Best 845 tube out there?


I am running a pair of Cary CAD-211AE monoblocks with the standard no-name Chinese tubes shipped by Cary. Whilst I am happy with the sound, I think I should buy a pair of 845's to keep as backup in case something happens to these tubes.

Because I will need to buy FOUR of them, this rules out any tube that sells for stupid money (e.g. vintage RCA 845 tubes).

The only current production 845's I am aware of are:

- Shuguang 845 "standard"
- Shuguang 845B
- Shuguang 845C
- Shuguang PSVANE 845
- KR Audio 845

I have found reviews of the Shuguang 845B and 845C, but there is virtually no information out there on the new Shuguang "psvane" 845. Has anybody heard this valve, and is it a noticable improvement over the 845B and C? Also, what do people think of the KR?
amfibius
I need a lesson on how to personally IM folks on this site...I can't for the life of me ever find the right link to do it.

@t_ramey If you want to send me a private message, I had some questions for you and some thoughts on the Melody that I won't take this thread off topic any further than this post (sorry folks!).

Jay
@parsons 

Click on the name of the individual you want to "message".  Then click on Details.  In the screen that opens, click on Marketplace Feedback.  You will see a "Send Message" option there.

OK, PSVane WEs arrived in good shape.  They were packed well in foam but not in individual boxes...side by side in foam compartments inside the shipping box itself, but well protected.  They look a little different from each other--the glass tip on the top of one is longer than the other, and the insides of one seem tilted a tad to one side.  In that regard they have a "hand made" look & feel about them, which I'm not sure is a good thing in tubes, but what do I know.  I bought the "top 10%" versions for an extra $100, btw.  I can't actually tell if they shipped from China direct or from Canada--the return address is Canada, but that doesn't mean anything I guess.  They took about 10 days to arrive from when I ordered them.

In short summary, they are very, very good after just 4 hours or so of warm up/burn in.  Hopefully they will get even better.  Tom, they were a lot cleaner and more nuanced than the Suguang A's I thought I liked in the Melody 845 AN the best.  I have no desire to put the A's back in at all.

_____

To ensure I had a fair comparison, I first spent 30 minutes with the Shuguang A's, as mentioned (this is not my main system so I don't do much critical listening on this system), and while they sounded good, they were a tad "nearfield monitor" sounding, even after 30 minutes of warm up.  A lot of in-your-face, front-row feel.  Not much depth to the soundstage at all.  I feel like I was hearing a little roll-off up top, although the bass was strong and solid and midrange was very good.  I also felt like on certain tracks the vocals were a little "hands cupped over mouth" to a degree.  My speakers are modded (new cross-overs) Altec Lansing Valencias from 1970, but I had not felt I was hearing the horns previously and I've had these speakers for about 4 years in almost constant use in some system or another, so I'm pretty familiar with them.  That cupped voice thing, again on some tracks, wasn't something I attribute to the speakers.

The PSVane WEs had a lot more front-to-back depth right out of the box.  4 hours later it's way more nuanced...but still dynamic, and really smooth and lovely.  Tonally it sounds like I would expect in all registers.  No cupped voicing.  Cymbals don't sound rolled-off at all.  The bass is tight with good decay on kick drums, etc.  I would say a slight bit "laid back" vs. the Shuguang A's, in this amp anyway, but still with very good PRAT, and relaxed in the right areas to make it very musical and emotionally pleasing.  They sound neutral to my ears.  Again, very musical and organic like you want.  No fatigue.

I think these sound really close to how I remember the Elrogs sound in my Thoress 845 monoblocks--while maybe not exactly as good, that's a big compliment from my end, given this amp is an integrated and about 1/2 the price of the the Thoress monoblocks alone without a $15K preamp, and the tubes also less than half of the Elrogs.  I don't want to overstate how good they are, but I'm very pleased so far.  I will listen to this system a lot more now.

I may bring the Elrogs back from storage at the new house and do a side-by-side on the Melody again.
@parsons  That's great to hear! Thanks for sharing your thoughts about the Psvane WE845's with the Melody. Wonder how much time is needed on them to fully settle with their sound...
Hi all, I received the WE845 Shuguang this morning.
So far they sound less good than the 845B, especially on the treble.
They sound more spectacular with solid mids, definition and huge soundstage, but they shout, not refined at all on the treble.
It seems to me my sweet single-ended amplifier went from 22 watts to a 75 watts shouting solid state amp or a Cayin 500. We'll see if there is any change as the tube burn in a bit. But I am sceptic.
Please remember I am using high efficient wideband speakers with no filters and paper-cone so they are very sensitive and transparent. It could be that the "added" punch of those tubes convince people with low efficient speakers.
More to follow...
Cheers
Olivier