quality control is still non-existent for the tubes.
I really hopped that the tubes would sound good because they are fairly priced around $45 for a pair. But my hopes were shattered as I plugged them in. The good news the tubes didn’t have sharpness at the top that Chinese tubes usually have. The sound was well balanced, even a bit on the dark side. However, sound stage was very small – reminding me of a cheap SS amp. Just to check my equipment, I replaced them with cheap GE 5814 gray plates tubes and all went back to normal. The sound opened up became three dimensional and darkness went away. Tried the same experiment with my headphone amp, same results.
Some would argue that to get the best out of Chinese tubes they need to be burned in for 100-200 hours. I would say – why??? If they need them to be burned in for that long, they should do it at the factory. That’s what the factories did before. Why should I suffer with garbage sound for so long??? I did burn them in for 48 hours – nothing changed.
These tubes are more expensive and sound worst than many old stock 12au7 available on eBay, so I still don’t see the point of buying them vs old stock.