[Fitz]

To prove I really am a crazyman, here's the photographic evidence of my abused Darkvoice:

 

[Azure]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fitz Front Panel: The main secret that I had to keep from you guys to leave a little bit of suspense. I went back and forth on whether I wanted to do this or just, and just said screw it and ordered it one day. It turned out, really, really nice. Way better than I had expected by all means. Any marks you see on the front of it in the pictures are shadows from the light bouncing off debris on my desk, because the panel is immaculate. They've also improved the edges drastically from the pictures I've seen before.

How much did the front panel cost/where did you get it done?

 

[Fitz]

Now I guess I have to tell you guys how it sounds eh? Well I'll do my best, since I've had less than a day with it in its final form (and a few days with it mostly done), and my W5000s are now temporarily out of service for a week while Greg (phergus_25) puts a nicer high-gloss finish on them.

Well, my main goal was to make the Darkvoice, which already synergized well with the W5000s, to be completely rebuilt with every aspect designed with the W5000 in mind and operate flawlessly with them. Did I succeed? Comparing it to the LD2+ which Greg graciously brought over (and I was a little surprised at just how damn good it sounds), I'd say the answer is a resounding YES!!!

I had my worries at various stages, and even a small panic when I was trying to critically listen Friday night after adding the last mods. Turned out that being tired from working on it all night, and my blood pressure being high from the tension, my hearing was playing a lot of tricks on me. It was also revealing a lot of background details (and flaws) on the recordings that I didn't ever notice in the past.

"Enough jibber-jabberin'! Tell us how it sounds!"

Ok! So let's start at the top, shall we?

High-frequency extension, compared to stock and earlier mod stages, has completely filled out. There's no smearing or rolling off of the highs at all, they're all there in their full glory. But what's not there is the harshness or brightness that usually comes with it. One of my biggest musical pet peeves is the overuse of cymbals, that usually comes out harsh and singey, and usually makes me want to tone down the highs just to compensate. I don't feel any need to try to EQ them down, even with their increased presence. Even at ridiculous volumes, they don't fatigue.

Moving on down to the midrange, the body and soul of the music, is something that has to be heard to be believed. It's liquid smooth, taking full advantage of the all-tube design, and with the W5000 has the best tonal balance of any combination I've listened to extensively (very short auditions at meets notwithstanding). You might think this sort of sound is going to be muddy or somewhat lacking in detail, right? Wrong! As Greg kept saying, compared to the brighter LD2+, there is just a lot more background detail present. After letting the tubes warm up and casually listening for a bit to adjust to headphone listening, the sound is obscenely transparent. I wouldn't necessarily call it lifelike or having a big soundstage, but the headphones just disappear and the music flows. Simple as that.

Now the bass. Yes, one of the original catalysts for this series of mods that has put my wallet on the slimfast diet. I actually had to switch away from my previously preferred Chatham 6AS7G to an RCA 6AS7G, but the bass is full, extended, and completely in control. It has the extra impact and bloom when the recording calls for it, and makes itself scarce when the recording doesn't call for it (helps immensely with strings, where too much added warmth can make them sound fake). To use a potentially more well known track than a lot of my music, the drums on the intro to Dream Theater - 6:00 hit you with enough authority to take over a small country. However, the amount of control the combination has over the bass keeps it from being a basshead's favourite.

So that covers the frequency response, yup, but we all know there's way more to sound quality than just the FR. I'm gonna take the tone down a notch and go to soundstage. The soundstage, even with crossfeed, is not as big as some other combinations, but is better described as intimate. On some recordings I don't mind a big soundstage, but in general I prefer the smaller club sized soundstage to a hall or cavern sized soundstage. I can easily live without the extra depth and width to the soundstage for those recordings.

But what I cannot live without is DYNAMICS. One of the things that made me fall in love with the Darkvoice was its ability to handle dynamics effortlessly. The mods have not sacrificed any of that, and in fact have made it even better. I have mainly been using some tracks by Ani DiFranco to check dynamics, since if the system is not good enough a sudden hard guitar strum or loud lyric can pierce your ears. Well those sudden peaks have even more power to them than before, letting them really get your attention when the song commands it, but are cleaner, clearer, and do not pierce, singe, or make you want to turn down the volume to compensate. And on the opposite end, the combination sounds just as good at very low volumes, not getting veiled and muddy. I still have to get some more time in to compare dynamics with other artists, but I'm overjoyed at the improvement. I didn't even think they could possibly be better than they were when I had my Darkvoice stock.

As an extention of this, fatigue is a word the Darkvoice does not know. I have to conciously pay attention to my volume level, because the complete lack of fatigue or harshness at high volumes can let the volume run away out of control. The normal "falling apart" of the sound as a warning sign to listening too loud isn't there anymore. It's actually uncanny, to be able to crank the volume up way past your normal loud rock-out levels, and not wince or immediately want to turn it down. Good thing I have an SPL meter, so I'll be able to make notes on what sort of SPLs I usually get at different positions of the volume knob.

Alright, I'm starting to get tired here, so I can't remember what I've gone over yet or not. So if you want to know more about anything specific, feel free to ask, and I'll do my best from memory until my W5000s are back in service.

FINAL VERDICT: Darkvoice THA336FM + W5000 will create a tantric state of constant eargasms. Side effects may include a complete lack of desire to move from your chair, lack of concern over one's own basic necessities such as food and water, fatigueless high volume induced hearing loss, shrinkage of the wallet, and swelling of the credit card.

 

[Fitz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Azure How much did the front panel cost/where did you get it done?

I got it done at frontpanelexpress.com, and paid a little over $60 + shipping for it. (me:

, wallet:

)

It would've been about the more common $40 for a panel, but I had to have threaded screw holes and large cutouts made on the back side for it to 'stealth' the real panel that the components actually mount to. I could've also saved a few more bucks by doing the engravings a little differently by foregoing the red on the 'FM', and making them all use the same sized engraving bit.

I'm really impressed with how it turned out for having a lot of high-tolerance work required in a small space, though.

 

[upstateguy]

Hi Fitz

Brilliant job, stunning!

So we can get a better idea of the sound, would you be able to compare/contrast using your M^3 as a base line?

Regards

USG

 

[Fitz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by upstateguy Hi Fitz Brilliant job, stunning! So we can get a better idea of the sound, would you be able to compare/contrast using your M^3 as a base line? Regards USG

I'll be sure to do some more detailed comparisons with the M3 when I get my W5000s back in service, but let me just say this: I do not like the M3 anymore.

 

[phergus_25]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fitz I'll be sure to do some more detailed comparisons with the M3 when I get my W5000s back in service, but let me just say this: I do not like the M3 anymore.

I will do my best to get them done soon, I know how it is to get your amp done, then no phones to listen to.

After a few hours listinign last night I deff love these K501s.

 

[Fitz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by phergus_25 I will do my best to get them done soon, I know how it is to get your amp done, then no phones to listen to. After a few hours listinign last night I deff love these K501s.

I'm actually surprised at how good the DT801s sound on it right now. It wont be anywhere as difficult as the M³ + W5000 I had to listen to for a few weeks. But I'm glad you like the K501s, they mate well with the MS-1s as complementary headphones.

Oh, and before I go into any more detail on the THA336FM here, I've started a new thread for all info specific to it (and I'll have much more detailed modding info there):
http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?p=2333151

 

[Torm]

Wow! Very, very nice!
Makes me wish this was DYI kit!
Since you practically rebuilt the whole thing, sans the PSU - how hard do you think it would have been to build it all from scratch, without the DV chassis? (obviously it is a help - but you also mention it is a very tight fit).

 

[DDQ]

Mr. Jian Liu, our Dark voice dealer, asked me to share this message:

我是黑嗓的出口代理，您的黑嗓336就是在我这里购买的。今天看到headfi上有一些
ebay的黑嗓卖家，我想说明的是，我和厂家保证，出口到国外的黑嗓，只有我一家授权
代理在做。任何ebay上销售的336，都只能是私自从中国把的220v的机器带到国外进行
销售，而不是厂家根据各国电压订做的版本，他们是没有售后保证的。所以国外336的
售后，必须是通过我购买的，厂家才会提供质保，并且，220v的机器，不能工作在240v
的环境下，也不能工作在110v的环境下。
因为我不能上headfi进行发贴，麻烦您在百忙中帮我在headfi上说明一下！十分感谢！

刘坚8.27

Roughly translated:

... I saw on headfi tday that there are some ebay darkvoice sellers. I along with the manufacturor, want to clarify that I'm the only authorized dealer to export Darkvoice out of China. Any 336 on ebay are 220V sample brought from China, not manufactured according each country's specs, and without any manufacturer warranties. In order to take advantage of manufacturer's warranty, all exported 336 has to be purchased through me. Besides, the 220V machnes cannot work in 110V nor 240V environment...

Jian Liu
Aug 27

Quote:

Originally Posted by DDQ Has anyone seen this listing on ebay: Darkvoice 336 220V It went for $152.50 ($60 shipping)

 

[echo1]

Well fritz and everyone I ordered the parts.
I used a couple diff. parts than Fitz but generally followed the mods he did.

1.A 1uf Dynamicap instead of solen
2. WE(Western ELECTRIC REMAKES) Sockets instead of teflon.
3.Riken Ohm on the grid resistor.
4.Mills wirewound for the cathode resistor on the 6sn7.
5.6as7g cathode resistor stayed the same for now.Trying to get some gold series from ohmite but cant find a retailer yet.
6. Used the same military spec IRC resistors on the rest.
7.Ordered the same nichicon 330uf for the high value coupling caps.
8.Dont know if I want to tackle the p-to-p crossfead.
9. Alps maybe.
10. Did not do the cathode bypass since I switched to DC. No tubes hum now at all and the SQ did not take a hit..I like the Soviet 6h13c on DC Best.
11. Used the same Nichicon power caps.Replaced power supply resistors to Mills and Xicon



Hi Fritz, do you think the alps helped the SQ any or just a more even volume control?
Also your DV looks awesome. I will not even aprouch that level of work.You Are a professional.

 

[Fitz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by echo1 Well fritz and everyone I ordered the parts. I used a couple diff. parts than Fitz but generally followed the mods he did. 1.A 1uf Dynamicap instead of solen 2. WE(Western ELECTRIC REMAKES) Sockets instead of teflon. 3.Riken Ohm on the grid resistor. 4.Mills wirewound for the cathode resistor on the 6sn7. 5.6as7g cathode resistor stayed the same for now.Trying to get some gold series from ohmite but cant find a retailer yet. 6. Used the same military spec IRC resistors on the rest. 7.Ordered the same nichicon 330uf for the high value coupling caps. 8.Dont know if I want to tackle the p-to-p crossfead. 9. Alps maybe. Hi Fritz, do you think the alps helped the SQ any or just a more even volume control? Also your DV looks awesome. I will not even aprouch that level of work.You Are a professional.

I can't really be sure because it was difficult for me to get the correct volume level on the Darkvoice with the W5000s before. I do think it's worth it regardless to put a logarithmic taper pot in instead of the linear one now, or mod the current one to behave more like a log pot.

And thanks for the positive comments. I'm really glad it turned out as well as it did, because I've never done any point to point work this extensive before. I got really lucky by having so much time between parts orders to figure out how I was going to do things

 

[Fitz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Torm Wow! Very, very nice! Makes me wish this was DYI kit! Since you practically rebuilt the whole thing, sans the PSU - how hard do you think it would have been to build it all from scratch, without the DV chassis? (obviously it is a help - but you also mention it is a very tight fit).

It'd probably be a lot easier to build a new one in a larger chassis. But I hate doing casework with a burning passion, and part of the fun to me was keeping it all in the original chassis.

 

[echo1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fitz I can't really be sure because it was difficult for me to get the correct volume level on the Darkvoice with the W5000s before. I do think it's worth it regardless to put a logarithmic taper pot in instead of the linear one now, or mod the current one to behave more like a log pot. And thanks for the positive comments. I'm really glad it turned out as well as it did, because I've never done any point to point work this extensive before. I got really lucky by having so much time between parts orders to figure out how I was going to do things

I havent taken off the curcuit board for the volume pot yet. Do you know if the alps will drop in to it or if not,will the pin arangements be the same?

 

[Fitz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by echo1 I havent taken off the curcuit board for the volume pot yet. Do you know if the alps will drop in to it or if not,will the pin arangements be the same?

It didn't look like it would fit with the PCB. You'd have to solder the wires to the pins on the Alps. Looking at the Alps from the front, the ground would go on the left, the output (to the tube socket) in the middle, and the input (from the RCAs) on the right.