For those of you who are thick pad enjoyers, do you feel that the treble is thinner than stock?

I remember a certain YT-er said that WANDLA is as good as Holo May too...

Thanks. It seems that the Tungsten must sounds like a further refined LCD-4 which if so they must sound completely different than Caldera.

Any more comparisons with ModHouse Tungsten?

@kkrazik2008 I wonder if the Stellaris would fare better driving the Caldera.

Did you try swapping around the pads of the loaner Caldera?

I am a bit unclear, is this a new offshoot brand from Vinshine made in the Denafrips factory?

Thanks! I am actually interested in older MSBs like the IV or V because the prices of these older flagship DACs of have dropped a lot.

Anyone compared the Wavedream with MSB DACs before?

I shall try it, stock pad sounds slightly imbalanced to me. Too much midrange.

Do the thick pads make the Caldera less mid-centric? Is there echo in the mid when you increase the distance to your ears?

Why not get the Cayin HA-300 mk2? Same midcentric, lush tuning as the Envy and is really not that far behind (90-95% as good maybe?) but so much cheaper. Build quality is similar and probably slightly better with the Cayin. You can even reuse your Envy tubes for the Cayin since they run the same...

Update : After a couple of days, the Sylvania 6SN7W metal base overall still seems to pull a bit ahead (used in the EC Balancing Act, with KR PX4 power tubes and Focal Utopia OG). It has this sparkle in the top end but without harshness (my favourite feature), the Telefunken seems a bit rougher...

@TLO @raindownthunda Thanks for the tips. It does look like TFK made when comparing the getter construction to my TFK E88CC but I am still not too clear because TFK has no history of making this tube? As for the sound it kinda reminds me of the Elrog: seems detailed, neutral and airy if not...

Speaking of Eastern European tubes, my tube man just let me another interesting one. This 6SN7GTA has Telefunken markings but based on his info and from here it seems likely that this is made by RFT. Curiously the ring getter looks very TFK-ish though… I haven’t had the time to test it yet...

12AU7 equivalents seem to do more harm than good in the EC Balancing Act. :sweat_smile:

I'm not sure we're supposed to take this reviewer seriously, have you seen his latest content? :joy:

Are there any more comparisons between DNA Stellaris with the Envy? The AE should be similarly priced (or slightly more expensive) to the Stellaris Special too.

Thanks. I thought I had quit the L63 game for good since after trying out so many singles I keep coming back to my GEC / Marconi staright bottle and sold off the rest. A friend recently lent me a metal base Sylvania 6SN7W (with A marking on top) and that tube has such an sense of air and...

Which variant of the GEC are we talking about here, the straight bottle or ST one? They have different internals.

I saw a 1:1 replica in AliExpress before which I'm curious about. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001014385931.html Tried the ZMF one before and it seems to change the sound of OG pads a bit.

More than half if you’re on your phone. 😂

So who is still rocking the ECBA in 2024? :L3000:

As we talked about this a little in the Stellaris thread, I tried the Bartok Apex yesterday and came away really impressed. I didn't really like the OG but the Apex version is the real deal. It's a bit hard to describe but if you listen to it by itself the Bartok Apex can sound vanilla but...

Bartok (non APEX) is in a weird position in dCS lineup because the Lina stack is quite a bit better (and someone correct me if I'm wrong it's cheaper also?). Rockna's own Wavedream Signature is also a bit better than the Bartok (more resolving, airier, blacker background). We should have a...