Make sure you apply some damping material (blu-tak?) to the back side of the wheel to avoid ringing....

The stock power supply is not bad. Consider the upgrade to a better one as something you can accomplish later, after you already know & appreciate the Aurium. You can do it in stages. Pretend it's a Naim and now you buy the upgraded power supply chassis when you are ready to "move up".

Skepticism, reservation, and caution are hardly hate. Lack of transparency is poor optics anywhere.

Yes they may in fact provide some fine tubes. Their website contains - to me - nearly boilerplate marketing (hype). Proof remains to be seen in use...if true they may help take up the slack from NOS extinction. The question for now I think is whether NOS is as good or a better value. There may...

Sorry for my lack of clarity in this thread - I have other uses for 12AX7's, not necessarily in the Vali3. I was simply talking about, more generally, available alternatives to NOS, and WE has stated they will produce a 12AX7 at some point in time.... WE has history & reputation, Ray Tubes does not.

Hadn't heard of them before. My initial impression is negative - I call BS. But that is just a snap judgement & could be quite wrong. I am not, however, willing to try them myself. So I will wait to hear others' experiences. (The more of their FAQ I read the more cautious I felt.) I'd like to...

It's all in the knob....

I certainly don't know, but I want to encourage you to continue to experimenting with this, try to pinpoint some source of this. It certainly could be perceptual, but I think there is a physical/mechanical reason for this. Play with it some more! And keep us posted. It is fascinating...

No, https://www.thomannmusic.com/rooms_audio_line_typ_fs_pro_sl_headphone_stand.htm Adjustable height.

I use Herbie's Audio Labs tube dampers, so the fins had to go. (I think those fins protect the tubes with the attitude: "Touch 'em & I'll cut ya'!") And for footers I use x3 IsoAcoustics Orea Graphite. Most of my headphone stands are RoomSAudio in wood. But for my longer Hifiman Audivina I have...

AFAIK you can only get the foam inserts with the earpads - I don't believe you can get the inserts on their own. FWIW, I prefer to listen without any foam at all.

I am using an iFi Elite PS (which is not an LPS, but a well done quiet switching ps - note some very high end amps $$$ are now choosing to use better switching ps for quality reasons - SPEED, rather than an LPS) and Teslas as well - 7DJ8's (I never met a Tesla I didn't like...). This is also...

The WE 396A has end game written all over it. Stop there and be ever pleased. ...(I do wonder if the current WE incarnation will ever deliver on a new production 12AX7?)

I think we'll see this component nominated in several places for Budget Component of the Year.

Jane Bown was a British photojournalist of some deserved renown. She did not research her subjects. She simply showed up, took a spontaneous measure of the person(s) in front of her, to great effect, and made her portraits. Here is a creepy take of a known womanizer with his co-star. Seems a...