[TYATYA]

After digging this 4room my choice is

 

[TYATYA]

My DV with stock tube 6N5PJ, 6N8P which are crappy

 

[DoctaCosmos]

Still running stock tubes. They worked ok with the wife's headphone but the Eikon is too much headphone for it. Afraid of getting tubes off the thread thinking there are people hussling trying to get rid of crap they don't like or are getting old or a ton of stock. Planning on going to my local -ish speaker shop and taking it with me and trying some eventually. What the DV does do for the Eikon is open it up a bit though. A little too much in the mids but the highs and bass are nice.

 

[gvl2016]

My favorite budget combo so far is a run off the mill Sylvania 6SN7 tall bottle with chrome top/RCA 6AS7 military spec (JAN) from WWII period. There are probably better tubes (read more expensive) out there but these sound great. I'm mostly using DV as pre-amp currently into a vintage Yamaha MX-600U amp driving JBL L100 Centurys, I like. I gave up on stock tubes, the 6SN7 is too grainy and the big one is too dull. I've experimented with some other cheapo US made old tubes, I wasn't happy with some of them but they all sounded better than the stock ones.

 

[TYATYA]

Just give it some more time. At first I thought the same with my Russian Tung Sol. After 4 days there was still no improvement. But after 4 days it became better and better.

It's correct that a Headphone with only 32 Ohm is not the best combination. I've had the samen. Now I have the Sennheiser HD650, and it is way better! Nog only because of the better cans, but the combination is great!

Yes burning in is need for both electrical part and non-electric parts.
With stock tubes I found no problem with hp impedance with both low (denon D2000) and high (Sen' hd650) but with B.A iem it seems a big matter. Nuforce HEM4 is a less than a crappy when driven by DV (stock).
Waiting for a Tungsol JAN 5998 and Sylva 6SN7GT to arrival. Hope it suit for hd650 as heard in topic

 

[41Venom14]

@TYATYA, oh that Sylvania VT-231 is by far one of my favorite tubes. I don't know what it is exactly about the tube, but it just makes the music warm. The bass is sometimes over extended, but I find it so lush. The HD650s are phenomenal on the DV. It makes them "better" in my opinion. It tones down the highs a bit and makes the bass punchy (with the right set of tubes of course).
Also, in my experience I have seen the low impedance headphones lose their bass almost entirely. Trying to run the TH-X00 on the DV was just a terrible combo. The sub bass that they are known for absolutely disappeared.
 
@DoctaCosmos, gotta change that "Awaiting ZMF Eikons!" haha. The reason why I purchased the Atticus and Eikons was because they were the only dynamic driver that work on tubes that I would want. The other option was the HD800S, but something about it, just didn't have any interest in it. Also tempted to snag the LCD-X, but again, low ohms so not great on the DV. I am very curious to hear the Eikons in general, but cannot wait to stack them up on the DV and start tube swapping. Although the WA22....god its beautiful and uses the same tubes as the DV.
As for snagging new tubes, just go to Ebay, NOS 6SN7 tubes and you'll get the fresh tubes to go with your Eikons, I'd be very curious to hear your impressions since I can't get my Eikon for another month and a half
 
Hope everyone has a great Sunday (its the Superbowl if anyone is watching).

 

[rudra]

I am curious to hear from Eikon owners if they have tried the HP with other OTL amps. The reason I ask is, to me the DV's bass seems bloated  even with good tubes(Tungsol 5998 & Tungsol VT231 BGRP) when compared to my Little Dot MKVI+. On the other hand maybe I shouldn't be comparing a $250 amp with a $850.  I have tried lot of different tube combinations with DV just doesn't have the finesse compared to the LD. That is not to say that the DV is bad.

 

[TYATYA]

@41Venom14 I read 4room and base on comments of users whose DV and Hd650 combo.
Hope a good experience will comes when those tube arrival.
Borrowing a Sylva 5692 brown base, top chrome glass.
Dont know it match to DV or smoke and bad smell when test
But looking it match to socket

 

[rudra]

5692 will work fine on the DV.  Out of interest what power tube are you using with the Slyvania 5692

 

[TYATYA]

5692 will work fine on the DV.  Out of interest what power tube are you using with the Slyvania 5692

Yeahhh it works, 5692 Sylva. Bass is now more impact and speed, response lower freq and with gain a bit, suit for hd650. Mid is alive much more than stock goods.
Power tube is still stock. Will borrow untill my obtain ordered tubes

 

[svmusa]

Any thoughts on using 336SE purely as a preamp for stereo listening? few front and back tube combination in preamp would be highly appreciated.
 
Music would be mostly instrumental, Jazz, fusion and some vocals mix. I love tube sound and lean on good bass impact, the gear is modest, SMSL M8 DAC and the preamp will be feeding a Monoprice 11497 300 Watts 2 Channel Amplifier to a pair BIC RTR-EV15 Floor Speaker with High-Efficienc​y Horn Tweeter.

 

[gvl2016]

  Any thoughts on using 336SE purely as a preamp for stereo listening? few front and back tube combination in preamp would be highly appreciated.
 
Music would be mostly instrumental, Jazz, fusion and some vocals mix. I love tube sound and lean on good bass impact, the gear is modest, SMSL M8 DAC and the preamp will be feeding a Monoprice 11497 300 Watts 2 Channel Amplifier to a pair BIC RTR-EV15 Floor Speaker with High-Efficienc​y Horn Tweeter.

 
I'm using it as a pre-amp with good results. There is some audible hum even with pretty much all tubes I tried, but not detectable when the music is playing.The Fitz mod should help but I haven't tried it yet. As for tube combination, you really need to try and see for yourself as it is all very system and ear dependent. I haven' t tried any exotic tubes but and my favorite inexpensive combos so far, grey glass WWII era military RCA 6SN7GT/GE6080, and Sylvania chrome-top tall bottle 6SN7/RCA 6AS7 (JAN- military spec). Generally you want to pair a bright and a warm sounding tubes together, from my experience bright-bright and warm-warm pairs are too extreme combination. I found tube sockets are crap, and there is a good amount of very loud popping and scratching noises every now and then with some older tubes, rocking the tubes back and forth usually helps for some time as does cleaning the pins with very fine sandpaper, followed by cleaning with 97% ISO alcohol and finally deoxit applied.
 
If you don't plan to use it with headphones you can have a look at Schiit Saga instead, it is more expensive but it has a remote control and only one tube to roll.
 
Anyone has any thoughts if taking the line-out after the first tube may yield some benefits? There should be less gain which would work great in my case as the output is already too hot for my power amp.

 

[svmusa]

   
I'm using it as a pre-amp with good results. There is some audible hum even with pretty much all tubes I tried, but not detectable when the music is playing.The Fitz mod should help but I haven't tried it yet. As for tube combination, you really need to try and see for yourself as it is all very system and ear dependent. I haven' t tried any exotic tubes but and my favorite inexpensive combos so far, grey glass WWII era military RCA 6SN7GT/GE6080, and Sylvania chrome-top tall bottle 6SN7/RCA 6AS7 (JAN- military spec). Generally you want to pair a bright and a warm sounding tubes together, from my experience bright-bright and warm-warm pairs are too extreme combination. I found tube sockets are crap, and there is a good amount of very loud popping and scratching noises every now and then with some older tubes, rocking the tubes back and forth usually helps for some time as does cleaning the pins with very fine sandpaper, followed by cleaning with 97% ISO alcohol and finally deoxit applied.
 
If you don't plan to use it with headphones you can have a look at Schiit Saga instead, it is more expensive but it has a remote control and only one tube to roll.
 
Anyone has any thoughts if taking the line-out after the first tube may yield some benefits? There should be less gain which would work great in my case as the output is already too hot for my power amp.

Very helpful information, I am not keen on headphones and am looking at Ember 2 and Saga. NOS tube changing in Saga seems not that impact full on sound signature is my quick read perhaps done by intent in the design and  Ember 2 seems a good candidate but little more pricey. Tube rolling with one type is more affordable in all essence.

 

[gvl2016]

Yes, from the reviews my understanding is there very little tube effect in Saga, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, also tube rolling is addictive and can be spendy

 

[atarione]

  Any thoughts on using 336SE purely as a preamp for stereo listening? few front and back tube combination in preamp would be highly appreciated.
 
Music would be mostly instrumental, Jazz, fusion and some vocals mix. I love tube sound and lean on good bass impact, the gear is modest, SMSL M8 DAC and the preamp will be feeding a Monoprice 11497 300 Watts 2 Channel Amplifier to a pair BIC RTR-EV15 Floor Speaker with High-Efficienc​y Horn Tweeter.

 
 
I have been using my DV336 quite a lot as a Pre for my Sony TA-N77ES power amp..w/ JBL L1 speakers.. I don't have any noticeable hum in my setup with headphones or when using it as a pre.    I have been quite pleased with the DV as a preamp for the Sony.    I have been running RCA 6SN7GT and GE 6AS7GA tubes with mine for most of this time.