[Paladin79]

I did get lucky grabbing one of the "few" Incubus Elegans... very nice amp, makes my HD6XX sound like Hifiman cans.. another level of sound. Good luck with that.

I kept feeling that the high end had a ceiling with my amps till I got Focal Utopias, Verite opens also do well.

 

[therremans]

Skimmed the above posts and just wanted to add my experience. I purchased the DV amp March or April of 2020. My internship was canceled and I had free time on my hands. The country was mostly on lockdown then and we were especially being in the city. It gave me something to work on and I thoroughly enjoyed the process. Thanks to a mistake from Mouser, I got my output caps for nearly free. I also did the fitz mod so early on, that I never have experienced tube hum on the amp. Today, it sounds great and I have other resistors and caps to install. I don’t have botique or other handmade amps to compare it with, one day I will hopefully be able to do that. I have done so many part swaps to the DV, it feels like my version of a BHC. I now look forward to my next amp and amp build, whenever that is. I’ve now collected numerous tubes and tube types and have also enjoyed hearing their differences in this modded entry level amp. It’s not always greener when spending large amounts of money to chase something boutique and I don’t try to sound pretentious about audio. Other circuit designs are going to be mostly better.. but the ride was fun to where I am today.

 

[HTSkywalker]

I'm craving a Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich... not sure why. They don't make them here in the West like they do in the East.

Shorty's is my preferred when am in Manhattan, but it often get messy while eating it
https://www.shortysnyc.com/

 

[HTSkywalker]

I kept feeling that the high end had a ceiling with my amps till I got Focal Utopias, Verite opens also do well.

Any screwdriver approached the DV yet ?

 

[HTSkywalker]

I'm a "long time lurker but rare Head-fi poster." After recently acquiring a DV 336SE, I skimmed this entire thread of 792 pages. I came here to diagnose severe hum with some of my otherwise fine 6SN7 tubes and indeed learned a lot. I'm still pondering the DV's quality and best uses as a consumer product. See questions below.

Background: I own a Lyr 3 and built a Bottlehead Crack. In due course I acquired a DV to conduct back-to-back testing in this price bracket. There's a lot to be said about tube amps with a single driver, as it's much easier to explore than with pairs of tubes. All three of these amps balance cost, complexity, value, and functionality (noting that the Crack actually costs much more per the tools, materials, and skills required, plus the failed construction risk for non-experts.) In owning the other two amps I already had an inventory of 6SN7 and 6080/6AS7 tubes. I'll certainly keep my Crack (as I built it myself), but one or both of the other amps may go away.

Observations:

• I concur with all prior posts that Russian tubes don't work well. My Fotons and a recent Tung-Sol are unusably buzzy. The factory Chinese tube, my Sylvania tubes, and my tubes with less internal mass buzz the least. I'm unsure if any of my tubes are close to NOS or merely used vintage tubes (no tester). Per the mixed results of DV mods and the presence of competing mods, I'm not inclined to throw more money at a $250 device and instead put the cash toward a different amp. My first inclination is to let the DV be what the DV is: a cheap entry point and niche product. However...? What are its niches?
  • Niche #1a: Cheap and effective way to drive Sennheiser and Beyerdynamic 300-600 ohm headphones. Even with factory or GE tubes I've heard worse from these headphones using more expensive solid state amps. The stock DV's warmth and limited resolution takes the edges off the DT 880, HD 600, and HD 800 S, but makes the HD 6XX too bassy for me. My personal 6SN7s sound about the same on the Lyr 3, suggesting both are moderately transparent to the tubes. Work with it and with non-buzzy tubes rather than try to transform it, and thereby keep the costs low.
  • Niche #1b (rarely mentioned in this thread): Cheap way to obtain a tube preamp for either a home theater receiver or inexpensive Class D amp. Per my testing with speakers, the DV is "better than nothing" in taking the edges off of solid state amps. It'd likely be a godsend to many owners of Klipsch home theater setups who loved the copper cones and sparkly timbre in a Best Buy. Entry-level buyers may actually find more value in the RCA output jacks than the headphone out.
  • Niche #2: Potentially a cost-effective, pre-assembled set of parts to compete with the Crack as a mod platform. I'm not sure if this is a good idea, as this thread includes criticism of most everything inside. The pot has no usable range, there's the huge hum issue, there's no space for installing larger caps (hence the wooden base extender in this thread), etc. Are enough of the stock parts worth it to start on costly mods, and is there a clear path forward before reaching Woo and Feliks territory? (Regarding parts costs, the entire amp sells for about $250 but Bottlehead charges $55 for just the four wooden boards to make the Crack's base.) Kits and DIY limit the market to the capable, and the overconfident who screw up and end up with a non-functional heap. Should the DIY community start with the DV at all? If so, many people will require guidance and hand-holding -- likely pushing them back to Bottlehead.
• Some of the frequent posters are master craftsmen, hardcore tube rollers, and electronics experts (RESPECT). What you all understand and can do goes clean over the heads of the occasional newbie who pops in, as they are almost certainly in Niche #1a. I'm always impressed by the now widely known work of @Paladin79. (I'm still wondering about when he'll release a Succubus amp.) I agree with him in assessing the stock DV as marginal performer out of the box (especially if considering to use it with the Utopia). By their actions, many of the regulars here are in Niche #2.
• Some tube rollers in this thread created Jenga towers of tube adapters, and spent way more on tubes than the DV costs up front. I'm pondering whether this is the best avenue into alternative tubes and started shopping for oddball adapters myself, but also wonder whether another platform is a better place to start? Woo? Feliks? A future Bottlehead non-Crack? An off-the-shelf Incubus?

That's all. I'm still lost on Niche #2.

Well a very good analysis of the DV but yet a cheap place to start your 6SN7 and 6AS7G collections. Yet you can start at much better places from the other products you just listed. Although I may suggest another good contender "Hartung" but currently the company is reshaping its product's line.

 

[Paladin79]

Any screwdriver approached the DV yet ?

Oh heck no, too many other things going on for me right now and I am struggling to make one more Incubus.

 

[jonathan c]

Any screwdriver hammer approached the DV yet ?

FTFY…[Reg. TM; © bcowen: 2021]

 

[Slade01]

FTFY…[Reg. TM; © bcowen: 2021]

LOL. I was about to say @Paladin79 may approach it with a hammer. Busy schedules with holidays and such coming up. No one would convict him.

 

[jonathan c]

LOL. I was about to say @Paladin79 may approach it with a hammer. Busy schedules with holidays and such coming up. No one would convict him.

A case of sonic self-defense……

 

[JKDJedi]

Morning Ladies ...

 

[sam6550a]

LOL. I was about to say @Paladin79 may approach it with a hammer. Busy schedules with holidays and such coming up. No one would convict him.

Knowing @Paladin79, he would most probably jack up the DV nameplate and slide a new amplifier of his own design under it.

 

[HTSkywalker]

FTFY…[Reg. TM; © bcowen: 2021]

Thought he's keeping the box at least while the inner parts goes to Finnegan toy's chest

 

[HTSkywalker]

LOL. I was about to say @Paladin79 may approach it with a hammer. Busy schedules with holidays and such coming up. No one would convict him.

Sure it's the holiday season and I've heard that @Paladin79 is working on a GE tubes nutcracker as well

 

[sam6550a]

Thought he's keeping the box at least while the inner parts goes to Finnegan toy's chest

@Paladin79 would not abuse Finnegan with those parts.

 

[jonathan c]

Sure it's the holiday season and I've hard that @Paladin79 is working on a GE tubecracker as well

FTFY…[Reg. TM; © bcowen: 2021]