Mainline Tube Rolling
I couldn't resist trying the 6S15P in the Mainline and the results have been interesting there is certainly some noticeable differences to the 6S45P-E Gold Pins I have been running for the last 9 months.
So a few observations in comparison to the 6S45P-E Gold Pins, bearing in mind I only have been using them for a couple of days now.
The general sound of the 6S15P is more crystalline in nature than 6S45P-E which I think sounds the more organic or analogue of the two. You could say the 6S15P has a touch of solid state about it compared to the 6S45P-E .
The 6S15P without doubt delivers a higher level or resolution its revealing lots of new little details and I have found myself several times now lifting my cans off my head to check/listen for sounds in the house which they were actually new details revealed on the headphones.
Treble comes across as crisper and cleaner with more headroom it is a slightly more etched treble. Listening to a orchestral piece recorded in a large cathedral the music feels like it’s soaring up into the high vaults of the cathedral ceiling and the shimmer on cymbals impressed.
Mids feel a fraction less intimate and involving emotionally compared to the 6S45P-E however this is a area where the sense of presence and density of tone has continued to improve with run time.
Bass seems tauter with a fraction more punch and a noticeable increase in its texturing.
Depending on what genres your preferences are it’s got to be good to be able to roll tubes and still tweak the Mainline just a little to suit personal tastes.
The 6S45P is my favourite for folk/bluegrass or small ensemble acoustic music and feel it does a better job of delivering textual clues with a more natural and life like tone of solo instruments and vocals. While the 6S15P digs up increased level of details of the wetness and hollowness of a note blown through a woodwind instrument the 6S45P is a fraction less resolving but to my mind delivers the more convincing tone of the note and woody-ness texture of the instrument through which it was made.
The 6S15P comes into its own with more complex music and orchestral where its separation and air help with the portrayal of scale and crescendo while the higher resolution helps with digging out some nice little instrumental nuances from amongst the orchestra. Before I turned in for the night I wanted to check out a couple of tracks on Florence and the Machine's Ceremonials album which is a reasonably busy album and ended up listing to the whole thing finally turning in at 2am…
Cheers
Jamie