Dark Voice 339 - Page 92

Quote:

Originally Posted by wlz12 


I too quite enjoy the HE500 and LF339 combo as if heard it numerous times but o dont know it seems it didn't click with me, but since i am changing my DAC soon too i might give it a go.
Ultimately i would like that romantic vibe that the LF339 & HD650 produces, but with a wider soundstage faster pace and sparkly treble. Thanks for the help mate

That sentence basically describes how I viewed the LF339 and HE-500 pairing.  What are the tubes that you are using with the LF339?  Personally, I found the Tung-Sol 5998 + RCA 5693 pairing to be what you described, with a slightly shelved treble.

The 6AS7G + EF80 combination, which is also fantastic, seemed to have a more impactful bass, better music separation for micro-detail, and sparkly treble (Which made it a better pairing in most instances), but I felt like I could just sit without a specific playlist on, with my music set to shuffle on my entire library with the combination prior to this one.  It all comes down to preference, mood, and the type of listening that you'll be doing really (Analytical versus Relaxed).  Most of the time, technically better does not mean preferentially better, and that's why most people end up buying and selling so much equipment (myself included), then buying back stuff we previously owned.

Also, what DAC are you currently using?  I found that neutral DACs (Such as the V800) don't pair as greatly with the LF339.  I much prefer the widely cheaper HRT MSII+ pairing with the La Figaro 339, as it just seems to be more musical (probably due to its warm, grainy nature) and synergizes better.

The best I have ever heard the HE-500 has been on the V200 + V800 with Balanced inputs and single ended output, but then it really sounds a lot more like the HE-6 driven by a powerful speaker amp... Which doesn't sound like what you're looking for.

Quote:

Originally Posted by snip3r77 

 

LOL

 

Tungsol 5998 $200 a pair

RCA 5693 $70 a pair

 

Saw these at ebay... At least $300 bucks..

Quality sound comes at a price ;)  A Very Steep Price.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vc1187 

That sentence basically describes how I viewed the LF339 and HE-500 pairing.  What are the tubes that you are using with the LF339?  Personally, I found the Tung-Sol 5998 + RCA 5693 pairing to be what you described, with a slightly shelved treble.

 

The 6AS7G + EF80 combination, which is also fantastic, seemed to have a more impactful bass, better music separation for micro-detail, and sparkly treble (Which made it a better pairing in most instances), but I felt like I could just sit without a specific playlist on, with my music set to shuffle on my entire library with the combination prior to this one.  It all comes down to preference, mood, and the type of listening that you'll be doing really (Analytical versus Relaxed).  Most of the time, technically better does not mean preferentially better, and that's why most people end up buying and selling so much equipment (myself included), then buying back stuff we previously owned.

 

Also, what DAC are you currently using?  I found that neutral DACs (Such as the V800) don't pair as greatly with the LF339.  I much prefer the widely cheaper HRT MSII+ pairing with the La Figaro 339, as it just seems to be more musical (probably due to its warm, grainy nature) and synergizes better.

 

The best I have ever heard the HE-500 has been on the V200 + V800 with Balanced inputs and single ended output, but then it really sounds a lot more like the HE-6 driven by a powerful speaker amp... Which doesn't sound like what you're looking for.

Using the same tubes here mate :) i broke one one my EF80 and haven't found a replacement yet. Right now though, we are using the same paring of tubes. Its heavenly isn't it.

When i tried the HE-500 with LF339 i was using a chinese DAC CEN Grand 5i-10, its a dual wolfson chip, and modded. Its a great bang for the buck but looking to upgrade my DAC first i think, still not sure. Definitely within the next 3-4 months 5 latest i'm going to have a new DAC and a new Headphone (as i just got my GoPro Hero 3 BE, going to buy a lot of accessories, sorry to go OOT), This is stretching my wallet but i will have a new set up soon. I think i wil need to revisit the HE-500 and hopefully try a pair of T1's if possible. What i dislike about HE-500 are that they are heavy, as most ortho's are. I can get use to it buy i don't think it can beat the comfort and weight of a dynamic headphone, and since most headphones with high ohms sound good with tubes i might give it a try too. I really appreciate your help and opinions vc1187 and i will put your comments in mind when purchasing my next headphone and DAC. One last thing would u recommend a more colored DAC or neutral if i were to pair it with HE-500?

Thanks for everything mate :) if we were in the same area i will definitely buy you a round of beer for all the trouble i have caused. Hopefully in a few years i'll be in the US and if i were ever to go to Virgina your deeds will be repaid.

Are you Keph's brother by any chance?
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ultrainferno 

Are you Keph's brother by any chance?
 

Yup, he's the one that drives me mad, buying so many audiophile products and poisoning me everyday. Just bought UE900 cause he bought his DT770 AE. He's about to get his Leben, and when that arrives i'm sure he'll poison me into buying something new.

Quote:

Originally Posted by wlz12 

 

Yup, he's the one that drives me mad, buying so many audiophile products and poisoning me everyday. Just bought UE900 cause he bought his DT770 AE. He's about to get his Leben, and when that arrives i'm sure he'll poison me into buying something new.

You can blame me, I often give him those buying ideas :)

Oh and remind him to send me my power cables. jk ;)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ultrainferno 

 

You can blame me, I often give him those buying ideas :)

Oh and remind him to send me my power cables. jk ;)

I know hahaha, he often talks about you, will do the beijing customs are getting stricter recently. As of last year what goes out and in the country are monitored carefully. Even when i received a piece of clothing for a gift took almost 2 weeks to be cleared. Damn those customs, and thank you for your opinions as well as sometimes Keph advices me based on your inputs :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by wlz12 

Using the same tubes here mate :) i broke one one my EF80 and haven't found a replacement yet. Right now though, we are using the same paring of tubes. Its heavenly isn't it.

 

When i tried the HE-500 with LF339 i was using a chinese DAC CEN Grand 5i-10, its a dual wolfson chip, and modded. Its a great bang for the buck but looking to upgrade my DAC first i think, still not sure. Definitely within the next 3-4 months 5 latest i'm going to have a new DAC and a new Headphone (as i just got my GoPro Hero 3 BE, going to buy a lot of accessories, sorry to go OOT), This is stretching my wallet but i will have a new set up soon. I think i wil need to revisit the HE-500 and hopefully try a pair of T1's if possible. What i dislike about HE-500 are that they are heavy, as most ortho's are. I can get use to it buy i don't think it can beat the comfort and weight of a dynamic headphone, and since most headphones with high ohms sound good with tubes i might give it a try too. I really appreciate your help and opinions vc1187 and i will put your comments in mind when purchasing my next headphone and DAC. One last thing would u recommend a more colored DAC or neutral if i were to pair it with HE-500?

 

Thanks for everything mate :) if we were in the same area i will definitely buy you a round of beer for all the trouble i have caused. Hopefully in a few years i'll be in the US and if i were ever to go to Virgina your deeds will be repaid.

No trouble at all.  I am always on these forums because I enjoy giving my honest insight and opinions about gear that I have personally tried.  It pleases me to discuss, with those that are interested.  

I think that the HE-500 is a lot more revealing than most people give it credit for being.  The reason why I say this is because I once had a Burson HA-160D, and I ran the HE-500 using its built in DAC and amp initially.  I really disliked this pairing, and it's what made me initially dislike the HE-500.  I then tried and ran the HE-500 with the source as the HRT MSII+, input into the HA-160D and the HA-160D amp on low gain operation with a maxed out volume (it was still quiet, but I felt like the low gain was the only way to go to bypass any distortion).  I loved this combination, and the HE-500 soon became my favorite pair of headphones.

What's even more strange is this scenario with the HE-500:  I found the LF339 + HRT MSII Plus pairing better than the V200 + V800 pairing initially when connected via RCA stereo from V800 to V200, but when I switched to XLR from V800 to V200, the HE-500 just really changed.  I did back to back comparisons with the HE-6 (Powered by a 65 wpc vintage sansui amp), and 9 out of 10 times, I had a difficult time telling the sonic differences between the two.  It's almost like the sound signature really changed from having that seemingly encompassing bubble of warmth that it usually did, to one that sounded more airy, with a tight bass (much like that of the HE-6).  I guess just for reference, I can state that my favorite pair of headphones is the HE-6.  It takes the best of both worlds when it comes to the HE-500's vocals and genre mastery, along with the HD800's supreme imaging and airiness and combines them into one awesome pair of headphones.  Sorry for getting off topic from the thread, just thought some may be interested in this experience with the HE-500.

I think DAC choice is all about sound preference.  As I've stated above that I believe the HE-500 to be more revealing than most people believe it to be, and that I favor the HE-6 the most.  So personally I'd tend to look towards a DAC + amp pairing where the DAC is close to what I'd define neutral to be, and the amp is on the slightly warmer side (Though not as warm as the LF339) as my ultimate HE-500 combination.  But don't get me wrong, if I had never heard the HE-6, the LF339 pairing with the HE-500 would have kept me happy for likely the rest of my audio career.

Hope this helps.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vc1187 

No trouble at all.  I am always on these forums because I enjoy giving my honest insight and opinions about gear that I have personally tried.  It pleases me to discuss, with those that are interested.  

 

I think that the HE-500 is a lot more revealing than most people give it credit for being.  The reason why I say this is because I once had a Burson HA-160D, and I ran the HE-500 using its built in DAC and amp initially.  I really disliked this pairing, and it's what made me initially dislike the HE-500.  I then tried and ran the HE-500 with the source as the HRT MSII+, input into the HA-160D and the HA-160D amp on low gain operation with a maxed out volume (it was still quiet, but I felt like the low gain was the only way to go to bypass any distortion).  I loved this combination, and the HE-500 soon became my favorite pair of headphones.

 

What's even more strange is this scenario with the HE-500:  I found the LF339 + HRT MSII Plus pairing better than the V200 + V800 pairing initially when connected via RCA stereo from V800 to V200, but when I switched to XLR from V800 to V200, the HE-500 just really changed.  I did back to back comparisons with the HE-6 (Powered by a 65 wpc vintage sansui amp), and 9 out of 10 times, I had a difficult time telling the sonic differences between the two.  It's almost like the sound signature really changed from having that seemingly encompassing bubble of warmth that it usually did, to one that sounded more airy, with a tight bass (much like that of the HE-6).  I guess just for reference, I can state that my favorite pair of headphones is the HE-6.  It takes the best of both worlds when it comes to the HE-500's vocals and genre mastery, along with the HD800's supreme imaging and airiness and combines them into one awesome pair of headphones.  Sorry for getting off topic from the thread, just thought some may be interested in this experience with the HE-500.

 

I think DAC choice is all about sound preference.  As I've stated above that I believe the HE-500 to be more revealing than most people believe it to be, and that I favor the HE-6 the most.  So personally I'd tend to look towards a DAC + amp pairing where the DAC is close to what I'd define neutral to be, and the amp is on the slightly warmer side (Though not as warm as the LF339) as my ultimate HE-500 combination.  But don't get me wrong, if I had never heard the HE-6, the LF339 pairing with the HE-500 would have kept me happy for likely the rest of my audio career.

 

Hope this helps.

It does indeed. Thanks for all the inputs you give, when i am back to Beijing i will think it all through and then my LF339 has a new pair of headphones to play with.
Once again thanks for the inputs and the trouble i have caused 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ultrainferno 

 

Read and learn

Amen brother!   

The surgery on my 339 went well.  It was indeed the wire wound resistors creating the crackle.  The new Vashay resistors work well and sound better than the old ones--even with the stock input tubes still on.  Now all I have to do is decide whether to fix the broken adapter and use the EF80s or buy a set of octal tubes to go into the input sockets.

How would I go about fixing the adapter?  Should I assume the base was done correctly, desolder all the old connections, use a DMM to copy the working one and attach it to a new 9 pin socket? While its doable, I'm thinking I'm best off finding an octal match for my 6AS7G tubes (at least until my soldering skills are better).  I know its supposed to be good match, but I know just enough to be dangerous at this point. ;)

Any idea what is this 339 reference that are talking about. Seems like a parts upgrade or something.

Kudos Wall-E!

You made it! I do still have two pair of TS 6SJ7GT, and some english EF80.

I too was thinking about this combination and never knew if the sockets I would buy would fit in the octal base. Your experiments is greatly appreciated!

Care to post a little schematics? I would also love to know the exact items you used to make it. ^^

Thanks in advance!

C

Quote:

Originally Posted by WALL-E 

project adapter,

To whom who possesses the triode driver variant of LF339 or has changed already and misses for the sound of 5693, 6sj7gt....or wants have "rolling" them all, like me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by telecaster 

Kudos Wall-E!

You made it! I do still have two pair of TS 6SJ7GT, and some english EF80.

I too was thinking about this combination and never knew if the sockets I would buy would fit in the octal base. Your experiments is greatly appreciated!

Care to post a little schematics? I would also love to know the exact items you used to make it. ^^

Thanks in advance!

C

 

 

Telecaster, good to see you How's It Going still enjoying the french modded LF339?
I promise to sketch the schematic on tomorrow and update it in this post, today I do not have the head for it, too much wine hehe

here is the parts list:

- TUBE SOCKET 8 pin,  Machined Teflon, CONNEX-74338, $14.95 each, source Partsconnexion.

- Amtrans Wire0.9mm, AMTRANS-76023  $14.99 Per Meter, source Partsconnexion

- 2PS of 8pin  bakelite vacuum tube  base, $9.60 source ebay

http://www.ebay.ie/itm/220973444141?ru=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.ie%2Fsch%2Fi.html%3F_from%3DR40%26_sacat%3D0%26_nkw%3D220973444141%26_rdc%3D1

yep the yellow blue sorry, my bad.

As I promised, it is not a schematic, but it should be more legible I guess.

The machined teflon connex is a perfect match with the base but in black could be even nicer.

I reduced the internal connection to total min, actually all the 7 wires coming from the 8 pin socket are only to extend the pins to make the proper joints with the bakelite tube base and at the same time making it very steady, don't need any glue!

And one thing u have to check in your amplifier, as u know the filaments are 7 & 2 I change the circuits in my amp pin 2 goes to the ground and 7 is hot.

If u have opposite, change on adapter (make bridge 1,8,7) then pin 2 will be hot.