[Harlequin]

I thought I would copy an interesting post from an other forum, In reference to his Reference 3 pre , for the perusal of interested parties here .


"I noted a buzz in various forums about the nice qualities of Shuguang's black Treasure KT88Z and in particular the improved Psvane gray KT88T Mk II. I spoke with Kalvin Dahl of ARC concerning rolling tubes. He was most supportive and believed that KT 88 could be a substitute but the warmer sound might differ from the original Winged C and the larger size would be a tight fit. I ordered the gray Psvane KT88T from an eBay seller ListeningChina recommended by Michael Samra on Tube Asylum. The tubes in a thorough package arrived in about a week. I have been listening to the new tube since last evening. Even brand new, the quiet Psvane KT88 clearly produced a tightly woven, wider stage and more layered depth plane along with exquisite high frequencies and bigger, rounder bass. I go through familiar disks successively to confirm the qualities and am continuously impressed with the rich tones. Instruments and voices have more bodies and string tones are lovely. This tube is about as extended at both ends as the Winged C and surpasses it in musicality. The trade off might be that the Winged C has more dryer low end impact. Unlike the Sovtek which I impatiently removed in 4 hours, the Psvane sounds both more powerful and delicate than the Winged C.

I was nervous as ARC was adamant before about not rolling with a KT88. I am happy to report the recent ARC change and my encouraging findings.

Now there are some shortcomings. This particular KT88 is wider and longer. The length requires slight bending of a small capacitor behind the display such that it does not touch the tube. Ref 5 owners with a horizontal board may not have the same issue. Further, one of the matched pair arrived with the getter flash largely vanishing and turning milky. ListeningChina communicated promptly and sent out a matched replacement today. So the Psvane QC may not be as solid as the Russian crowd yet. Given the remarkable sound quality, I will not hesitate to continue using Psvane tubes especially if I can monitor the conditions with a tester. "