I don't know about KT-88's........but......I replaced the stock Svetlana EL-34's in my Rogue Audio Cronus with Gold Lion KT-77's, and the musicical improvement is sublime.
I've tried KT88s, 6550s, and KT120s in my new Jolida. The KT120s won the spot (spots) in my amp. They're only made by one company though, so the only options for 'em is to buy "cryoed" or not. I went with non cryoed and they really kick ass, and I've noticed a lot of respected tube amp companies are using 120s now. They're not expensive so I figured it was worth trying 'em. I bet New Sensor will roll out some supposed "Premium" version with gold pins and upscale gold printed glass...maybe a "presentation" padded box. If they don't they're missing a sure bet.
Suggest Black Treasure KT88s to my ears they are a step up from the Gold Lions - have used both in my Ayon Spirit 2 - if interested contact Agon member Jtrelja - excellent supplier of those tubes
I think you can dig more info than you care to read about this on McIntosh forum at audiokarma. GL are said to work well with Mc, and my recollection is Black Treasures are generally considered better for Mc (I say generally because not 100% of people agree with that). Myself, I still need to upgrade my KT88, so can't help with first-hand feedback.
Gold Lion are very nice, balanced sounding KT88's. JJ's are very similar sounding IMO. Two other options are the Black Treasures which I don't think would be a great match in the Mc because they're relaxed sounding, could be too much of a good thing. The Psvane's I'd think would be an excellent match in the Mc because they're a bit more lively.
I purchased some GLs KT88 from Jim and have them burning-in, very musical but need more time for them to hit their sweet-spot before doing any comparison between my stock Shuguang KT88 SC...
Get a quad of GE 6550 and you'll never even think about the Gold Lions. I currently have a matched quad of Gold Lions KT88 purchased from Jim Mc Shane sleeping in my drawer for the past year or more... replaced by GE's. They are that good
Trelja is his working name here on the Gon No first initial J. You might want to search for him here or at his old web site Ultraviolet Audio. I don't know if he is still selling tubes.
I had Gold lion kt88s in my Rogue Audio m180s, and over time four of them blew up in my amp, one time so bad it took part of my circuit board with it. I liked the sound but will never put these in my amps again. I also ran my amps with Gold lion kt77s without problems, and use Gold lion 12au7s with good results. I dont know if my Rogues drive the tubes harder than the Mac gear, hence the high failure rate.
In my only outing with 88s I preferred the Black Treasures over the Good Lions but could fully understand why someone else would or could prefer the Good Lions as their signatures were of a different flavor. Enjoy the music
If agree with the member whose suggested the GE 6550s. If you can swing the cost. I recently bought a fairly decent number of the Russian Gold Lion KTs and wasnt impressed with the factory test readings in terms of consistency. Not huge numbers but about 30 to 40 of the 88s and the 77s. Should note that none were bad.
You cannot go wrong with
New Sensor's reissued of the Genalex Gold Lion KT88 tubes They are well made, good sounding, reliable and well priced tubes.
I have not kept up with all the Shuguang / Psvane KT88 variants, but I am always wary of companies that produce new versions over a relatively short periods of time.
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