Yes I have an octet of the Gold Lion KT-88 reissues. I am only have experienced the typical break in nothing extra, actually somewhat less.
However the minute I put them in I found them to be excellent. There was and still is more tonal balance with a forward midrange than my previous experience with KT-88s.
I did get the selected by a dealer who is very careful and I think burns them in for 24 hours prior to testing to make up an order. The entire octet is matched. The same fundamental sonics were present when I put them in another amp I bought. I think selection of power tubes in general is important and may be the reason for any discrepancy if the topology isn't one that produces a shrill sound. If the tube was thin in any amp it would have been demnstrated by the second amp, a Jadis DA-60.
You should baer in mind that a well run down set of tubes will frequently become mellow or even just degraded in some areas such as treble. You may not have had a very different experience if you replaced the whole octet at once with the EH's.
BTW factory matching and hand selection by a very experienced dealer are two very different things.
I can whole heartedly recommend Jim McShane over on Audio Asylum. He is very careful and rejects a number of tubes from every batch he carries as unacceptable. It appears he is genuinely commited to selling only good tubes and won't carry any given tube otherwise.
The price for new production is only slightly higher than other sources, but not all that much. He doesn't have an optiional no testing price. He sells the "gamut" from NOS to current. He periodically checks the quality of tubes being issued from manufacturers that he has discontinued due to problems with reliabilty.
With NOS/OS tubes he sells tubes which he thinks are sonically superior and a reasonable value. He frequently eats the cost of a bad bunch of NOS/OS tubes even for microphonics.
I was somewhat skeptical of the over the top, slavish loyal following he has cultivated. I am now fairly certain the praise his customers have given him are earnest.
As an inveterate tube roller I like to discover whether a tube has my kind of sound so i wasn't thrilled with the prospect of being told in a sense what is good and what isn't. However with the current cost of OS tubes at insanely high levels, it may make more sense for you to go with him or other truly good principled seller. I can no longer afford "AS iS" sales. The people I now try to buy from stand behind the tubes they sell.
I have no conflict of interest to reveal and I am ,so far, just a happy customer .
However the minute I put them in I found them to be excellent. There was and still is more tonal balance with a forward midrange than my previous experience with KT-88s.
I did get the selected by a dealer who is very careful and I think burns them in for 24 hours prior to testing to make up an order. The entire octet is matched. The same fundamental sonics were present when I put them in another amp I bought. I think selection of power tubes in general is important and may be the reason for any discrepancy if the topology isn't one that produces a shrill sound. If the tube was thin in any amp it would have been demnstrated by the second amp, a Jadis DA-60.
You should baer in mind that a well run down set of tubes will frequently become mellow or even just degraded in some areas such as treble. You may not have had a very different experience if you replaced the whole octet at once with the EH's.
BTW factory matching and hand selection by a very experienced dealer are two very different things.
I can whole heartedly recommend Jim McShane over on Audio Asylum. He is very careful and rejects a number of tubes from every batch he carries as unacceptable. It appears he is genuinely commited to selling only good tubes and won't carry any given tube otherwise.
The price for new production is only slightly higher than other sources, but not all that much. He doesn't have an optiional no testing price. He sells the "gamut" from NOS to current. He periodically checks the quality of tubes being issued from manufacturers that he has discontinued due to problems with reliabilty.
With NOS/OS tubes he sells tubes which he thinks are sonically superior and a reasonable value. He frequently eats the cost of a bad bunch of NOS/OS tubes even for microphonics.
I was somewhat skeptical of the over the top, slavish loyal following he has cultivated. I am now fairly certain the praise his customers have given him are earnest.
As an inveterate tube roller I like to discover whether a tube has my kind of sound so i wasn't thrilled with the prospect of being told in a sense what is good and what isn't. However with the current cost of OS tubes at insanely high levels, it may make more sense for you to go with him or other truly good principled seller. I can no longer afford "AS iS" sales. The people I now try to buy from stand behind the tubes they sell.
I have no conflict of interest to reveal and I am ,so far, just a happy customer .