Are the new PSVANE Horizon Tubes Worth it?

How did the new Horizon Series from PSVANE stack up against my go-to Mullard tubes?

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[johnvincent]

Good review video. I rolled PSVANE KT88 Treasures in my Quicksilver Horn Mono to replace Tesla EL34 that were shipped with the amps. I also have JJ6l6 I can roll in. Of the 3 the PSVANE are well balanced. More bass. Rich sound. The PSVANE are currently in and will stay in. Led Zeppelin debut deluxe 2014 remastered Dazed and Confused Live vinyl sounds like I'm in the front row!

[LoftyVisions]

If you like the warmer sound of Mullard, may I suggest the Psvane Art series tubes. They are both from Psvane's "select" level of tube quality below ACME. I can only speak for 12AU7, but I have both the Art series and the Horizon 12AU7 and the Art series are a lot more warmer sounding. My fave combo in my Muzishare X7 was Psvane Art series 12AU7s and a NoS Telefunken ECC83, but I'm kinda liking the Horizon 12AU7s with a NoS Mullard 163 in the 12AX7 slot.
The warmer Art series calms the top-endy Telefunken, but in the other combo the more neutral Horizons brighten up the warmer NoS Mullard 12AX7. I've tried most of the new production preamp tubes, but always fall back to the Psvanes. Definitely the best sounding new production tubes around. Great review thank you 👍

[gregcarson]

Wow what is old is new again. Being of a certain age, I certainly remember the old RCA Black and white TV we had, when I was 6. The tubes on that would go all the time, dad, would pull the tubes out of the back, with my mom yelling at him, “don’t forget when you pulled them from Bill, write it down”. Then we would go down to the local store, or drug store, use the in store tube tester, then buy the right tubes for the broken ones. Of course when we got our first color tv, dad was not allowed to mess with those tubes, cause of the price of the darn thing, that was for the repair man. Back in those days, they sold tubes everywhere, drug stores, department stores, electronic stores. Fun times, and good memories of hanging with Dad.

[rmzidann]

Ok, I am getting a few of them. Thanks!

[neilfisher]

Very interesting! .The current power tubes in my Black Ice F22 are the PS Vane KT88 Classic Mk II with the gold band at the bottom. I'm very pleased with the sound. I have not tried anything else yet, but my guess is I would probably like the Horizon tubes based on your description. What I would be interested in learning about is how an EL34 tube would sound verses the KT88. Have you thought about trying an EL34?

[bertroost]

Affording tubes has changed for me. My local military surplus warehouse just closed its doors the end of last month. About a month before that a guy came (an online tube seller) and bought the "entire stock" of tubes they had. We are talking thousands of tubes. Most of their tubes were pulls but you could test them. They let me test them myself whenever I went there. But the buyer didn't get all the tubes. The place is huge and there were some pockets of tubes in a few places. The final auction for everything else that is there is next week. I went last week and asked if I could could still buy any tubes I found that I wanted. The guy said sure. I found an empty box that was around 1 foot x 2 foot by 16inches and filled it with 6bg6 and 6as7g/6080 tubes, over 200 tubes. Not the most desired tubes in the world but I have convertor sockets for the 6bg6 tubes to use in my 6L6 amps and I have one amp that uses 6as7 tubes. All for $75. In fact it was ridiculous to buy so many but there is something about tubes and if the opportunity is there then I want to buy all that I can. I have hundreds of tubes in my basement. More than the rest of my life will ever need. I have original GEC kt66 and Gold Lion kt88 tubes that I am afraid to use due to their value, lol. Two of the GEC tubes popped years ago in my basement. I think because of the thin glass and the temperature change in my basement from summer to winter. A real pity.

[FrankyA]

I don’t understand why you and everyone else don’t perform A/B comparisons.

Set up one channel with Mullard tubes and the other with PSVANE tubes. Use an A/B switch to select the source for either the right or left channel. Make sure the same switch connects a dummy load to the output not under test as power amplifiers don’t tolerate open output. This ensures the sound comes from the same speaker position, making it easier to discern the differences between the two types of tubes.

Remember to match the SPL levels for both channels. You can use the balance control or, if your amplifier has independent volume controls, adjust them accordingly.

This method won’t test sound staging, but it will give you a clearer idea of the tonal differences between the tubes. That said, I’m not sure why different tubes would significantly affect staging, it seems more dependent on the amplifier’s design.

I’ve been using this approach for years to compare various tubes at different stages and different tube amplifier designs.

By the way, the best tube power amplifiers are those that don’t use coupling capacitors, opting instead for direct coupling or transformer coupling.
You will be amazed by the sonics.

[vendelius]

it's nice that you could afford some new fun tubes.. great review

[chrislj]

I was hoping you would like these, as I'm planning on getting them for my Willsenton R8 eventually. But I have a matched quad of Mullard EL34s that I still haven't tried, which I should be using in the summer for less heat. After three months I'm still enjoying the stock KT-88 tubes in my amp so I haven't been in a big hurry. I would like to get a matched quad of the Horizons but Amazon only has matched pairs.

[Geoduck.]

I've experience with KT88 tubes. Vintage GEC are the best. Psvane treasure ll are nearly as good but are simply unreliable failing often. Reissue Gold Lion are small step down from Psvane but sound great and are tough very reliable. I'm in the market for a quad of EL34 and Horizon has my interest. If bought from Amazon you can buy insurance on tubes otherwise I would avoid Psvane unsure of their reliability.

[carminedesanto]

GM☕️..tubes …they are a mystical and enigmatic conundrum….some offer slight variations and others vast differences…suite to taste.
An audiophile asks you for the time..but then adds “is that an analog or digital watch”…..sometimes it’s more a perception than reality.
Have a great Sunday.

[Darrylizer]

I've had good results with the Psvane Hifi series, which is not their best line. The EL34s I have in my Dynaco ST70 based kit I bought from tubes4hifi are freaking magical.

[damianzaninovich]

I’m sure you’re aware they have an Art series above that one. Aren’t you curious about those? I have a Doge 10b set to class A low feedback setting with the stock tubes. It sounds great but like you say I’m curious to try their best tube. I prefer the look of the classic series to the horizon. The art looks cool, even better if the bottom was silver instead of gold. The Mullards look nice as well. My other amp is a Denon PMA a100, no slouch but the Doge sounds better. I like the silver finish with no tone controls. I’ve always thought tone controls slightly reduce that last bit of openness. Glad your enjoying your system.

[frankgeeraerts]

As always a nice honest review of you experiencing, in this case tube rolling
presume when you tzalk about Mullard you mean Mullard ( new sensor ) witch is a acquired brand name by new sensor ( sovtek ) and these are NOT the genuine real Mullard nos tubes .
tubes you got for review were tested, selected and closely matched, not the same as tubes bought by John this chinese commercial policy )
I got tubes for testing before ordering quantities in the nineties, these all sounded and tested so when i got a batch of several hunderd tubes, less than 5 % was within spec or with similar triode sections or balanced .
The samples were perfect
Wghen a manufacturer sells part of his tubes ( gold or platinum premium versions at a high price you won't find any ( zero) good tubes like these in the standard version that is sold, ouit of one hunderd no tube will match the platinum premium version .
If a tube pleases your ear in your amplifier then it's ok !
BUT I always noticed and observed a returning fact with old stock ( if quality ) not so with current production good nos tubes age they still sound musical and beguiiling even when they loose some of the energy of their youth !
This is nt the case wit new production when the youth is goone and the freshness fades .YOU WILL BUY AND INSTALL A NEW SET OF TUBES who am I to tell tube stories after living with, working, servicing, building, selling tubes and using tubes for almost seven decades ...
Anyway keep on posting your musical experince with all those who love music escpecially when played back with

PS: ....Most modern tube amplifier were voiced if they new production tubes, so in some cases the superior quality of nos tubes may deceive in these kind of amplifiers .
And false opinions are commonly made to easy to eagerly..

[Madmart]

I’ve been using KT120 in my old Croft 4S Amp for quite a few years now and the sound is generally very good. They seem bomb proof. Possibly as my amp was designed for KT88 and I didn’t want to risk burning my O/P Xfmrs out with the bias current I should be using for the KT120. Having said that they did sound good except for a bit of raggedness on complex music-may be being under biased, I don’t know(45%). The bass did seem deep using a sub woofer. I’m getting there 🙂. Because of that niggle about their sound and reading good reviews and feleling a bit flush I purchased a quad of the Horizon KT88. On advertising my forthcoming pleasure on social media of course in step the nay sayers-Chinese rubbish! They’ll blow your amp up! They’re not matched! etc. I did test them first and they showed good matching and passed all my other tests so I reconned they were safe to put in my amp. They look nice and glow more than the KT120 as the filament is exposed more-saves having to put an LED underneath 🙂. Turned the amp on without any fireworks and played some music I’m familiar with. What hit me first? I would say how clean the sound was. More holographic and instruments playing in their own wide space. Symbols were more noticeable and detailed. Drums detailed especially rim shots and more tonal detail in Tom toms and bass guitar. Lead Vocals stood out cleanly but not as warm as the KT120. Steel guitar strings also had a more detailed tone compared to the KT120. A tiny bit like listening to a 12 string as opposed to a six. In its favour I would say the KT120 at the moment does seem to reach down lower in the bass with more articulation on my subwoofer-as I run the Horizons in- but also sounds a bit flatter in its presentation. I have a WiiM plus pro which has an equaliser incorporated. I did find having a play that with the Horizons I could reduce around the 2KHz for a sort of warmer presentation as they are not bright but very open sounding-which is nice as they are certainly not harsh or sibilant. They will be staying in my amp and I might consider using Horizons smaller tubes in my pre and power amps (darn not long changed them ☹️).

[Indypacecar]

I've also noticed that the tubes i like depend on the rest of the system.

[sidesup]

Price and cheapness are often big factors for me. For instance I'm using Sylvania 12AU7 tubes circa 1950s NOS instead of the Brimar 12au7 which is a vintage tube made in England and holds the crown for many. Since I have been listening to analog a lot lately, I'm not sure I need tubes, especially if it's an extra stage. With cd, I definitely prefer something tubes in the chain.

My cassette deck mods didn't take long to hint at cassettes true potential. Amazing sound quality, at it's snail pace speed of 1 and 7/8 inches per second and so narrow a tape width. It is not breathing down the back of reel to reel yet, but it's hinting that it may be possible. Tape is as analog as you can get. At the record companies, transferring from session tape to cassette is probably a one step process. Simpler is usually best for sound quality. I would imagine there are many dozens of steps involved in making an lp from same said session tape or more likely digitally recorded copy. Who knows just how much information is hidden within the electromagnetic fields and layers of tape.

[roofermarc]

I need four tubes for my preamp 12au7's, which are the best warm tubes to use from Psvane,

[danielgeiger]

Interesting. Any place where there is a description of the differences of the various psvane tube series? Classic, Art, Horizon, Legend, Acme? Looked on psvane website, but nothing there. At least some tube types are produced in several series, but many only in one. I might be tempted with 5AR4 and 12AU7 and 12AT7 for my PrimaLuna EVO 300 pre.

[stinkenstine]

Can’t do russian. I would never give them a dime