Hi folks,
First off, I'd like to thank all of you again for being so helpful and generous in sharing your experiences! I absolutely love my rig, and I couldn't have put it together without all of your help!
A good while back I promised to touch on my thoughts regarding the Stratus/HD800 pairing and share my tube rolling experiences, so here we go:
My thoughts on the Stratus/HD800 pairing:
I've owned the Stratus for a bit over a year now, and it's decidedly the best amp I've heard with the HD800. My primary comparison here is the Woo Audio WA6SE as I've owned that amp for three years, but that statement also applies to all the other amps I've auditioned on my HD800 journey. Don't get me wrong, I love my WA6SE; there are good reasons why that amp has found a following here on Head-Fi. The Stratus, however, is in a wholly different league (it's in a wholly different price category as well, of course). It beats the WA6SE on, well, every front. What makes the Stratus/HD800 combo so special is that the Stratus manages to make up for the HD800's weaknesses in the absolute right way. To my ears, the stock HD800 sounds somewhat cold, thin, and bright. The Stratus is largely able to make up for these deficiencies without in any way falling prey to being an overly warm amp trying to "rein in and thicken up" the HD800. I think Purrin put it very well: "It [the Stratus] has a oodles of inner warmth, very dynamic, very good detail and very good micro-dynamics. The sound is lush, but not overly so as to impact other positive aspects such as clarity, articulation, bite, or excitement. It's an ideal balance between tube and non-tube." To Purrin's comments I'd like to add how impressed I am by the realism of the sound produced by the Stratus/HD800 combo.
Tube rolling:
One BIG caveat with regard to my tube rolling experience is that I listen almost exclusively to classical music. I find that one tunes one's system quite differently for this genre than, say, rock or electronic. Similarly, one would probably tune one's system differently for the HD800 than the LCD-3. With that in mind:
Input/Driver:
I now own 20 types, essentially all the types discussed in this thread, as well as some other interesting ones, e.g., a 6BQ7A Arcturus Triple Mica Black Plate. Some of these tubes sound quite good, but my absolute favourite input/driver tubes are Novosibirsk 6N1P made in the early '60s (I have '62 and '64). I find that with most input/driver tubes either their tonal balance is off, or they lack in some other major area, especially detail. Early Novosibirsk 6N1P both have great tonal balance and are the most competent input/driver tubes I own. My Novosibirsks have military rhombus stamps; the '62 has an additional ChTU marking. Both also have two getter supports. I purchased mine on eBay and paid $35-40 for each (a matched pair in both cases). After these, I like my triple mica tubes (Arcturus 6BQ7A and 6N1P-e '66 & '68 Novosibirsk Black Plate). I also own '76 Voskhod Black Plate Gold Label, which are decidedly warmer than the triple mica versions but retain an incredible amount detail despite their richness. I'm not a huge fan of anything else that I own, which isn't to say that they aren't some good tubes amongst them (I've listed all of them in my profile).
Rectifier:
To me, this is an easy choice: U52. I couldn't agree more with Dubstep Girl's assessment of this tube in her rectifier shootout (http://www.head-fi.org/t/694525/dubstep-girls-massive-5ar4-5r4-5u4g-rectifier-review-comparison-rectifer-tube-rolling-thread) and find this rectifier to be simply sublime in combination with the HD800. It has just the right amount of warmth, while being extremely fast, transparent and providing a wonderful soundstage. I own three government/military U52s: 10e/373 '40s Postwar Osram Black Base Black Plate Cup-Getter, CV575 '53 Osram Black Base Grey Plate Cup-Getter and CV575 '54 Osram Brown Base Black Plate D-Getter. They all retain a similar house sound, but each has its own strengths and weaknesses. The differences between them are large enough that it might be worth trying a variety of U52s for those of you who can afford it. None of my U52s are NOS, which definitely helps keep the overall cost down.
All of my U52s beat my VT-244s and 5U4G Canadian military equivalent by quite a significant margin. Sure, some VT-244s do a few things better than a given U52, but overall the U52 always comes out on top. That being said, a VT-244 costs a fraction of a U52, and, thus, it would be my budget-conscious recommendation (I'd probably still try to convince you to get a non-NOS U52 for around $200 instead). I haven't found any 5R4GY to be particularly convincing with the Stratus.
Power:
I own three current production 2A3 power tubes: Sophia Princess Mesh Plate, Shuguang 2A3C-T Natural Sound (Shuguang's naming/coding scheme can be bit confusing; the Shuguang 2A3C-T referred to here has a black globe with golden Chinese symbols on it and a golden base; it is different from the similar-looking but newer Shuguang 2A3-Z) and Emission Labs Mesh Plate. One easy way to distinguish these power tubes is by how aggressive their treble presentation is with the HD800; the Sophia's treble is laid-back, the EML's rather aggressive, and the Shuguang's somewhere in the middle. With these specific tubes (I'm not making any general statement about 2A3s here), I've found that the more treble you can put up with, thus moving from the Sophia to the Shuguang and then to the EML, the better the soundstage becomes, both in width and especially in depth. I also found dynamics, PRaT and transparency to improve by no small measure. For classical music, I find the Sophias to be just a bit too relaxed. That being said, they do have an extremely beautiful midrange. By contrast, I think the EML Mesh might be too dynamic and bright for many. Personally, I don't find this to be the case. Hence, the EML is my personal 2A3 of choice for classical music as I love its top-to-bottom linearity and the depth of its soundstage. My second favourite 2A3 is the Shuguang 2A3C-T, and it's probably the 2A3 that would suit most people. The Shuguang's midrange is almost as beautiful as the Sophia's, and it's nearly as competent as the EML Mesh. If you're in doubt, I think the Shuguang 2A3C-T would be a great tube to start with (it's also the cheapest out of the bunch and can be had for around $300 for the pair).
Again, all of this is in reference to listening to classical music with the HD800. And as usual, YMMV.
Cheers,
Joel
