Mullard CV2492 = E88CC Matched Pair Mitcham 1966/67 RARE G. E. C. Label NOS

Mullard CV2492 = E88CC Matched Pair - Mitcham 1966/67 - RARE G. This is not a listing about audio tubes but an invitation for you to hear the sweetest voice on Earth. No other tubes can deliver vocals like the Mullard's, whether they're from Mitcham, Blackburn or Heerlen, and that's a fact. Before we get into the details of sound quality, let's be sure we are not talking about the regular Mullard E88CC tubes, but the very rare CV2492 military-grade tubes approved and tested by the British government, a HUGE upgrade from the garden variety. And this pair also bears the ultra rare G.

Label, perhaps the "most British" valve brand one can think of. Like a warm British jacket of the finest tweed, these glorious tubes have an attractive sweet warmth in their midrange and lower regions. The top end is silky and pleasant and doesn't get rolled off. They retain a fine sense of "air" at the top, and the upper midrange is smooth and liquid. These tubes reproduce human voice, especially female voices, with haunting realism.

Full disclosure from your peer audiophile: Mitcham E88CC's are my go-to tubes for listening to Maria Callas and Frank Sinatra and I refuse to use other tubes. Mitcham Mullard's are also known to have an attractive sparkle at the top with rich bass... Now we know where that "warm British jacket" comes from! "CV2492" is not just a label but a proud statement of British military-grade quality.

The richness of the music reproduced by these tubes surpass any other previous attempt of any other Mullard E88CC's ever made. These are extremely low noise tubes, very neutral with pin-point tonal accuracy, providing an outstanding balanced and uncolored sonic tapestry that will put your mind in a whole new dimension. 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.

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: 14,300/14,300 (130%/130%). Tube 2: 16,000/16,200 (145%/146%). Good tubes start at 7000 and new tubes incl.

NOS/NIB 11,000 - 11,500, and the Mercury 2000's rated mutual conductance (nominal) for new E88CC/CV2492 tubes is 11,000. 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. The tubes have no short or gas grid leakage. We treasure this pair also because of the great cosmetic condition of both tubes (clear inscription and clear date codes), which is amazing given the tubes' age.

Mitcham factory date codes etched on glass are perfectly visible. Tube 1(Left) - R6C1 (R = Mitcham, 6 = 1966, C = March, 1 = the 1st week of the month). Tube 2(Right) - R7B2 (R = Mitcham, 7 = 1967, B = March, 2 = the 2nd week of the month).