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Best 845 tube out there?

I am running a pair of Cary CAD-211AE monoblocks with the standard no-name Chinese tubes shipped by Cary. Whilst I am happy with the sound, I think I should buy a pair of 845's to keep as backup in case something happens to these tubes.

Because I will need to buy FOUR of them, this rules out any tube that sells for stupid money (e.g. vintage RCA 845 tubes).

The only current production 845's I am aware of are:

- Shuguang 845 "standard"
- Shuguang 845B
- Shuguang 845C
- Shuguang PSVANE 845
- KR Audio 845

I have found reviews of the Shuguang 845B and 845C, but there is virtually no information out there on the new Shuguang "psvane" 845. Has anybody heard this valve, and is it a noticable improvement over the 845B and C? Also, what do people think of the KR?
amfibius

Showing 3 responses by jkuc

jkuc
181 posts
 
Nhocti, could you comment on Shuguang 845-T Natural Sound? Thanks!
jkuc
181 posts
 
I hear one drawback of Psvane 845T MkII though. The imiges are slightly less "dense", slightly less palpable when compared to 845B. I wonder what WE845 is like? I've read it has even more detail, more "air" but.. does it trade some image density, palpability for airiness? Where would you place it?
jkuc
181 posts
 
I’ve been using Mastersound 845 for three years, power tubes Shuguang 845B. I lost two of them in that period, one after 6 months and another one after two years (was plying 1200-1300 hours a year). Recently I've replaced 845B tubes with Psvane 845T mkII. The difference between 845B and Psvane 845T is obvious and instantly audible.
The thirst thing you hear Psvane is a cleaner sounding tube, less noise.
Psvane 845T MkII has much better HF extension and is a better resolving tube. You get better detail across the whole frequency spectrum. There is more low level detail, soundstage has more “air”, more ambience info. Images are more precisely drawn within the soundstage, localization of instruments more stable. 845B images are a bit vague in comparison. Overall Psvane 845T has better clarity, better transparency and slightly improved dynamics.
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