[Keno18]

My tung sol 7236s were sourced from the military SAGE defense system so I'm told.

For military computers I think I read somewhere.

 

[Jared S]

If a tube isn’t powering up it is probably dead. You can try cleaning the connections but I doubt that would help. Try to get a refund from the seller.

I got the refund. Its just a bummer because it takes forever for stuff to arrive here in the Philippines.

Already ordered another tube. Just have to wait 2 to 3 months for it to get here

 

[Gallic Dweller]

I got the refund. Its just a bummer because it takes forever for stuff to arrive here in the Philippines.

Already ordered another tube. Just have to wait 2 to 3 months for it to get here

Take a look at tube sellers in Hong Kong. I bought 5 used 6F8G Tung Sol RPs for $70, I'm still using the same one after many years. Also good sellers in Taiwan, surely the post must be quicker from these two nearby places?

 

[Slade01]

LOL, hope I won't be labeled as an old tube preacher...I heard lots of tubes and TBH from my personal experience I find older tubes in most cases sound better than the newer ones...you possibly feel the same, from what I read above.

Cetron 7236 seems to be a new discovery, never surfaced before. So hope you find a nice surprise there.

The Cetron 7236 comes close to the Tung-Sol. Definitely worth the budget price especially if you dont have a 7236 and want to give it a go.....you definitely get more bang for the buck at 24 or less. Im curious at the bidder who bought 180 dollars worth of these tubes before me. I guess they like them alot more than me.

 

[JKDJedi]

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/372876450252

 

[DenverW]

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/372876450252

tell me more . I’m not familiar with these tubes. Are they worth 60+ a piece?

 

[Paladin79]

They generally bring closer to $20 each.

 

[JKDJedi]

tell me more . I’m not familiar with these tubes. Are they worth 60+ a piece?

Depends how bad you want them, I've gotten one for $1 and a pair for $75 (total of three on hand) and one of our Headphoneus Supremous ( @bcowen ) members here has dubbed them, ordained them... The FrankenTube. This from Bcowen

"This is long (sorry), but skipping to the end won't do any good because I put all the important stuff in the middle. In my never-ending quest to find the perfect tube for the Lyr, and even after realizing such a thing doesn't exist I started looking at 7N7's. Firstly because they're electrically identical to a 6SN7 (basically a 6SN7 with a different base), and secondly because they're cheap. Like me. I started with a pair of Tung-Sols -- $20 bucks for the pair delivered. After a day's worth of break-in, I liked them. Liked them quite a bit, actually. Strong bass, very dynamic, and a sparkly treble. Very nice tubes period, and really nice tubes for the money. But at the end of the day they were just really nice tubes, and not in any position to unseat a Bad Boy, WH D, or even my beloved Fotons. But I was intrigued, and bought a pair of CBS ($18 delivered) and then drained the bank account on a pair of RCA's ($28 for the pair). Honestly couldn't tell a lot of difference between them and the Tung-Sols. All of them nice, none of them groundbreaking. As I continued my research, it would seem that there were only two manufacturers of this tube type: Sylvania and National Union. There is so much conflicting info out there it's hard to tell who's right and who's not, but the dual-manufacturer status of these is prolific among the more reputable sources. After looking closely at these three different tubes, it became obvious why they sounded so similar: they're identical internally. Not sure if they were made by Sylvania or NU, but it's clear they were made by the same manufacturer. After more searching I ran across a number of different forum posts from all over that mentioned the tall bottle versions of this tube type sounded better than the short bottle ones. As the tubes I had were all short bottle, I ran across an Ebay ad for the tall bottle pictured below. And the rest is now history. Powerful bass, dynamic and punchy, a midrange that's *just* right, beautiful treble, the rhythmic drive of a Foton. But there are two things that are remarkable with this tube: imaging (or maybe soundstaging) that locates each performer or instrument in its own acoustic space. You can pick out the individual voice in a chorus and the 3rd violin from center in an orchestra. And you hear the space surrounding them. I haven't heard this space-reality thing with headphones before. Not even close. And then there's the tone. Holy friggin' crap. Tone. The depth of harmonics and the full fleshing out of every resonance and micro-detail in the note. If you're a rocker or metalhead and love the sound of an electric guitar or bass, you'll turn into one great big goosebump with this tube in the Lyr. I even listened to some jazz...and liked it. That's never happened before either. I rarely gush on a tube because a lot has to do with personal preference and system synergy, so I won't gush over this one. I'll just say that even after several reality checks swapping a Foton or WH D back in for comparisons that the Frankentube is now my personal reference and owns the #1 spot by a pretty wide margin.

Frankentube? Well, had to name it. Not all tall bottle 7N7's have this magic. What's notable is the shape of the top of the glass bulb -- it's 'squared off' like the top of Frankenstein's head (or was that Herman Munster)? There are tall bottle versions that have the more rounded top shape, and they don't sound nearly as good to my ears. This is the Frankentube:"

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/schiit-lyr-3-tube-rolling-thread.876016/page-84

i rarely see these posted for sale so when I see them I share the links

 

[bcowen]

tell me more . I’m not familiar with these tubes. Are they worth 60+ a piece?

To me, they're worth $60 a piece but I wouldn't pay that much for them. And how they sound in the Darkvoice as opposed to the Lyr 3 I can't say. But I bought my first (single) one for $5 plus shipping. Last pair I bought a couple months ago was $35 with free shipping. That Ebay listing is grossly overpriced IMO. The tube doesn't have to be labeled as a Lansdale to have the sonic qualities noted -- Lansdale didn't make them, I think they just tested and graded them. I have Sylvania and GE labeled tubes that are identical inside. Biggest telltale sign (with attention paid to the other construction details) is the fully oval mica. Those with the 'squared oval' mica just don't sound as good to my ears, and I'm guessing the difference has to do with the year they were manufactured. I'd keep an eye out and look for a better deal. These pop up with one branding or another on a fairly frequent basis, and usually for much less money.

 

[DenverW]

Intriguing! Always on the lookout for new tubes.

My current rotation is:

Sylvania bad boy 6sn7
Mullard cv6 (using 7193 adapter)
Tung sol 6c8g round plate (6f8g adapter)

 

[DenverW]

Grab em, Jedi! I’ll buy one from you take one for the team!

 

[JKDJedi]

Grab em, Jedi! I’ll buy one from you take one for the team!

My wife was all over me for just posting the link She thought I was buying them ...

 

[bcowen]

My wife was all me for just posting the link She thought I was buying them ...

But you deserve a nice Christmas present....even if you have to buy it for yourself.

 

[BoomShroom]

I wasn't expecting any substantial difference going from the Fiio E10(not E10K) to the modi 3 since the modi isn't a high-end DAC but I'm surprised how much more clear it is. I also need to lower the Darkvoice knob about half from where it usually was because it's noticeably louder. I wonder if it wasn't powering my HD600s enough and the quality was suffering because of it. Not to say that it used to sound bad, I just think it's better. It could just be a placebo but at the very least I'm happy with my purchase.

edit: I keep thinking about it and the DAC doesn't really "power" the cans (from what I understand that's the amp's work) so not sure why I need about half the volume now.

 

[JKDJedi]

I wasn't expecting any substantial difference going from the Fiio E10(not E10K) to the modi 3 since the modi isn't a high-end DAC but I'm surprised how much more clear it is. I also need to lower the Darkvoice knob about half from where it usually was because it's noticeably louder. I wonder if it wasn't powering my HD600s enough and the quality was suffering because of it. Not to say that it used to sound bad, I just think it's better. It could just be a placebo but at the very least I'm happy with my purchase.

edit: I keep thinking about it and the DAC doesn't really "power" the cans (from what I understand that's the amp's work) so not sure why I need about half the volume now.

Modi 3 is a decent dac from what I hear. They do make a difference in perception of sound.