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Found this on Audionirvana
From other info on the web, it looks like Shuguang has bit the dust. I started buying Shuguang 2A3 tubes from Grant Fidelity more than a decade ago when I met Grant and Rachel y at the first Dagogo Show in 2010 Berkeley CA. After some of the Shuguang employees left to start Psvane (they wanted to call it Pavane, but a printer in China misread the a for an s), I switched to Psvane for my 2A3 tubes, and have stayed with them. In the mid 2010's I was in Shenzhen on a trip to Hong Kong and toured one of the hifi buildings, where many small shops were located. I saw many tubes, including a very large range in prices for different ranges of Shuguang tubes. Grant and Rachel (and now just Rachel after Grant's untimely death) were just offering the top lines of the tubes and did extra quality checks for all the tubes they sold. I hadn't realized that there all sorts of tubes of vastly different quality coming from Shuguang. I have stayed with Grant Fidelity over the years (although I haven't needed many sets of tubes, since the 2A3s including the current Psvane top of the line Acme tubes.) The pair I have is already several years old and doing fine.
As a result of this thread, I checked the Grant Fidelity website and was shocked to see that Grant has discontinued carrying Psvane (as of last February). There is a lengthy set of postings, but the bottom line is that, similar to Psvane's creation when their founders left Shuguang, a new company, LinLai's founders left Psvane, and Psvane retaliated against Grant for carrying both brands. Included was both a major increase in price and a discontinuation of a secondary quality check of the tubes that Psvane sold to Grant. This extra quality check I believe was responsible for the extremely high quality of Psvane tubes that Grant sold, and the quality of the tubes Grant received from Psvane dropped significantly after they started carrying Linlai. Anyway, I see on the Grant Fidelity website that Psvane is gone and Linlai is now their premium brand. For my 2A3 tubes, they offer three different Linlai models from standard up to premium and within premium, the tubes that test at the top 10%. The prices go from $150 a pair to $615 a pair. I was paying at least that latter amount for my Psvane Acme, so when I need a new set of tubes, I will probably go with the Linlai top of the line 2A3s.
So Shuguang looks like it is gone, Psvane is still in production, and Linlai is the newcomer. Psvane maybe the new Shuguang and Linlai is the new Psvane. My experience with Grant Fidelity has been great over more than a decade and for top Chinese tubes, I will stick with them until I have a different experience.
BTW, for my Lampi Pacific, I have stayed with Riccardo Kron's tubes, made in Czech Republic and still owned (AFAIK) by Riccardo's widow Eunice. Lots of tube rolling options however for those who are so inclined.
From other info on the web, it looks like Shuguang has bit the dust. I started buying Shuguang 2A3 tubes from Grant Fidelity more than a decade ago when I met Grant and Rachel y at the first Dagogo Show in 2010 Berkeley CA. After some of the Shuguang employees left to start Psvane (they wanted to call it Pavane, but a printer in China misread the a for an s), I switched to Psvane for my 2A3 tubes, and have stayed with them. In the mid 2010's I was in Shenzhen on a trip to Hong Kong and toured one of the hifi buildings, where many small shops were located. I saw many tubes, including a very large range in prices for different ranges of Shuguang tubes. Grant and Rachel (and now just Rachel after Grant's untimely death) were just offering the top lines of the tubes and did extra quality checks for all the tubes they sold. I hadn't realized that there all sorts of tubes of vastly different quality coming from Shuguang. I have stayed with Grant Fidelity over the years (although I haven't needed many sets of tubes, since the 2A3s including the current Psvane top of the line Acme tubes.) The pair I have is already several years old and doing fine.
As a result of this thread, I checked the Grant Fidelity website and was shocked to see that Grant has discontinued carrying Psvane (as of last February). There is a lengthy set of postings, but the bottom line is that, similar to Psvane's creation when their founders left Shuguang, a new company, LinLai's founders left Psvane, and Psvane retaliated against Grant for carrying both brands. Included was both a major increase in price and a discontinuation of a secondary quality check of the tubes that Psvane sold to Grant. This extra quality check I believe was responsible for the extremely high quality of Psvane tubes that Grant sold, and the quality of the tubes Grant received from Psvane dropped significantly after they started carrying Linlai. Anyway, I see on the Grant Fidelity website that Psvane is gone and Linlai is now their premium brand. For my 2A3 tubes, they offer three different Linlai models from standard up to premium and within premium, the tubes that test at the top 10%. The prices go from $150 a pair to $615 a pair. I was paying at least that latter amount for my Psvane Acme, so when I need a new set of tubes, I will probably go with the Linlai top of the line 2A3s.
So Shuguang looks like it is gone, Psvane is still in production, and Linlai is the newcomer. Psvane maybe the new Shuguang and Linlai is the new Psvane. My experience with Grant Fidelity has been great over more than a decade and for top Chinese tubes, I will stick with them until I have a different experience.
BTW, for my Lampi Pacific, I have stayed with Riccardo Kron's tubes, made in Czech Republic and still owned (AFAIK) by Riccardo's widow Eunice. Lots of tube rolling options however for those who are so inclined.
