[Salvatore]

Quote:

From my short time dealing with tubes, I find that warm cans just don't gel well with tubes if you like a neutral tone. It darkens it too much. With my set of m80s, I prefer it being driven from my e17/o2 than from the t1. My next purchase will probably be a odac or modi so I'll have a tube less desktop dac.

 
True. I still have my E17. It's just too good dac/amp to sell or throw away. Great to have at hand if I ever need brighter sound or need to EQ something. I think T1 has great synergy with AKG X7XX line. Tube amps are probably best suited with grados, AKGs and HD800 etc.
 
http://www.head-fi.org/g/i/729670/interpretation-of-headphone-measurements-source-innerfidelity/sort/display_order/
 
 
Quote:

It's Sennheiser and most of the people acknowledge their rather dark sound (with the exception of the top of their HD product line probably), so it is normal and nothing to worry about. It is for certain that changing headphones will affect your experience in a most significant way. As for me, I returned my Momentums (rather due to a discomfort caused by their design) and continued with my AKG Q701, which are producing the most transparent and bright sound I ever heard (with a bit anemic bass you have to get used to as well). Tube rolling won't give you such a significant difference for sure.

 
Have you already tried the anniversary pads on your Q's? They shift the signature towards HD650 imo. Very easy and nice mod to have at hand. Increases the versatility of your cans.
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/626971/akg-k702-65th-anniversary-edition/2670#post_9533670
 
 
Quote:

A quick question - Is the above pictured tube our revered 7308 gold pin. I'll pull the trigger on this one if it is.

 
Seems legit. It's, however, always good to check the factory codes if available.

 

[viogator]

Have you already tried the anniversary pads on your Q's? They shift the signature towards HD650 imo. Very easy and nice mod to have at hand. Increases the versatility of your cans.

Thanks for the advice. However, I'm outside of US, therefore harmanaudio.com is not available for me, so no easy way to acquire them. In general I'd try them for a curiousity's sake, but I'm a bit sceptical about miracle pads transforming one type of headphones to an absolutely different one

 

[CoiL]

This is offtopic but I found something amazingly great from my own country - Oleg Pissarenko - Who are You ( jazz-postrock-minimalism): http://olegpissarenkomusic.bandcamp.com/

This is also great for testing/comparing tubes. Btw, I think Siemens PCC189 is very very good all-around performer and certainly worth to get tube. I think it`s better than my Miniwatt-Dario ECC189, better transparency, instrument separation, air/room response, better mids section and very good vocals (distance, male & female). Have to do some more comparing but feels it`s in the same "class" as my Ultron PCC189 white label & Amperex OG GAE. 

 

[Salvatore]

Quote:

This is offtopic but I found something amazingly great from my own country - Oleg Pissarenko - Who are You ( jazz-postrock-minimalism): http://olegpissarenkomusic.bandcamp.com/

 
This is absolutely fantastic music. Somehow reminds me of Mushishi soundtrack.

 

[runnin17]

Haven't read through the whole 147 pages. Does ASIO work with the T1 when using J. River???

 

[aedeau]

Hi all, I've been monitoring this thread for a while now but only received my silver T1 in the mail yesterday, so thought I had better post something.I won my T1 on ebay for $130US delivered(I'm in Australia), but forgot to check the power pack when I bought it, so it came with a 110v power pack - I have a step down transformer anyway, so no big deal.

The unit is quite decently made, and I'm very surprised at the weight of the power pack. I weighed it and it's 800grams!! I'm using the stock tube for the moment and my headphones are Sony MDR-V6s. I don't think I've seen anybody else on the forum using these headphones with the T1. Previously I was using a Lexicon Alpha DAC and to be honest, I can't really tell the difference at this stage. The T1 *maybe* has slightly less treble.

Initially the amp came with the dip switches set to +16db, but I noticed when I changed it to 0db the sound was much clearer, at least to my ears. Less distortion? Anyway, I have the volume sitting at around 80% now, rather than 15-20%.

I also put a power meter on the amp and it appears to draw about 15.6 watts when plugged into my transformer. The transformer draws about 8 watts on it's own, so I guess the amp on it's own would probably draw 7-8 watts. I don't think I've seen any mention of power consumption, so just thought I'd put it out there.

Anyway, my setup is at work at the moment and I've used it for about 2 hours so far. Not sure how long the stock tube takes to burn in, but guess I'll keep an ear on it over the next couple of days.

 

[aedeau]

 

[jipan]

Well, I don't know if this count, but my Aune T1 works with AsiiO4All and foobar2000. I just had to add new device on AsiiO4All plugin page on foobar2000.
Quote:

Haven't read through the whole 147 pages. Does ASIO work with the T1 when using J. River???

 
 
on other thing:
Anybody here notice strange sound from the power brick? It's not just soft humm but kind of rattle (? - I don't know how to describe the sound, should I record it?) when I connect it to my electrical outlet. Even when my Aune T1 powered off, or even disconnected, there is the sound. I kind of scared if it's going bad (shorted, burned, etc).

 

[inphu510n]

I'm using the stock tube for the moment and my headphones are Sony MDR-V6s. I don't think I've seen anybody else on the forum using these headphones with the T1. Previously I was using a Lexicon Alpha DAC and to be honest, I can't really tell the difference at this stage. The T1 *maybe* has slightly less treble.

I'm no expert but I believe the reason you're not getting much out of the amp is because your headphones are quite easy to drive at 32ohms. Essentially you won't gain much using an amp with those V6's. Changing the DAC would have more of an impact on perceived SQ.
This is also the reason that changing the gain setting to 0 helped out a bit. The amp was essentially trying to push more volume into a pair of cans that already had plenty of headroom because they're easy to drive.

If you can get another pair of phones with a higher impedance to demo with your T1 I'm pretty confident you'll see a great difference using them amped vs. unamped.

 

[aedeau]

Quote:

I'm no expert but I believe the reason you're not getting much out of the amp is because your headphones are quite easy to drive at 32ohms. Essentially you won't gain much using an amp with those V6's. Changing the DAC would have more of an impact on perceived SQ.

 
The MDR-V6's impedance is 63ohms, specs are as follows. 
http://store.sony.com/p/DJ-headphones/en/p/MDRV6#specifications
 

1. Driver Unit : 40mm
2. Frequency Response : 5Hz - 30,000Hz
3. Impedance : 63 ohms
4. Sensitivity (db) : 106dB/mW

 

[CoiL]

Also it might just be the case that you personally don`t have the ears to detect changes so easily but imo changing headphones with T1 should make noticeable sound change every time.
Try to chane 6922EH tube for russian 6N23P or Amperex OG and if you can`t make difference even then - it's your ears thingy.

 

[Sorrodje]

Everybody should admit that differences between different Amp and sources are subtle even though headphones can sound VERY different .  IMHO , differences and improvements brought by a new dac/amp should be judged after a long period of listening . I'm used to say that Improvements are not very noticeable when switching to an upgraded dac/amp  but after few days or weeks , brain does its job and it becomes quite difficult to come back and downgrade to the previous amp or source . 
 
Maybe the Sony MDR V6 is not a very sensitive to the source too.  My Ultrasone is VERY sensitive athough my Senn is more sensitive to the amp for example . 

 

[inphu510n]

The MDR-V6's impedance is 63ohms, specs are as follows. 
http://store.sony.com/p/DJ-headphones/en/p/MDRV6#specifications

1. Driver Unit : 40mm
   
2. Frequency Response : 5Hz - 30,000Hz
   
3. Impedance : 63 ohms
   
4. Sensitivity (db) : 106dB/mW
   

HAHA I really should have looked that up before writing from memory. I obviously had forgotten the impedance value of the V6, probably one of the most popular studio headphones ever produced.
I believe my observation about the gain value is still correct.

 

[MrEleventy]

HAHA I really should have looked that up before writing from memory. I obviously had forgotten the impedance value of the V6, probably one of the most popular studio headphones ever produced.
I believe my observation about the gain value is still correct.

That's not the reason actually. The reason is that the higher the gain you have, the higher the amplification. Thus any noise that you wouldn't have noticed before is going to get amped as well so your SNR ratio suffers. With the V6 being sensitive cans (106db/mW), they'll pick up the distortion easily.

Typically, you'll want to set the gain as low as possible while getting good volume range on the pot.

E: 0 is more than enough for any hps with 150 and under for impedance. +10 is enough for even 600ohm Beyers so I don't see the point in +16. Maybe for high ohms with really low sensitivity cans?? :confused_face(1):

 

[CoiL]

Finally received my 4x PCC88 NOS tube pack from eBay (Bulgaria):

1. White label Tesla PCC88, 32 marking, P(or F)L128 horizontal code on side, metal center vertical plate, large O-ring getter, copper pins inside tube, 4 in the middle of glass bottom.
2. White label Tesla PCC88, 37 marking, 515 V0 horizontal code on side, metal center vertical plate, large O-ring getter, copper pins inside tube, 14 on the glass bottom between pins. 
These two only construction difference is plate under getter, 32 has bumps on both side on that plate that are cut "open" from sides, 37 has those bump pressed.
3. Tungsram PCC88, yellow thin font printed marking, above it again PCC88 in style of usual factory code printing, opposite side of the tube horizontal 7022, grey vertical center plate, large O-ring getter (thinner ring than my other 2 Tungsram PCC88`s), copper pin material inside tube.
4. Tungsram PCC88, yellow thicker printed marking , vertical numbers on side: 76 and 8141, copper pin material inside tube, large O-ring getter.
 
After fast listening and first impressions I would say that tube nr. 3 is best out of them and nr. 4 is same as my other Tungsram PCC88 which looks same but different codes and what I have said is good for HP`s & electronic music. Although all Tungsram PCC88`s sound very similiar to eachother and depends on music. 
 
Edit:
 
After comparing 3 different Tesla PCC88`s, I`ve come to conclusion that my yellow label 32 marking Tesla PCC88 is best out of them, pretty much same opinion could be found on internet about Tesla PCC88`s.
 
If I compare Tungsram PCC88 to Siemens PCC189 then Siemens is better. So, if you find cheap Siemens PCC189, better get it instead Tungsram PCC88, especially since it`s better for all genres.