Tube Summary
The beauty, the legend, the classic, the Special Quality(SQ) - this is the super tube from Heerlen's high echelon that doesn't break your bank. Known for their superb musicality and ultra low noise, thanks to Philips' proprietary SQ design, these tubes remain among audiophiles' top choices for serious listening.
Sound Characteristics
Immediately appealing is the super smooth highs offered by these tubes with lots of open air. The overall tonality of SQ is warm, musical and euphonic. The midrange displays some secondary octave nuances, which is very unique and can hardly be found even among the top-end German tubes. Similar to the Telefunken tubes, the SQ's can create infinite levels of harmonic depth and a liquid sonic texture without altering the musicality of the sound. The bass on these is the clear winner of the Heerlen tubes family: articulate, accurate, deep, textured, full-bodied and powerful. The sound stage is wide and structured - it feels the dimensions of the sound shape are clearly defined no matter how it moves.
Vocal representation on these is close to Mitcham and Blackburn Mullard tubes in terms of warmth, sweetness and texture, making them great alternatives to Mullard's as the best vocals tube. But what truly shines on SQ E188CC tubes, especially the early '60s version like this pair, is their magic in portraying piano music: creamy smooth, richly colored, realistic and intimate. For many audiophiles (incl. myself), they're the go-to tube for piano sound. Listening to Claudio Arrau's Beethoven Complete Piano Sonatas on these tubes should be on your bucket list if you are into classical piano music.
The ultra low noise on SQ's also sets them apart from most of the high-end tubes. They don't just compete with Telefunken tubes in low noise; they're known for being a long-term leader in low noise. As a result, you get superb detail and clarity from these tubes as well.
Professional Sound Evaluation
The pair worked wonderfully and sounded terrific in our professional studio setup for monitoring.
- Input: Cambridge Audio CXC V2 dedicated CD transport + Schiit Audio Bifrost 2 Multibit DAC
- Amplification: Liquid Platinum Tube Amplifier by Alex Cavalli
- Output: Focal Clear MG Pro open-back headphones
Our full tube sound review was written 100% based on the actual listening experience while this pair of tubes were running in the system described above.
Professional Tube Testing
Both tubes tested Super Strong NOS (120%+ nominal mutual conductance) on a Mercury 2000 tube tester with the following result (mutual conductance both in uMhos and in percentage of nominal):
Tube 1: 16,800/17,000 (134%/136%)
Tube 2: 15,800/16,800 (126%/134%)
Good tubes start at 7000 and new tubes (incl. NOS/NIB) 12,500 - 13,000, and the Mercury 2000's rated mutual conductance (nominal) for new tubes is 12,500. Test result can also be seen in the pictures. In case you wonder what all these numbers mean to your sound experience, it's actually quite straightforward: mutual conductance directly translates to a tube's ability to amplify sound, so the higher the numbers the stronger.
Appearance & cosmetic condition
We treasure this pair also because of the great cosmetic condition of both tubes - over 90% of the paint is intact and well preserved. The Heerlen factory date codes etched on glass perfectly visible on both tubes.
Tube 1 - code on bottom: VR0 ⊿9I (VR2 = E188CC Production Gen #0, ⊿ = Heerlen, 9 = 1959, I = September) - FIRST Production!
Tube 2 - acid-etched code: VR2 ⊿0K2 (VR3 = E188CC Production Gen #2, ⊿ = Heerlen, 0 = 1960, K = November, 2 = 2nd week of the month)
Packaging
This pair of tubes will be packaged in the NEW Philips reproduction tube boxes, secured by a handmade paper ribbon (by courtesy of Soundlumia.)
Shipping Policy
- US Shipping: Flat-rate USPS Ground Advantage
- International Shipping: (Please read carefully) USPS First Class International is used for all countries EXCEPT: Armenia, Chile, China, India, Latvia, Mauritius, Mexico, Serbia, Slovenia, Tuvalu, and Vietnam. If you prefer to use a different carrier or shipping service, please contact us first so we can establish shipping rates before you make payment. If you are a buyer in one of the excluded countries, you must contact us prior to purchase to arrange shipping(USPS Priority recommended), or we may not be able to fulfill your order using standard shipping due to our concern of undelivered packages or shipping delays in your country.
- Same day shipping: Orders placed by 2:00PM US Pacific Time on weekdays are posted on the same day, otherwise the next business day.
- Combined shipping available - request invoice for total before making payment or receive shipping credit after order ships.
Return Policy - Please READ carefully
Returns are acceptable if we made a mistake by delivering you wrong or defective products. Tubes we sell are guaranteed to work because we run professional tests and sound evaluation TWICE: before they are approved for listing AND before we ship them to customers. So the "defective item" case doesn't exist and please do not bother trying - this type of returns will NOT be accepted without proof that tubes are faulty and we will open disputes with eBay. Sound experience is very subjective and we do NOT accept returns because you do not like the tube's sound signature or because you changed your mind about your purchase. Please contact us to work things out before submitting return requests claiming "item is defective" or "item not as described" or "just didn't like it" or "changed my mind."
Tube rollers abusing the return system will be reported to eBay immediately and negative feedback will be left to your account - that's guaranteed. We have already opened several dispute cases to report abusive buyers and eBay has always ruled in our favor. International buyers who request return or refund claiming your country's import duties or sales taxes/VAT/GST are too high will be reported to eBay immediately for dishonesty and will be permanently blacklisted from purchasing from Soundlumia. We are committed to working closely with eBay to help rid the marketplace of dishonest, unjust, unreasonable, abusive buyers that are detrimental to the vintage tubes market and the audiophile community.