[HOWIE13]

  Hey guys,
 
My  new Mullard 6080WA arrived today. However, When I put them on the Elise first time, after switched on for about 5 minutes, I can hear a ring-ish sound like "Dang" from the right channel like every other 5 seconds. Is it normal? 
 
After I played few songs, the interval time of that "dang" noise gets longer, like every 20 seconds and that "Dang" goes quieter. Any idea what that sound is? Is it supposed to be like that as new tubes?

Lots of my tubes do that. I assume it's microphony due to the tube heating up because it usually goes after about 20 minutes. For that reason, if I know I've a tube like that I wait 20 minutes after switching on before listening.
 
I've had an occasional tube, however, which has continued making that noise and if it intrudes on the music I've had to ditch it. That's only happened on a couple of occasions though.

 

[UntilThen]

My stock tubes make some klicking / dangling sound too during warm up. After two minutes dead silent. Just like our stove. Ordered a HD 600 today, hope elise and this cans will team up well. Had a DT880 600 ohms and a HD 650 for a few days. 880 is too bright and the 650 was quite good but a bit dark sounding even with elise. Hope the 600s are somewhere in between.

Both HD600 and HD650 sounds good on Elise. Different sound signature but depending on a person's preference, either one can be engaging. If you're after details, you'll pick HD600. Stock HD650 just feels too warm and lush but on some genres it's perfect. Try listening to some smokey blues.
 
However that is with stock tubes, which IMO is rather warm and lush. Perfect if you like it that way. I know I was at the beginning of my head-fi journey but my preference shifted as I go along, to a more neutral tone with micro details and tight fisted bass.
 
You could tune HD650 to sound brighter with a change of tubes. Even just replacing the drivers to C3G, you'll get a brighter sound. I particularly like C3G and 5998 with HD650. If you want an even leaner tone, try C3G and 7236.
 
You'll be pleased with HD600 on Elise though.

 

[louisxiawei]

  Lots of my tubes do that. I assume it's microphony due to the tube heating up because it usually goes after about 20 minutes. For that reason, if I know I've a tube like that I wait 20 minutes after switching on before listening.
 
I've had an occasional tube, however, which has continued making that noise and if it intrudes on the music I've had to ditch it. That's only happened on a couple of occasions though.

Thanks Howie13 for confirming this. Will keep listening and keep you guys update.
 
Elise is just so good, I don't want to leave my desk now. Every album is a new album to me, I'm listening to them all over again and I'm positive that I'm not hyped since I only slept 2 hours last night due to the late work, usually I will go back to bed to catch some sleep to recover some energy, now the Elise is the energy. 

 

[UntilThen]

  Thanks Howie13 for confirming this. Will keep listening and keep you guys update.
 
Elise is just so good, I don't want to leave my desk now. Every album is a new album to me, I'm listening to them all over again and I'm positive that I'm not hyped since I only slept 2 hours last night due to the late work, usually I will go back to bed to catch some sleep to recover some energy, now the Elise is the energy. 

I'm glad you like Elise because when you came to us, you were debating between Elise and another tube amp that is a lot more expensive.
If you're confident of what you hear, there's nothing to worry about hype because practically every new owner share the same delight.

 Enjoy. 

 
 
I bought my Mullard 6080 used from a tube amp user who told me he has about 200 hundred hours on them. That could explain why mine sounds quiet without funny noise. Now that I think about it, some of my tubes does groan a bit on warming up but it goes off after a while. It's quite normal.
 

 

[hypnos1]

  Thanks Howie13 for confirming this. Will keep listening and keep you guys update.
 
Elise is just so good, I don't want to leave my desk now. Every album is a new album to me, I'm listening to them all over again and I'm positive that I'm not hyped since I only slept 2 hours last night due to the late work, usually I will go back to bed to catch some sleep to recover some energy, now the Elise is the energy. 

 
Careful now, lwei...sounds like you're addicted already...this is a very slippery slope, believe me lol!!

...
 
ps. I do hope your 'dang' does indeed fade away...if not, perhaps a note to the seller may be in order LOL!... HAPPY LISTENING!...CJ

 

[Riverstalker]

I'd love to own a pair of 5998, read so many good things about them.

Had a darn good listen this afternoon with Elise as preamp. Was about to sell my speakers but with that little amp they really start to sing. I am so happy folks !

 

[richdytch]

  @richdytch  I'm going to address those 2 things one at a time.
 
I'm not sure the 'dang' noise is normal or what it's attributed to. All I know is in my setup with headphones or using Elise as preamp, with any tubes, I have zero noise. That's right. Zero.
 
To get weight, lushness and transparency at the same time depends on the whole chain, not just the tubes used in Elise. Because I can tell you which tube combination gives me that but then I'm using T1 mainly, at times modded HD650 or HE560. You are using speakers.
 
So for me, to get weight, transparency, warm and lushness with T1 headphone, I'd pick EL3N and Chatham 6520. 5998 works too. If I'm using modded HD650, I could even have gone with C3G and 5998 because HD650 has a more saturated tone.
 
ps... I should add that the eventual sound you hear depends on driver and power tube combination because you have only mention about power tube recommendation.

 
Hi UT. Your points are duly noted. I was in fact just referring to power tubes. I understand what you mean about the whole scenario, but I'd add that I believe it's possible to recognise the character of various power tubes, to a greater or lesser degree depending on what they're paired with - but that you can still usually hear their characteristics at play. 

Chatham 6250 does seem to be a contender - I had that at the back of my mind. Is that the tube which has a Cetron equivalent which sounds, or even IS, the same? 
Regarding the noise I get with Elise, I have no hiss whatsoever that is audible over speakers or headphones. What I do have though, is a sound that is 50Hz mains interference in its origin, and which sounds like it is being shaped like a crude ADSR envelop. I sounds like someone banging a dull bell in the background. BOOOONNNNNNG. I believe it could also be identified as a 'DANG'. In between these intermittent dangs and bongs, it's totally silent. It sometimes goes away for days. Then it'll come back very loudly for a short while. But on the whole it's totally manageable and inaudible while any music is playing. It's definitely not mechanical in origin - being as it is amplitude-modulated 50Hz, 100Hz, 200Hz etc in diminishing levels - the tone of mains interference/ground loop. Sculpted into a BONG. It makes no difference whether the amp has been on for 30 mins or 12 hours. 

I don't think I can explain it more thoroughly than that. If I use a power amp which doesn't have such silly gain, such as my Topping or old Marantz, it's totally inaudible. 

 

[louisxiawei]

  I'm glad you like Elise because when you came to us, you were debating between Elise and another tube amp that is a lot more expensive.
If you're confident of what you hear, there's nothing to worry about hype because practically every new owner share the same delight.

 Enjoy. 

 
 
I bought my Mullard 6080 used from a tube amp user who told me he has about 200 hundred hours on them. That could explain why mine sounds quiet without funny noise. Now that I think about it, some of my tubes does groan a bit on warming up but it goes off after a while. It's quite normal.
 
 

Haha

. Glad you still remember the debate I brought up. It's not a hard decision for me to be honest. Elise vs Iconaudio HP8 MKIII
 

1. Thread discussion page : Elise vs Iconaudio 1:0
2. Flexibility for tube rolling : Elise vs Iconaudio 2:0
3. Aesthetic design: Elise vs Iconaudio 3:0 (subjective)
4. Customer service: Elise vs Iconaudio 4:0

 
I called Icon audio at that struggling moment, the man answered the phone seems to be polite but creating a quite rush feeling, mentioning the price of their product is going to be increased by 10% by any time, something like " you need to buy it now, cut the bs question", and even more ridiculously, when I ask him about whether your amp have a pre-amp output or just loop-out output, he told me nothing so sophisticated like pre-amp output otherwise they will double the price, I was thinking "What?, pre-amp output is a sophisticated design can make you double the price?

 ) while lukasz just answered me everything, no matter stupid or troublesome. I know myself as a pain-in-the-ass buyer

 
Although I cannot confirm which sound of them is better, I'm definitely a happy buyer now.

---

Nice Mullard 6080 tubes. I contacted several sellers regarding difference between Mullard 6080 and Mullard 6080WA, some of them told me no difference, some of them told me 6080WA has better spec.
 
According to @pctazhp's experience, Mullard 6080 is nothing similar to GEC 6AS7G, thus I go for the Mullard 6080WA since some review suggests 6080WA has the similar sound to GEC 6AS7G. I might purchase another pair of GEC 6AS7G next month in UK to compare it with Mullard 6080WA in order to confirm whether they are similar or  not, find a reliable tube supplier, will be more expensive but will save me some energy to worry whether it is authentic or not if buying them from China.
 
But your 6080 is something else, it has YM and YK after the 6080, what does YM and YK stand for? Is it a Mullard's 6080? 
 
Again, Elise thread is the best thread ever I've come across on head-fi. You guys are just so helpful.  Very satisfied. 

 

 

[UntilThen]

   

Indeed you will get to know the sound of each driver and power tubes well and that will allow you to pair them accordingly as you need. Generally the 6AS7G sounds more saturated and lush than 6080 but that's a blanket statement because I've not heard the GEC 6080 and Bendix 6080.
 
5998 is different from those. There's an energy lift in the FR, particularly in the bass but don't take that as masking the high notes and mids. They are still crystal clear. 7236 is similar but tighter and leaner in tone to the 5998.
 
Chatham 6520 are similar to Chatham 6AS7G. Now here I have to qualify as some Chatham 6520 have the dimpled plates and they are in fact 5998 equivalent.
 
Even though Chatham 6520 and the 6AS7G are similar, the 6520 sounded less bright, is more saturated. That's the reason I prefer it. However it's a challenge now to find Chatham 6520, for that matter Chatham 6AS7G. Wish I didn't sell off my 2 pairs of Chatham 6AS7G but I've so many tubes I'm unlikely to use them all. 

 
 
Lastly it seems that your BONGS and DANGS are a non issue from your explanation. 

 

[UntilThen]

@louisxiawei  you're making me laugh but Lukasz indeed is very patient and accommodating. Helpful definitely.
 
As for my Mullard 6080, I've no idea what YM, YK means. I take it as 'your mileage' 'your kinks'. 

 

[UntilThen]

  Again, Elise thread is the best thread ever I've come across on head-fi. You guys are just so helpful.  Very satisfied. 

 

It's no surprise as represented here are Regional Sales Managers of Elise for Asia Pacific, United Kingdom, US of A, European Union but we're all pro bono and happy vegemites. Now we need a China representative and that will be a tough nut to crack.

 

[UntilThen]

@hypnos1  price has dropped for these Visseaux EL33. I reckon you should include the EL33 in your tubes shootout. 

 
It'll be Austrian vs German vs Australian vs French.
 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/401175817015

 

[hypnos1]

  @hypnos1  price has dropped for these Visseaux EL33. I reckon you should include the EL33 in your tubes shootout. 

 
It'll be Austrian vs German vs Australian vs French.
 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/401175817015

 
Nah, UT...no way at that price - even if it has dropped (a little!)....(nice looking tubes, though!

).
 
SORRY!

 

[louisxiawei]

  It's no surprise as represented here are Regional Sales Managers of Elise for Asia Pacific, United Kingdom, US of A, European Union but we're all pro bono and happy vegemites. Now we need a China representative and that will be a tough nut to crack.

I might be a promising candidate.
 
I actually have already posted some introduction of how Elise get my attention on the most popular Chinese headphone forum (http://www.erji.net/), equivalent to Head-fi. But not many people pay attention (only get 7 replys). One member mentioned that the Elise might be worse than his Chinese Tube amplifier called Ting Feng 6 just by looking at the inner structure of Elise. Pfff.
 
The thread I posted: http://www.erji.net/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=1946435&extra=page%3D1
 
But btw, Ting feng this brand is really popular in China as tube-amp tuned by some famous Chinese engineer. Think you guys might just want to know.
 

 

 

Although I was born in Shanghai, don't quite like the atmosphere on that Chinese forum, communication in Chinese as my native language with people over there sometimes is more difficult than here in English. Those so called senior members tend to be arrogant and showing off their equipment and throwing lots of waffles and believe me there are lots of toxic debate on that thread, people competing the sound by the price tag quite often and boast the effect a lot. Also some companies hire their horsemen to publish some over-hype review to mislead the customers. Overall, head-fi is more objective and professional.

 

[hypnos1]

  @hypnos1  price has dropped for these Visseaux EL33. I reckon you should include the EL33 in your tubes shootout. 

 
It'll be Austrian vs German vs Australian vs French.
 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/401175817015

 
Hi again UT...perhaps no Frenchie, but almost forgot the Hungarian Tungsram LOL! - so methinks those are more than enough protagonists in the ring...which one Cassius Clay?...which Mike Tyson?...which good ol' Henry Cooper? etc. etc. !!

...
 
Time for supper...BFN...