Eddie Current Super 7 (Prototype) impressions and pics

So for those of us who attended the Venice Beach meetup we where rewarded with getting to listen to the prototype Eddie Current Super 7 brought in by no other then Craig Uthus CEO/Creater of the Eddie Current Amps.

Now I'll be typing up my impressions in a few but wanted to get this thread out there.

EDIT: Review Below
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I'll be honest i'm not great at reviews and so i'll keep it short and sweet and leave the longer reviews for others who've heard it.

Wow, is the first thing that comes to mind after taking a listen to this amp. It really is something quite special, and I can see it becoming a fav of a lot of head-fi users. Where to start? How about power? Well, I can tell you it has power for sure, it ran the HE-6 beautifully, very clean and natural sounding. Extremely good with dynamics, you can go from hearing the smallest low level details to thunderous levels and you'll be left feeling the amp isn't sweating a bit. It has very impressive detail while maintaining a nice warm sound. Bass is extremely controlled with great detail it did wanders for the HD 800s and AKG 702s. Mids where perfect and paired with some planers like the LCD 2s or the HE-6 where simply to die for, very intimate and with great control of soundstage. The highs where also perfect in my opinion but some people might think they sound rolled off. This helped it pair especially well with bright phones like the HD 800s and the AKG 702s. It seemed to make all the headphones I triad just really sing like nothing else i've heard. I triad a few high end amps at the meetup and honestly overall this one impressed me the most.

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also note that this is not the chassis for the amp and was just used as a temporary solution to bring it to the meet. Now I don't remember all the details but I believe he said it puts out 3 ohms on the headphone jacks. It also can drive efficient speakers and retail for around $1500 for the first few builds after which the price may change.

Pictures below

Yes, this amp was one of the highlights at the meet, and did sound fantastic with every headphone I tried. 
 
As for pricing, I think Craig was only considering doing a very short introductory run of units at that price. Hopefully he can chime in and let us know what the standard street price would be.

Yep, another great creation from Craig, that's for sure!

Others got to try it with my HE-6 but I never got to. Right when I went to try it he had just started putting it away.

this could be a tube rollers dream amp as you can mix different tubes providing there are in pairs for the three sets of output tubes. This could provided users to optimize the sound to their liking .  

The prototype Eddie Current Super 7 was certainly a surprise at the meet. One driver tube, although I don't remember which one, with six 6SN7 tubes for the output.
 
The HD800s hit hard with lots of power and bass with more impact than any other amp I've ever heard. Everything, the LCD1, LCD2, ATH-AD2000, HE6, etc. sounded great out of this amp. Maybe a little bit rolled off the topmost half-octave, but that could very well be a limitation of the current production Tung Sol 6SN7 tubes (which I feel are rolled off anyway.)
 
I like the idea behind it with the very reasonable price of entry, although I shudder at the cost of upgrading all of the 6x6SN7 tubes since the good ones seem to be getting more expensive by the day. I believe Craig mentioned they were all independently self-biasing and that you could run fewer or different combinations (not sure). If so, this amp could definitely be a lot of fun.
 
The footprint of the production model will be smaller too, so that can be a plus.
 
I wish I could have purchased it right there and taken it home with me.
 

 
Quote:

The prototype Eddie Current Super 7 was certainly a surprise at the meet. One driver tube, although I don't remember which one, with six 6SN7 tubes for the output.

Click to expand...

 
There are 7 (1 in, 6 out) 6SN7 tubes in the amp. The center input tube was a vintage Tung Sol black glass, that he borrowed from a friend. He felt the input tube changed the sound, and since there was only 1, it would be easy and fairly inexpensive to experiment with. The stock amp will be shipped with current Russian Tung Sol's.

Yes, if i didn't have the amps i did, i would have dropped a deposit right there, and i almost did anyway.  Good price and incredible sound.  So warm and full out of the 800s and able to drive low impedance cans as well, wish i had had the ed8's there........duh!

Wow, looks VERY interesting!  I love my Eddie Current phono preamp.  Might have to caefully consider whether I could make room for one of these...I do have a mountain of 6SN7's

I've always loved the Moth and EC stuff.  If not the sound, just the looks alone so I think I'm gonna bite on this one.  Contacted Craig and this is his reply:
 
 
The amp will be $1450.00. Half deposit when I figure out the transformer and metal. I will send interested parties a line drawing with projected delivery date in a week or so. At that time if you are interested I will build you a Super 7.
 
Woohoo!

Wow! Very interesting!

Wish I could have heard it. I'll look forward to more information on this one!

Very nice. Trying to find a matched set of 6 of marconi b65 might be a problem though. Another great amp.

The HD800 was something I never seriously considered or even had on my radar, until I heard it from the Super 7.  I couldn't believe the natural, organic sound coming out along with the expected speed, detail and precision.  Ortho flavor w/ Stat proficiency.  That was some magic synergy to my ears.  I was all set on a Lyr till I heard this.  Now I have to rethink everything.
 
Did anybody get in any decent AB w/ the HD800 and the Zana Deux to compare?
 
So exactly how significant is the vintage black glass input tube to what we heard there?  Any ideas on how the signature might change w/ the standard Russian Tung Sol used on the input?

 
Quote:

anaxilus said:

The HD800 was something I never seriously considered or even had on my radar, until I heard it from the Super 7.  I couldn't believe the natural, organic sound coming out along with the expected speed, detail and precision.  Ortho flavor w/ Stat proficiency.  That was some magic synergy to my ears.  I was all set on a Lyr till I heard this.  Now I have to rethink everything.
 
Did anybody get in any decent AB w/ the HD800 and the Zana Deux to compare?
 
So exactly how significant is the vintage black glass input tube to what we heard there?  Any ideas on how the signature might change w/ the standard Russian Tung Sol used on the input?

Click to expand...

I got to hear the HD800 out of the Zana Deux too. The HD800 from the Super 7 is a completely different presentation. The presentation out of the Zana Deux is that of the more typical HD800 experience, which may not be your cup of tea. I didn't check to see what tubes Dallan was using though. The ZD was faster, more transparent, had sharper details and more extension, but didn't have as much body and wasn't even close with bass impact compared to the Super 7. (Personally, I think the bass could be turned down a hair on the Super 7 as it was configured there at the meet.)
 
I don't care for the russian Tung Sol if used as the input tube - its not very clear and it doesn't have good treble extension, although the bass is pretty good. The vintage Tung Sol black glass round plates seem to run about $250 so it's not all that horrible. You can probably get close with Sylvania chrome top tubes from the 40s to 50s - GT, GTA, GTB. If you look hard, you can find those going for $30 a pop. I was going to bring my Sylvania's to the meet but accidentally packed the russian Tol Sol and Shanguang BT instead with the Peak.
 
The other thing you should consider is the ability to mix up output tubes - if I heard Craig correctly. Think of all the combinations you could try with careful selections under $35ish from eBay. You can't nearly have as much fun with the Lyr - but it is much cheaper.

Danke