[41Venom14]

   
Got the DV in August 2016 (5 months ago).
Before that only tube head amps used was sub $100 Indeed brand.

 
That's fantastic. What is your favorite headphone pairing and have you just started tube rolling??

 

[PurpleAngel]

   
That's fantastic. What is your favorite headphone pairing and have you just started tube rolling??

 
My Beyerdynamic T90 is my preferred headphone for all listening.
The tubes I bought two hours ago (off eBay) is my first attempt at tube rolling.

 

[atarione]

  @atarione, how is that GE 6SN7GTB? I have not had the good grace to purchase that tube yet.  

 
 
it is fine.. it is nothing to go nutz over however.. the RCA 6SN7GT I have is probably nicer sounding .. but the GE does fine also.. worth the $5 I spent on it.

 

[Verhulk]

@Verhulk, I would try the Sylvania 6SN7GTB with the TungSol 7236 as my first go around if you haven't already got some tubes humming away. Those tubes look absolutely perfect though, I'm very tempted to snag the Sylvania 7236s I have had my eyes on. I dunno what it is about Sylvania, but I think I find them to be my favorite tubes. Which tubes did you get from the store that I can NEVER remember the name of lol.

LOL thats the combination I've listened to the most yesterday evening. Very clear, but comfortable listening. A lot of dynamics and a good and balanced bass. Enjoyed the music so much that I didn't do enough A/B tests. But listening to music is what we're doing it for, aren't we?

 

[deaconblues]

I just got my Darkvoice 336SE from Massdrop yesterday.   I had to open it up and fix a disconnected solder joint at the headphone jack's ground.  It's working great now, but unfortunately I failed to pay attention to the orientation of the bottom panel.  Could someone please look at the underside of your amp and tell me whether the bottom panel's vent is towards the front or the back of the amp?
 
I recently found my box of spare 6SN7s from the days when I had a Bada PH-12.
Inside there were:
 
6SN7 pulled from a Baldwin organ.  IIRC it's a Sylvania 6SN7GTB, but I could be wrong.  Warmer than stock tube.  No hum at all.  Ironically, I think this tube had some hum issues on the PH-12, which is why it ended up forgotten in a box.  I believe I had three more of these tubes before, which I sold together with the PH-12.
 
6N8P - Chinese tube, identical to the stock tube that came with the Darkvoice.  I think I actually prefer the stock tube over the Baldwin organ tube.  It sounds cleaner.  Like the Baldwin tube, this tube did not have any hum.
 
Electro Harmonix 6SN7, made in Russia - Ahhh, there's that hum that people were talking about.  I can't really say much about the tube's sound, because the hum was too annoying.
 
Russian 6H8C (actually 6N8S written in Cyrillic) - All 6 of these tubes hummed.  Some louder than others, but all were pretty loud.
 
I don't think I'm going to bother with the Fitz mod for now, since I have a couple of dead silent tubes.  I'll probably try to see if the Russian tubes respond to the burn-in trick some time though.  Has anyone else gotten the Russian tubes to behave without doing the Fitz mod?

 

[PurpleAngel]

  I just got my Darkvoice 336SE from Massdrop yesterday.   I had to open it up and fix a disconnected solder joint at the headphone jack's ground.  It's working great now, but unfortunately I failed to pay attention to the orientation of the bottom panel.  Could someone please look at the underside of your amp and tell me whether the bottom panel's vent is towards the front or the back of the amp?

 
The vents are in the back, under the power supply.

 

[UntilThen]

 
Russian 6H8C (actually 6N8S written in Cyrillic) - All 6 of these tubes hummed.  Some louder than others, but all were pretty loud.

My 6H8C hums badly on DV too but they were silent on Elise.

 

[Verhulk]

I don't think I'm going to bother with the Fitz mod for now, since I have a couple of dead silent tubes.  I'll probably try to see if the Russian tubes respond to the burn-in trick some time though.  Has anyone else gotten the Russian tubes to behave without doing the Fitz mod?

I haven't done the Fitz mod. I have a Tung Sol Russian driver tube. Start was a huge hum. After burning in in this way the tube sounds great. It took about 7 days until the  Russian Tung Sol was really dead quiet. The sound is pretty good!

 

[41Venom14]

Ohhhhhh Massdrop has the all black DT990s going on right now and I am just so tempted....@PurpleAngel, what do you think of the DT990s? I've watched a couple reviews on them and I'm very on the fence. I have the HD650 and I am completely addicted to them with the DV. I feel like any headphone I get right now that doesn't pair well with the DV won't get much attention. Looking at you Fostex TH-X00 PH.
 
Tube Combo Tonight
Kenrad VT-231 - Bendix 6080
 
.....I think, I think I see where they stated the Kenrad VT-231 has the best bass....With that lively Bendix the Kenrad just opens up and its sooo impactful, precise, beautiful. 
 
@Verhulk, what combo you running tonight man? You got all these tubes at the same time, it's the worst isn't it?
 
@atarione, what headphones you got running with the DV again? 
 
I also have the Russian tubes, but didn't dedicate enough time to them to remove the hum. Some tubes are worse than others for sure. Two Sylvania VT-231s, one hums kinda loud and the other is dead silent. 

 

[PurpleAngel]

  Ohhhhhh Massdrop has the all black DT990s going on right now and I am just so tempted....@PurpleAngel, what do you think of the DT990s? I've watched a couple reviews on them and I'm very on the fence. I have the HD650 and I am completely addicted to them with the DV. I feel like any headphone I get right now that doesn't pair well with the DV won't get much attention. Looking at you Fostex TH-X00 PH.

 
The DT990 600-Ohm has better bass control, then the 250-Ohm version.
The DT990 should offer better surround sound then the HD650
The DT990 has a strong bass/treble, which slightly over shadows the mids, but the mids are clear.
From my understanding the HD650 are great music headphones, not sure the DT990 would offer anything better.

 

[atarione]

it is best to demo the DT990's if at all possible first before buying them... they have pretty massive amounts of treble .. they are not for me... I greatly prefer the DT880's

 

[41Venom14]

   
The DT990 600-Ohm has better bass control, then the 250-Ohm version.
The DT990 should offer better surround sound then the HD650
The DT990 has a strong bass/treble, which slightly over shadows the mids, but the mids are clear.
From my understanding the HD650 are great music headphones, not sure the DT990 would offer anything better.

 
 

  it is best to demo the DT990's if at all possible first before buying them... they have pretty massive amounts of treble .. they are not for me... I greatly prefer the DT880's

 
@PurpleAngel and @atarione, thank you both for your input. I wouldn't say I am treble sensitive but the HD650s on my Jotenheim sure become quite fatiguing with just how high those vocals can reach. 
 
Guess I am better off just sitting back and saving up for either the ZMF Ori, MrSpeakers Ether, or Audeze LCD-X or 2 or maybe even 3. I think the Ori's are on the must buy list and then its going to be an EXTREMELY difficult toss up between the Ethers and LCD options (probably the LCD-X). Naturally both of these options will not pair with the DV well, sigh, I feel like it is getting more difficult to find an amazing pair of high impedance headphones.
 
The Sennheiser 800S is of course their flagship, but I don't think it is for me. I need to find a place that I can test out all these different headphones for sure. 

 

[ThermalAlchemy]

I can now say after owning my first tube amp The DV 336SE and the HD 650 if you think your headphones vocals are too high or shrill or there's not enough have or your getting high frequency fatigue. You can keep switching tube combinations until your ears hear what they desire making you think you have multiple sets of headphones. Out of my selection of new old stock tubes I've gotten lucky and only have three that have a light hum in them possibly because I have not burned them in long enough, all the rest were dead silent out of the box. I have noticed even the exact same tube from the same manufacture but just produced a few years apart can make a difference in their sound reproduction. Shown in my photo I have tubes that represent from 1941 JAN Army Navy to normal stock 1968 . Manufactured in America, Great Britain, Holland and Japan .

 

[Verhulk]

@Verhulk, what combo you running tonight man? You got all these tubes at the same time, it's the worst isn't it?
 
@atarione, what headphones you got running with the DV again? 
 
I also have the Russian tubes, but didn't dedicate enough time to them to remove the hum. Some tubes are worse than others for sure. Two Sylvania VT-231s, one hums kinda loud and the other is dead silent. 

@41Venom14. Thank you! Today home office: listening to the Sylvania 6SN7GTB and The Tung-Sol 6080. Later this day I expect DHL to bring the Sennheiser HD650, in addition to the pretty basic Grado 225i and the AKG 240II Studio Monitors. The Grado isn't a great combination with the Darkvoice. The AKG is not bad, but I expect to have a better Headphone with the HD650, especially because the impedance is much higher. I'm sure this will be a huge upgrade.
 
So indeed a lot of tuberolling possiblities, and headphone changes possible, LOL. This evening friends will stay for dinner, so I'm afraid that I'll have to wait with real listening untill tomorrow
 
Have fun!

 

[Verhulk]

That's a nice assortment @ThermalAlchemy! Thank you for the picture. If my wife starts complaining (which she doesn't untill now) about all those tubes, I can show your picture