[Monsterzero]

If there was any interest, I could send a pair of 7802s on a US tour, but it might just be a tease. Wish there were more around for others to listen to. Who knows, maybe I am the only one who likes them.

Against my better judgement I'd be interested in checking them out. Im going on nearly one year,with not a single tube showing up on eBay.

 

[L0rdGwyn]

Against my better judgement I'd be interested in checking them out. Im going on nearly one year,with not a single tube showing up on eBay.

Cool man, I'll shoot you a PM. When you are done, if someone else is interested, you can send them along, otherwise I'll take them back. Would be very interested to hear your thoughts on how they pair with the Vérité.

 

[heliosphann]

What did they end up going for?

I think after shipping a little over $450

Cool man, I'll shoot you a PM. When you are done, if someone else is interested, you can send them along, otherwise I'll take them back. Would be very interested to hear your thoughts on how they pair with the Vérité.

I'd like to check them out. Can compare them with the 7236's.

 

[L0rdGwyn]

I'd like to check them out. Can compare them with the 7236's.

PM incoming. I am familiar with both, I think you will be pleasantly surprised by how the 7802 compare, but they are a little bright to my ears. YMMV.

I am excited to hear someone else's impressions. Based on what I know of the Vérité, these will be just what the doctor ordered.

 

[UntilThen]

The U52 rectifier arrived safe and sound. Looks pretty new.

 

[mordy]

A Mullard ECC31 came up for sale if somebody is looking:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/273964051479?ul_noapp=true

 

[rnros]

The U52 rectifier arrived safe and sound. Looks pretty new.

Does look good. New sound adventure coming your way. Best of luck with the build.
I know you have given this a lot of thought. Can't really go wrong with a Glenn design/build.
Now it's just the wait, but like myself, you have the GOTL to keep you busy and happy.

 

[UntilThen]

Does look good. New sound adventure coming your way. Best of luck with the build.
I know you have given this a lot of thought. Can't really go wrong with a Glenn design/build.
Now it's just the wait, but like myself, you have the GOTL to keep you busy and happy.

The wait's ok for me. Gives me time to mull over the design. I've enough EL11s and EL12 that are NOS NIB. I could even go with the amp build with those sockets for the steel pins tubes and have adapters crafted to use EL3N. Or have Yamamoto's side contacts build in for EL3Ns and have adapters crafted to use EL11s. Either way it will sound good and looks great in the large black chassis. A Mullard GZ34 NOS is on it's way to me. Got this from an aussie seller at a good price. I'm looking for another rectifier with a bright sound signature and more treble sparkle.

Waiting on the ZMF Verite headphone to arrive. That should sound great on the OTL, being 300 ohms. Almost bought a Focal Utopia but I reckon I'll give the Verite a try as it also use Beryllium drivers and there are some owners that prefers it over the Utopia. I was very impressed with the Utopia on the 2 occasions that I heard it at audio meets.

 

[L0rdGwyn]

All this talk of EL3N, I must partake. Haven't spent a lot of time with these tubes, will get to know them between today and tomorrow.

 

[Xcalibur255]

On the subject of capacitors...... If there are concerns over Duelund because we had an owner experience some oil leakage, then I'm not sure turning to the Jupiter wax caps is a good solution. There are multiple reports of them failing in high temperature environments too.

I think we should give these a try:
https://www.partsconnexion.com/audyn-tcm.html

After all the reading I've done these seem to be regarded as almost as good as the top end Jupiter cap.

No oil and no wax, just copper foil so no reliability problems. As a nice added benefit they're half the price of the Jupiters.

 

[DecentLevi]

Matt, two tube mode adds tons of dynamics, staging, resolution....the slam is off the hook.
One tube mode gives you the blackest of black back rounds....as Glenn mentioned, less gain.
When I owned my Grado RS1, I loved it in one tube mode, so clear and transparent...more so than the HD800 in this department.

Just as Glenn says, in one tube mode you can crank the volume control just about all the way up or even all the way if in the mood and the volume pot is out of the circuit
the signal path is nice and clean. Just to get crazy i have used my GS-X mk2 as a pre-amp for one tube mode.....great stuff!

Two tube mode the back round is not as black, but everything gets kicked up 2x to 3x...seriously, it is a wonderful experience.

The amp powers 300 ohm dynamics and planar headphones equally and I can't imagine that there are too many headphones that it will not power.
I know @SoundTrooper uses his Abyss with it and loves it.

As I am sitting here listening to Calvin Russell it with and the LCD-3 ...I am wondering to myself why I want to even try other tubes in this amp to be honest....I guess just because I can
To be perfectly honest I am not expecting anything to sound better than the EL3N tubes...but who knows....Glenn used EL3N tubes as driver and powers for harmonic distortion.
I bought the adapters so I will try different tubes.

Many people have asked what amp that I like best...but that depends on music, headphones ect. I do not need three amps, but I use them all and don't want to part with any.
I will say that I use the GEL3N amp the most, so maybe that is my favorite....if my wife made me keep just one...then I guess i would pick it.

In the larger chassis Glenn can get in everything you would need for it to power speakers, my amp is for headphones only and the chassis is the exact same size as the GOTL chassis.
Here is a pics of all the amps to compare size wise.

Same size as GOTL....not as long as GS-X mk2 but about 4 inches deeper and weighs about 6X more, lol.
I can only imagine how much the larger chassis with the extra guts weighs....but it would be beastly!


Here is the amp using a 4 volt version of the rectifier you just bought...GEC U52
The volume control is between 9 and 10 0'clock in two tube mode here, with the LCD-3....it would be about same position with ZMF Atticus
With the LCD 3 I some times play it way too loud....maybe 12 O'clock....very loud but man the dynamics and impact are killer.



I can not imagine that you would not love the amp...but who knows everyone is different.

Some Calvin Russell for your listening pleasure.

Spectacular write up and pics to boot! I will definitely get a new GEL3N amp and that would be interesting to know how this stacks up against the mighty WA33 - just out of curiosity but will keep my investment in this anyway.

You told me by PM you have the mini version - anyone know what the difference is between the mini and normal, or even new version? It's the ability to drive speakers, right? I want that option for sometime down the line.

@Sound Trooper maybe you would chime in?

@2359glenn it's not entirely necessary that my GEL3N amp be customized to also allow use of 6AS7 or 6336 (adjustable or add-on switchable transformer) - I'm just curious if that's possible and to see some basic numbers of that possible customization, for kicks but let me know by PM if it's not feasible and I'd just get the new version.

 

[UntilThen]

would be interesting to know how this stacks up against the mighty WA33

This is lop-sided comparison. The Woo Audio WA33 in standard form is $8000 and in elite version is $15000. That's in US dollars.

In 2017, I attended the Australian HiFi show and in the Addicted To Audio stand, I heard the HiFiMan Susvara with the WA33. My first impression was that the bass is out of this world. It's so deep and haunting. Impressed no doubt but I wasn't used to that sound signature. It will take some time to do a proper evaluation. After 2 songs, I move on because that combination is a very heavy investment in head-fi.

 

[DecentLevi]

I'm well aware of the differences in price. Glenn amps may / may not be comparable because keep in mind price often but not always dictates performance. Even if Glenn amps come close I would be happy anyway, and just wanted to know as a point of reference, to have a baseline of the sound since I've not gotten to try a Glenn amp yet, and was able to try the WA 33 more than once. It shouldn't make much of a difference to me, just curious though. And what are some of the favorite DAC pairings with Glenn amps around here?

 

[UntilThen]

This is my point of reference. One of my joy on this audio journey is discovering the legendary sound of vintage Sansui amps. It's the reason I cancelled the order for the DNA Stratus after waiting 7 months - probably regretful in that I will never know how the Stratus will sound like.

Glenn's OTL amp is the best OTL amp I've heard to date. It's very special.

 

[L0rdGwyn]

I'm well aware of the differences in price. Glenn amps may / may not be comparable because keep in mind price often but not always dictates performance. Even if Glenn amps come close I would be happy anyway, and just wanted to know as a point of reference, to have a baseline of the sound since I've not gotten to try a Glenn amp yet, and was able to try the WA 33 more than once. It shouldn't make much of a difference to me, just curious though. And what are some of the favorite DAC pairings with Glenn amps around here?

Hopefully this isn't too controversial, but when it comes to DACs, I believe the measurements. I use Topping DACs, the Topping D50 and Topping D30.

I have A-B'd quite a few DACs and have honestly never been able to hear a difference. I have A-B'd the Topping DACs against the Modi Multibit, couldn't hear a difference (I owned it at one time). Burr-Brown, Sabre, AKM, doesn't matter, I cannot hear it. So, I go for DACs that measure well: highest linearity, dynamic range, and lowest THD+N, and you can get very close to the very top of all DACs at around a $300 price point. At least then I can see where my money is going.

The new Topping D50s is an excellent DAC from a measurements standpoint and it is very reasonably priced. Not saying that more expensive, proprietary, and/or boutique DACs are not worth their price, as I am sure much thought has gone into the engineering and build design, just saying that I have never been able to hear it. Still waiting for a DAC to come along that I can say "okay, that sounds better." Maybe it will happen for me at ZMFestivus in October.

When it comes to amps, it is a totally different story, because I can hear it! And typically, tube amplifiers will not measure as well as solid state, but there are easily discernible subjective improvements over solid state (for me).

If I am going to have second or third harmonic distortion in my audio chain, I want it to come from my beloved tubes!