Aha, I have found the source of the increase in orders
No matter how big of a run Shuguang does on these, or how many we order, at most we only get about 30 to 40 Grade A pairs per run that can be closely matched on both sections for critical audiophile use, some of which go to boutique manufacturers and into our own amps. The CV181-Z's are typically sold out prior to their arrival at GF. If ordering please let us know you are using them for your Transporter, if you have ordered and didn't mention it please do by email or however you ordered. Then I can send out similar tested to those that went to Dan and Phillip.
Thank you Phil for your efforts on this and thanks to those that had taken the plunge on the Treasures earlier and have reported at AC. Always appreciated and remembered.
Guess who doesn't have a pair!, Rachel always ends up selling mine to complete an order or for some hard luck story. Only once have I heard them with more than 200 hours on them. They sound very good out of the box but quite forward and the midrange is a mixed up, after about 8 hours the midrange clears up a bit, at about 2 points during the first 150 hours, they lose it for a few hours, just sounding a bit weird, as in thin, between 100 and 150 hours the bass kicks in, kind of like where did that octave come from. After 150 hours they become stable and are about at 98% of the sound you will hear from them, again I have only heard them at 200 hours, but the audiophiles in China that did the initial development testing all agreed 300 hours. We don't know how long they will last in service, certain materials that made NOS last so long just aren't allowed to be used anymore, but we have zero reports of failures on them since we got our AT-1000 and could sort out the grading and reject the 'too far from spec' ones. We expect more than 5,000 hours, time will tell.
Thanks,
Ian