I have watched quite a few tube reviews from Upscale Audio, unfortunately they don’t ship tubes internationally

I am quite new to tubes, not really able to recommend many sellers unfortunately, there are people on here who have far more experience who I am sure would help. In the UK, I have used Hotrox, they were very helpful, Langrex & Watford Valves are also reliable sources.

I had considered the 13D5, read some good reviews, also considered some RCA Grey Glass 6v6. Just so many options to choose from.

I guess the amp being new will also change with burning in, the stock tubes are definitely worth persevering with, when you do change you will have a reference to compare replacement tubes with. I will stick with my Gold Lions for a while and then try some NOS options to get an idea of how the...

It maybe mine are not the best pair, one is quite noisy & the overall sound is not as clear or well defined as the Gold Lion’s, only paid £40 so not a major expense.

I did about 60 to 70 hours with the stock tubes before changing them, I quite enjoyed them but the JJ’s were a little aggressive and I find the Gold Lions are a step up. The Apos Ray were very good but I didn’t like the tonality of them with my HE1000. I have used the stock 6v6, Reflektor, and...

When I say neutral I would probably say that they are pretty even across the frequency spectrum, I do not find any particular area stands out above anything else, not least on my HE1000. On other headphones the top end may be a little less sparkly. For the time being I am more than happy with...

I only have the HE1000 right now, I would love to get a listen to the Atrium at some point, not had the pleasure of hearing any ZMF phones yet. The Gold Lions seem a good match for the HE1000. I have heard them described as a tube that is very balanced across the audio spectrum where they do not...

Many thanks for the reply, I suppose I am after a detailed neutral sound with a slightly warm top end to control the the brighter character of the HE1000. The Gold Lion’s appear to have no obvious weakness to me, so something along similar lines. If I were to be super critical of them then maybe...

I have to confess I had not equated the Gold Lions as sounding particularly SS, certainly not like any SS amps I have owned, to me they are much more holographic & life like. However if you find NOS tubes more tube like then I must explore further. Being quite new to tubes I guess I have still a...

one of mine was a little noisy at times, a bit microphonic also, the lightest of touches to the amp would be detected in the headphones.

I have not tried the Telefunken tubes. I have tried Apos Ray, just too bright with my HE1000. I have not done much tube rolling yet. I purchased the Gold Lions as a safe first option for tube rolling after reading many reviews. I read quite a few reviews where they were compared to NOS tubes...

I am very happy with my Gold Lion 12AU7, probably more influential to the overall sound than the 6v6, plenty of details but not too bright. Very detailed bass, not over exaggerated but very present

You say you prefer NOS to new production, could you explain the differences you hear, which tubes have you had experience of. I am always keen to learn more and curious to see if I can find tubes that could potentially take the sound to even higher levels of enjoyment.

My Gold Lions glow similar to this, especially when they were first used, I don’t think it’s anything abnormal.

I have the HE1000 Stealth & feel the same way since I got the HA-3A & fitted the Gold Lions, incredible technical performance with immense emotional engagement, just blows me away, just can’t stop listening.

I checked my boxes and there is no mention of burn in anywhere. I certainly noticed changes over several hours. Hope you enjoy your Gold Lion’s.

I got mine from Hotrox too. I did find they needed about 30 hours to bed in. I also have the12AU7, really pleased with them. Be interesting to see other people’s comparison to the Reflektors. I am finding them very quiet compared to my Reflektors & more open and detailed.

I have been running the Gold lions for a few weeks now & they improved over time, I cannot find any faults across the board, work extremely well with my HE1000, very clean, open, and holographic, no obvious weaknesses. I am sure I will be tempted to try other tubes but in no rush whilst I am...

If the noise is transformer hum then the Puritan should solve it, it has DC filtering, although it will only filter DC on the incoming mains, if the hum is being caused by another component plugged into the Puritan it does not filter DC on individual sockets. My Melco emits a small amount of DC...

I am not familiar with the Furman conditioner but it looks like a powered unit, I had a similar mains regeneration device a while back and that seemed to add noise rather than improve things. I now have a Puritan PSM136 which really does work in my system, I was impressed enough to consider it...

Has anyone had any experience of using upgraded fuses in the Cayin & are they safe? I have limited experience of Hifi fuses, which to my surprise was quite positive despite my skepticism when used in a couple of mains cables.

Hope you enjoy them. Give them 20-30 hours to settle in. Will be interesting to see what you think of them.

Very helpful thanks. I have to admit I am blown away by the Gold Lion’s currently, great 3D soundstage. Seems to work well with the HE1000. I did try some Apos Ray tubes that were very good but too sparkly for my HE1000, did not sound natural to me. I have some Reflektor 6V6 which are nice but...