[2359glenn]

  Hi,
 
Somebody asked me to compare the RCA 6AS7 to the quad RCA 6BL7 as power tubes in the Elise. Since I have both sets I obliged. (Maybe he had in mind a level playing field...)
 
The drivers are a pair of EL3N.
 
RCA 6AS7: Pleasant sound, but a soft presentation with recessed bass and treble and distant sounding - not up front. The bass sounds hollow and the timbre is not spot on. Instrument separation and air around instruments not very distinct. The sounds reminds me of my modded Little Dot MKIII with 2.5A power tubes.
Verdict: A little anemic and dull.
 
Quartet RCA 6BL7: Much more refined, much better detail and instrument separation, tight, well controlled bass, much more dynamic, lively and engaging.
Verdict: Sparkling, youthful vigor.
 
Now, there are better sounding 6AS7 tubes and 6BL7 tubes. The next project will be comparing Tung Sol to Tung Sol - the 6AS7G Chatham and the 6BL7GTA Tung Sol.
 
Is Chatham Tung Sol? Is Tung Sol 6BL7 GE? Stay tuned....
 
More questions: If the quad 6BL7 is so great, how come it is not being used? Stay tuned for possible answers....

 

Originally Posted b  
 
 
 
This has truly confirmed to me that I do not need to chase any further down gibosi's "rabbit hole"...THANK HEAVENS!!....CHEERS EVERYONE...

 
ps. Did I forget supreme PRaT?...silly me! And divine emotional emanation?...how could I?!!!

 

 

[2359glenn]

 
 
 
 
This has truly confirmed to me that I do not need to chase any further down gibosi's "rabbit hole"...THANK HEAVENS!!....CHEERS EVERYONE...
 
 

You honestly think this amp can do what gibosi's amp can do I think not. With a plain old cathode follower output.
And gibosi has unlimited tube rolling possibility's. He is not limited to over priced GEC tubes to get it to sound good.

 

[hpamdr]

  You honestly think this amp can do what gibosi's amp can do I think not. With a plain old cathode follower output.
And gibosi has unlimited tube rolling possibility's. He is not limited to over priced GEC tubes to get it to sound good.

You cannot honestly compare Elise which is consumer amplifier with a fully customisable amplifer built on demand. Ken Glenn amplifier have a many tranformer, socket to get infinite tube rolling possibilities it is like a Tube rolling labs
The base price is not the same and you also need rectifier tube that can cost more than a pair of GEC 6AS7G.. and even add two pair of over priced GEC 6AS7G to make it sound better..

 

[WB2016]

The only headphone amplifier i know from icon audio is the HPA8 (650 BP) where the output tubes are 6SN7 it is already much less powerfull than 6AS7G/6080. About price you should keep in mind that Elise is very well positioned and if you want to get a better sounding amp it will cost much more.
You should not really compare speaker amplifier with OTL headphone amplifier as the design is not the same.   

 


Thanks HPAMDR,

yeah the HPA8 is good and the most sold amp of theirs I know it and am curious how it sounds in comparison to the Elise. The Stereo 25MKII is also a headphone amp, and quite good at that, still a little intro and was designed as a means to get into tubes. I know the design will likely be quite different.

The Stereo MK40s have quite a nice sound and I might be looking into these for the HE-6 I can get inexpensively. Might also check out the Feliks PSE 2a3 but not sure if that would have enough power depending on how the Elise experience goes. Ideal would be more than 8W at 50Ohms.

Seems as if a little bit of money is coming my way, so a nice speaker tube amp might be the next purchase.

All said and done I do very much like their 2a3s, EL34 and EL84 models soundwise, while not being excessively expensive and readily available (to audition) in Europe.

Cheers WB

 

[hypnos1]

  You honestly think this amp can do what gibosi's amp can do I think not. With a plain old cathode follower output.
And gibosi has unlimited tube rolling possibility's. He is not limited to over priced GEC tubes to get it to sound good.

 
Oh dear....this is not at all worthy of you Glenn, and I hope you will apologise for this affront...gibosi will be the first to confirm that he has often jokingly referred to our "never ending" quest re. tube rolling as the "rabbit hole" we then fall into.
 
I should have thought it was quite clear from my post that this is what I was referring to...not any reference to his own amp.

 

[WB2016]

You cannot honestly compare Elise which is consumer amplifier with a fully customisable amplifer built on demand. Ken Glenn amplifier have a many tranformer, socket to get infinite tube rolling possibilities it is like a Tube rolling labs
The base price is not the same and you also need rectifier tube that can cost more than a pair of GEC 6AS7G.. and even add two pair of over priced GEC 6AS7G to make it sound better..

 


Hi,

I have always been curious on what the rough price was of a Glenn custom amp. I am reluctant to buy from the states, because they will add 30% import taxes, hassle, returns and shipping cost, etc. and I have not found a site with a breakdown on features and costs. They sure look interesting and well made but the lack of info stopped me and I wanted to have the best intro where the Elise fit my budget well.

At some point, maybe when Elise builds their Elise MK2 balanced I would be in the market for something in another class (especially balanced) and use the Elise for the office, but that will likely take a year or two and then I will look into tube amps in the 1-3K€ category. For the 620€ including shipping it was hard to beat Also waiting 6-7 weeks is already a lot, a full custom job what is to be expected time wise (plus the time for overseas shipping???).

Cheers,
WB

 

[pctazhp]

  You honestly think this amp can do what gibosi's amp can do I think not. With a plain old cathode follower output.
And gibosi has unlimited tube rolling possibility's. He is not limited to over priced GEC tubes to get it to sound good.

Well, this is certainly enough to bring me out of hibernation !!! Just for the record, I want to say I personally find it highly inappropriate for you to post disparaging remarks about the Elise on this thread. I may not have a lot of experience with the current crop of high end headphones and headphone amps, but I will guess in my life I have heard far more high end audio systems (and even owned) than most people on HeadFi, including you.
 
I know what sounds good and what doesn't. The Elise is a great accomplishment for its price and the opportunity it provides to those who want to stretch outside of the box to experiment with a wide range of tubes. For those, like me, who just want to find a high performing headphone amp at a reasonable price and are willing to invest a little time and money finding the tube combination that works for them, the Elise is ideal. Personally, I could care less what you think. But there are people here who are trying to decide what amp will suit their needs and wants. In my opinion, your comment above is not helpful to them.

 

[UntilThen]

Highly inappropriate is the right word. I find it extraordinary that Elise should be talk down in her own thread by a maker of another amp.

 

[hpamdr]

Do you already have a

 

 
The only headphone amplifier i know from icon audio is the HPA8 (650 BP) where the output tubes are 6SN7 it is already much less powerfull than 6AS7G/6080. About price you should keep in mind that Elise is very well positioned and if you want to get a better sounding amp it will cost much more.
You should not really compare speaker amplifier with OTL headphone amplifier as the design is not the same.   

 


Thanks HPAMDR,

yeah the HPA8 is good and the most sold amp of theirs I know it and am curious how it sounds in comparison to the Elise. The Stereo 25MKII is also a headphone amp, and quite good at that, still a little intro and was designed as a means to get into tubes. I know the design will likely be quite different.

The Stereo MK40s have quite a nice sound and I might be looking into these for the HE-6 I can get inexpensively. Might also check out the Feliks PSE 2a3 but not sure if that would have enough power depending on how the Elise experience goes. Ideal would be more than 8W at 50Ohms.

Seems as if a little bit of money is coming my way, so a nice speaker tube amp might be the next purchase.

All said and done I do very much like their 2a3s, EL34 and EL84 models soundwise, while not being excessively expensive and readily available (to audition) in Europe.

Cheers WB

Do you already have the HE-Adapter box ?
The best would probably to have a dedicated output transformer matched for 48Ohm in parrallel to the regular 4,8 already installed... This need custom build or modification...
 
El84 quad are nice sounding tube the power in generally less than 20W/8Ohm pc for more you need to go for EL34 and then KT88. (Leben CS300XS which is known to work very well with HE-6 is only rated at 2x15W)

 

[2359glenn]

 

  You honestly think this amp can do what gibosi's amp can do I think not. With a plain old cathode follower output.
And gibosi has unlimited tube rolling possibility's. He is not limited to over priced GEC tubes to get it to sound good.

 
Oh dear....this is not at all worthy of you Glenn, and I hope you will apologise for this affront...gibosi will be the first to confirm that he has often jokingly referred to our "never ending" quest re. tube rolling as the "rabbit hole" we then fall into.
 
I should have thought it was quite clear from my post that this is what I was referring to...not any reference to his own amp.

I apologies for this I thought you were bashing his amp.
I do see the rabbit hole going on with the Elise and people taking any means to do it.
I may have taken it to far with the tube rolling. No matter how many tubes that can be tried in the amp there is always another one that can be tried.

 

[hypnos1]

 
I apologies for this I thought you were bashing his amp.
I do see the rabbit hole going on with the Elise and people taking any means to do it.
I may have taken it to far with the tube rolling. No matter how many tubes that can be tried in the amp there is always another one that can be tried.

 
Apology accepted, Glenn...this hobby of ours certainly does arouse rather stronger passions than one would ever expect...
 
As mentioned, this can indeed be an endless "rabbit hole" in the search for the 'ultimate' tube - which of course is a futile quest in many respects, given that everyone's tastes are different. I'm glad to say that at last I can say with rather more certainty than ever before that I personally have found the combination that gives me all I could want. I hope others do also reach this hallowed (and liberating!) state, lol!

 

[UntilThen]

In my opinion Elise sounds more than great with the tubes endorsed by Feliks Audio in the manual. She does not need more. Anything more is certainly up to individuals to explore at their own risks.

 

[2359glenn]

 

 
I apologies for this I thought you were bashing his amp.
I do see the rabbit hole going on with the Elise and people taking any means to do it.
I may have taken it to far with the tube rolling. No matter how many tubes that can be tried in the amp there is always another one that can be tried.

 
Apology accepted, Glenn...this hobby of ours certainly does arouse rather stronger passions than one would ever expect...
 
As mentioned, this can indeed be an endless "rabbit hole" in the search for the 'ultimate' tube - which of course is a futile quest in many respects, given that everyone's tastes are different. I'm glad to say that at last I can say with rather more certainty than ever before that I personally have found the combination that gives me all I could want. I hope others do also reach this hallowed (and liberating!) state, lol!

I make the ultimate tube rolling amps and I  don't tube roll myself.
Been using the same tubes for 10 years #26 preamp to #10 driver to 300B.

 

[lugnut]

Is their website down or do I have a problem ?

 

[nykobing]

  Is their website down or do I have a problem ?

 
The link on the first page of this thread is messed up - http://www.feliksaudio.pl/en