Linlai Elite vs Psvane Acme 845

@sns I think the Grant Fidelity change was a bit of both. There was some friction coming from Psvane, but in the fine print, some of the quality control issues emerge:

”FYI, in the past 12 months, Grant Fidelity have returned 161 tubes from the factory deliveries of Psvane tubes, EVEN AFTER the screening at the tube factory with our provided test equipment, and AFTER we paid a price premium for the screening and selection service. That is nearly every other day we have a failed defective tube from the supply of ‘screened’ Psvane tubes. In the past decade, we have returned thousands of defective tubes.)”

https://premiumvacuumtubes.com/for-immediate-news-release-grant-fidelity-will-discontinue-the-entire-psvane-line-as-of-8pm-mst-feb-7th-2021/

I'd agree it was bit of both. But then the issue becomes Linlai principles came from Psvane, why should we trust Linlai durability anymore than Psvane. I'm not sure tubes are always to blame in tube failures, some of these amp manufacturers run these tubes hotter than 845 specs allow for.

I finally bought the Linlai E 845 tubes.  It’s all hype it’s an ok tube nothing special about it, sounds is kind of lean with no air, bass is tight but doesn’t blossom, to my ears the NOS United is alot better.   With only 50 hrs on them kind of new, we will see i will report back.  

@zipost My experience with power tubes is they need a minimum of 100 hours, you should hear a greater sense of openness, bloom starting around 80 hours, may take up to 150 or more hours for full bloom. I recently purchased Psvane Acme 300B tubes, followed this scenario exactly, Linlai Elite mesh and solid plate 101D's in my preamp, and various 845's in another amp same deal.

@zipost I would be happy to receive an update from you about the impression the Linlai E 845 is making on you, if there is a further increase in the play time since your last report. 

The more they settle and take on their sonic trait, will be good to get reports on, especially on how this valve compares in SQ to other 845's that are familiar.