I agree with Jamie - I found replacing the last electrolytic with a film cap a very worthwhile exercise - perhaps slightly less impactful than doing the output caps but still very good, especially when it comes to producing a smoother more natural treble presentation.    I used the choke and a...

Wow - a three-way shoot-out between the Glenn, DNA and the ZD with the HD650 & 800 would be awesome.     I think choosing between these 2 or 3 is a common dilemma for someone looking for an end-game tube amp for Senns, so any insight about differences and similarities would be greatly...

@Gergely - yes those are the ones:  the Mullard CV4003 with the "box" plates.  Very expensive. I think the price is ex-VAT so £66 each + shipping.     I can understand wanting to get them from a reputable seller.  Look at Langrex.com "common valve" page -  they are listed at £35 each.  Langrex...

Simon,    My advice - try to keep the price around or under £20 for a NOS pair - including shipping. These are a nice budget tube for the WA7tp but as soon as you start paying significantly more the price to performance ratio drops quickly.  I bought a sleeve of 5 for around this price, they...

LOL. Anybody want to buy a Shuguang-Tung-Sol with a GEC sticker? Made in England. Tested Good. No returns.

I'm just pleased to hear no one actually approves of that kind of seller-behaviour, regardless of what is technically allowed/prohibited.  I think lots of people here just thought it was a bit of a lame listing. Morally, more than anything else.     Of course he probably didn't have to either...

^ I would agree.    There's "what you can get away with on eBay", then there's not making a ******-bag listing on eBay, which you know has a high probability of resulting in some less-knowledegable / newbie tube roller getting screwed over.   Still, Gibosi's (and Hypnos') message to be...

  Indeed Mister-X if that were to happen I'd be all over it.    I'd be less excited about the replicas/re-issues that typically come out of factories like New Sensor in Russia. Since they own the Mullard/Tung-Sol names that seems like one of the most likely sources of replicas at least for...

Mordy, great point, well made.  There does indeed seem to be a consensus on many of the tube threads.  Some might describe this as the result of a sheep mentality or because good reputations are self-perpetuating.  Others might see it as a process of natural selection whereby the best tubes tend...

    Hi Mordy - yes indeed definitely a lot of truth in what Liu Junyuan wrote.  You only have to go to the beginning of this thread (2009) to read about people buying 5998s for $20.     Your point about synergy is a great one - within this thread you can read about the same valves being...

I do agree that there is a lot of excitement in tube rolling and it invariably pushes up the price and scarcity.   However,  many of the NOS recommendations made on this thread are made by people who have taken the time to perform careful and extensive listening comparisons across the entire...

Awesome.  Yes I'd say you're sorted.  By that time we'll be mainlining the music directly into our cryogenically-frozen brains via microchip.   Either that or minidiscs will have made a resurgence. 

That collection's going to be pretty damn valuable in 30 years time when the rest of us are fighting over the last Svetlanas on eBay. 

Yes, I find GEC 6AS7G a little weightier than the GEC 6080. A little more solidity & density to the sound.  However,  tonally they are probably more similar than different.   Nowhere near as thick, warm and juicy as the Mullard 6080.    I have a completely different amp but - given the expense...

Wow - just to echo what others have said - did this ever get put on the front page of Head-Fi ?  The lack of reps makes me think not - and that seems like a real shame.    Few people will have access to all these amps and headphones at one time. This is just the kind of review I look for...

Nice one Kyle -  DAC-wise might also be worth checking out the new Schiit Multibit Bifrost -  great price, R2R, small form factor & there might be some available in black to match your night-stand aesthetic :)

Thanks fotomeow great info.  It will be really interesting to read impressions of the final production units when they start rolling in.   I wonder if those at the most recent CanJam were the final version. 

Hi there @fotomeow - interesting stuff!  was there any information there at the Woo stand about the DAC that is used in the WA8?

Hi Kyle - good tube hunting.  The CBS-Hytron 5814a are really nice!   Regarding differences - it's very hard to say.  I only have two different styles.  The first is a 1955 5814 (white labelling just "Hytron"), the second, red labelling 1953 "CBS-Hytron" 5814A  Besides the label they really do...

@groovyd  - exciting stuff, sounds like the 6350s could be a winner.   Head-Fi salutes those pushing the boundaries with extreme tube-rolling.     Are the adapters decent quality ?     As a great man here once said... "Pictures or it didn't happen".....    

Hmm I don't own a WA2 but that pic doesn't look like some of the others I've seen which look very neat indeed as seen in this post from a few years ago. http://www.head-fi.org/t/428570/woo-audio-amp-owner-unite/3090#post_6525392 Although neatness is always important , as long as it's at a...

Jamie - Should be epic! Did the Speedball change your 6080/6AS7G preference vs the stock unit ?  I thought I read somewhere that tube-rolling post SB might be less impactful ?

Probably the former.  The WA7 has a better handle on all the technicalities and sounds like a more mature amp but I just find the Crack more enjoyable with the HD-650s specifically.  The synergy is magical.   To be honest, It's hard to be objective about the Crack - it was as much about...

With the HD-650s the Mullards had certain glowing liquid qualities in the mids that none of the others quite had.  But for lots of music it just turned into rich warm-soup.  It was fun... & I like soup - but probably not all the time. It could sound too slow.  Noticeably rolled at both ends but...