12AU7 Genalex or Psvane for Cayin Hybrid Integrated H80A

tooblue,
Thanks for the rec'; what others did you try before settling on Psvane?
-E

johnss,
How does the ’VANE’ compare to GL? Don’t know if GE 5814 is compatible w/ my H80A. I do feel GL is warmer than EH in my system. EH is ’harder’ by comparison - more listener fatigue; GL much less fatigue.

auxinput,
I do prefer the warmth of the GL currently running; was put off by EH hardness once I replaced them w/ GL; didn’t know the difference until the swap. Was pleasantly surprised w/ 1st listen of GL. I am somewhat hesitant to go w/ Psvane since some say they are bright - but perhaps system dependent.

I already have incredible resolution/detail, and dynamics with very tight bass, yet still warm sounding to my ears. I may want to try something different, hence the Psvane under consideration.

Anyone actually carry these in stock near the Pacific Northwest? I am only finding them available to order online coming from HK/China.

Just now discovered Viva Tubes with their 12au7 offerings. I think I may prefer to order from them since they are in mainland US. I would rather not have to wait for weeks on end for products from HK. However, Viva, although they do carry Psvane brand, they do not have the Psvane 12au7 even listed.

What others do you recommend considering in addition to Gold Lion & Psvane?

nitewulf,
Apologies, I'm not sure what a phase splitter is, but the H80A is a hybrid with a TUBE preamp section & SS power amp section. The 2 tubes 12au7 are input tubes for the preamp section.
-E

So for those who are recommending NOS, other than those already mentioned (Andy, Brent), who else are reliable & trustworthy? I do want to try NOS someday even though I feel my system is almost perfect in every aspect of sound quality I value. BTW, I highly value a deep & wide soundstage, intrinsic detail retrieval (instrument/vocal(s) placement & separation), and full accurate tight bass. But I also enjoy a warm & engaging sound that will not fatigue - I listen for hours on end.

I really haven’t done much tube rolling after this last set of GL, which when initially installed sounded absolutely glorious. They were not bright or hard or glassy; right out of the gate they were just sublime. I have had them in for at least a year or more now & their character has not changed. I probably have nearly 500 hours or more on them & Im still floored by them.

If Psvane’s are bright out of the gate, I may not even want to try them. Not to imply that after 50 to 100 hours or so I may not actually like them, but I am somewhat skeptical about burn in time. Only because in my limited experience or perhaps it is with my system, waiting hundreds of hours for the tubes to settle in has not really the case for me. And this has applied to the tubes in all three of my components that use tubes; Integrated, CD player & Phone Stage. They all, btw, have GL at the moment.

Wow, much food for thought here; thanks folks. Haven’t yet pulled the trigger on any 12au7 yet. Making phone calls on those NOS experts, but still open to differing opinions / observations.

Very curious how a true NOS tube will fair in my system, since I have never tried any NOS tube. Concerned mostly with noise that some report NOS tubes exhibit, but then again that concern may apply to just about any tube.

One thing for certain, I do not like bright overly detailed. My preference is warm, full bodied, and awesome bass; dare I say, 'Dark' . . . so maybe NOS Mullard will be my cup of tea?

BTW, for NOS, Upscale Audio is recommending Brimar over Mullard NOS. Anyone with Brimar experience?

milpai,

Are you tube rolling too? My experience with Genalex Gold Lions have been very positive; hope you have the same experience. I have not yet pulled the trigger on Psvane's; they may not be what I am after. I may just go for the Brimar's only because of what is being said about them compared to Mullard's.

ericjcabrera