I spent several hours last night trying a NEW tube from @PSVANE - the Horizon series in 845. I'm going to do a video on this as well but wanted to share the quick thoughts here.
I used the Aries Cerat Genus 845 integrated and the @Aries Cerat Helene DAC from @Believe High Fidelity going through the Tobain 12FH speakers. Speakers cables are Stealth Audio Cables V16-T Petite's.
It was a somewhat unfair test - I compared the Psvane to tubes costing 15x the price (the Elrog's I have here are $2K EACH and I have two of them. I believe Josh said these are the 284 versions).
I listened to the Genus with the Elrog tubes from Thomas Mayer. This was easily the golden standard and is frankly untouchable in performance. Tonally rich, dimension, air and body and full of emotion like I've never heard in my system before. It is easily "set for life" level of sound for me. But the tubes are $2K EACH. But my oh my what an untouchable level of performance worthy of the AC and Tobian gear. If you want the best sound, this is it.
Then I listened to the previous generation of Psvane 845 tubes which were about $250 for a pair. The sound collapsed. Yes it was OK and still the Genus sounded great - but it was not near the same level of the Elrog tubes and knowing what the Genus COULD sound like, it was tough to listen to the old series of tubes. But we are talking about $250 vs. $4000 in tubes.
Now came the new Horizon Psvane at about the same $250 price. This was a significant step up from the previous generation of Psvane tubes.
It had more dimension, air, body, tonality and texture to offer than the previous generation. It was noticeable and not a subtle difference. This tube in my system to my ear is quite an improvement over the other Psvane 845's I listened to.
Conclusion
Well done to Psvane. I was getting 60% of the Elrog performance at 1/15th the price with the new Horizon tubes!
Of course I wonder if they have a series up from this, and if they don't I hope they offer one that can bridge the gap even further. But WELL DONE to Psvane on this series of tubes.
Stay tuned as I'll be doing a video on this as well as trying them in the Viva audio Solista 845 amp.
I used the Aries Cerat Genus 845 integrated and the @Aries Cerat Helene DAC from @Believe High Fidelity going through the Tobain 12FH speakers. Speakers cables are Stealth Audio Cables V16-T Petite's.
It was a somewhat unfair test - I compared the Psvane to tubes costing 15x the price (the Elrog's I have here are $2K EACH and I have two of them. I believe Josh said these are the 284 versions).
I listened to the Genus with the Elrog tubes from Thomas Mayer. This was easily the golden standard and is frankly untouchable in performance. Tonally rich, dimension, air and body and full of emotion like I've never heard in my system before. It is easily "set for life" level of sound for me. But the tubes are $2K EACH. But my oh my what an untouchable level of performance worthy of the AC and Tobian gear. If you want the best sound, this is it.
Then I listened to the previous generation of Psvane 845 tubes which were about $250 for a pair. The sound collapsed. Yes it was OK and still the Genus sounded great - but it was not near the same level of the Elrog tubes and knowing what the Genus COULD sound like, it was tough to listen to the old series of tubes. But we are talking about $250 vs. $4000 in tubes.
Now came the new Horizon Psvane at about the same $250 price. This was a significant step up from the previous generation of Psvane tubes.
It had more dimension, air, body, tonality and texture to offer than the previous generation. It was noticeable and not a subtle difference. This tube in my system to my ear is quite an improvement over the other Psvane 845's I listened to.
Conclusion
Well done to Psvane. I was getting 60% of the Elrog performance at 1/15th the price with the new Horizon tubes!
Of course I wonder if they have a series up from this, and if they don't I hope they offer one that can bridge the gap even further. But WELL DONE to Psvane on this series of tubes.
Stay tuned as I'll be doing a video on this as well as trying them in the Viva audio Solista 845 amp.
