I haven't heard a lot of the available kt 88's but I have listened to the kt-90's (loved them especially after cryo treatment), Ruby Tubes (fat, over warm bass), Shuguang (one of the tubes turned in to a Christmas tree shortly after install), Svetlana kt88 (New Sensor product-nice midrange but muddy bass) and the SED Winged "c"kt88 (the tube I currently use). I fail to understand why so many folks in AA are so down on the SED kt88. In my system, I find the SED kt88s to be very dynamic and musical; I've felt no need to replace them. I haven't heard the Gold Lion reissue but my experience with New Sensor's Svetlana kt88s made me wary of their other products. I've found the biggest improvements in my system has come from putting the best sounding tubes that I'm willing to pay for (which is not a lot) in my preamp and addressing the basics - good cables (don't underestimate the impact of good power cables), good footers, room treatment (most bang for the buck) and speaker placement. Over the years I have focused on extracting the most music out of my system rather constantly changing components. That is not to say that I don't buy new components but I tend to keep them 8-10 years before I replace anything. I'm getting the best sound I've ever had now and and am glad to be able to spend more money on buying music.
Mike
