“This tube does everything the staff at Upscale Audio says it does. I opted for the cryogenic treatment & they are dimensional, warm sounding, neutral & natural throughout the entire audio band. As a designer of audio systems for 30 years, I feel qualified to claim that I know what I'm talking about. I can also vouch for how knowledgeable the Upscale Audio staff is. I have made many purchases from them & have always been thrilled with the products & the exemplary service that I received. Thank you! Looking forward to more future transactions.”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 years ago

Matt Buffington

Unverified Reviewer

“I bought a whole mess of these tubes to re-tube my grounded grid pre-amp and OTL power amps. I never had matching tubes in these components until these Clifte's arrived. Thanks for Jared's 'sound' advice, my system has NEVER sounded better. Super sound stage and imaging; very tight bass with enough evenness to avoid sterility. Tubes arrived quickly and as advertised in original boxes and tissue wrapping. In love.”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 years ago

“Kevin Deal knows his stuff, bought a pair of these and what a difference between the stock tubes. I was due for new tubes all around for my Primaluna Prologue Three Preamplifier and the sound stage just gets wider and deeper, crisp clear and just a little sparkling at the top but not bright at all. Got them cryogenically treated. I will buy a spare pair for the future Thanks Again Upscale Audio.”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

“The is a fine replacement for the 12AU7 that was in my Cayin headphone amp, seems more warm and I mean this in the best way with no loss of detail or transparency. Highly recommended.”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

“All the previous reviews are truthful. Bought the 1st Cifte tube to go into my Vincent PHO-700 phono stage which operated @ 12-volt but for some reason it only produced 1/2 signal strength. So, put it into my Vincent SA-T1 preamp worked just fine. Puzzled I came to the conclusion that it needed 120-volts to get it up and going. In the SA-T1, this tube brought about a clear and uncolored sound the music flows effortlessly, and yes, it is very holographic, giving you that "you are there" presentation. Therefore, after about 80 hours decided to see if it would now work in the 12 volt phono stage and it did! Guess it needed some 120-volt burn in time. it really shined in the phono stage bringing about a presence I have never heard before from my vinyl. However, I only had one, and had to put the previous 12AU7 back in the preamp, and began to think that it was possibly holding back some of the glory from the phono stage. Purchased another Cifte 12AU7 to put in the preamp and discovered a completely new experience as it now allowed the all the glory to flow to the monoblocks. This tube has presence with attack and decay, clean clear accurate sound and no it is not a bright tube there is no treble edginess, no bloat on the vocals either. The music surrounds you floats in the air. Remarkable, stunning and recommended Note: this tube really needs 100++ hours breakin time to come into its own.”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

“This tube is wonderful and its great to have, Upscale did a wonderful job in packing and shipping . the Cifte is well worth the money. I used it in a phono stage replaced my 12ax7 . The Cifte works great, wonderful, clean crisp sound, records come alive soundstage is great , you can hear everything it has a holographic sound and really gets better after a 100 hrs. of play. You don't want to stop listening . I changed it with my 12ax7 to compare and I had to put the Cifte back in the sound is so much better ! the Cifte makes for loss of gain from the 12ax7 the Cifte has a brightness that evens out .. I've used them with my 12" loudspeakers and a super tweeter Well let me tell you its amazing you wanna faint that good the super tweeter is jaw dropping . A drum solo sounds like there in front of you , records can sound like the master tapes... Water sounds or pink floyd wonderful . I've used them on smaller speakers there great one thing they sound much better if you have a midrange it does improve the sound ... my phono stage I use it with a tube intergraded amp. it's super .. One thing be careful how you open up the boxes take your time the tab will break off the packing is cool.. The big thing is its cool to own some vintage tubes these tubes are like fine wine ... I took my time and burn the tubes in first at very low volume... Thanks! Upscale .......”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

“This is a great tube for the mid-high ranges. Sparkles up top and gives a great spacial location on all instruments in the recording. For my setup (Focal 1028BE in 2.0 Oppo105-BDP Rogue Audio Chronus Magnum) the Cifte took a little too much away on the bottom end for my liking. I then brought in a Velodyne subwoofer to sure up the bottom and and this made for a very nice 2.1 system. Unfortunately due to room constraints the Velodyne could not stay, so the Cifte, too, had to go. It's in storage until I have a better room where I can play more to its strengths. Glad I bought 2, because I will probably end up using them for years. Great tube with the proper setup.”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

“Deep soundstage,good bass,great mids and not as bright as many others. Unison Research S8-Integrated --Klipschorn. Great service from upscale audio and kind regards from switzerland.”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

Cifte 12AU7 Gold Grade / No Cryo Reviews