My signature usually mentions what I am currently listening, not all the equipment I have. I still have the Elise but I plan to sell it since I do not have time for it. But I have also a Beyerdynamic A2 which I never use, so the signature does not contain it...
Now to answer to your question:
Eternity is not better than Elise, but different. And I am not sure if the difference is caused by the manufacturer or the specific signature of a SET amplifier compared to an OTL. I have a feeling that it is a combination of both. As you most probably know, UltraSonic amplifiers have a modern approach on electronic tube design using SS components alongside tubes. Being an unconventional design it provides a different signature than other classic amplifiers. Elise is a very versatile and easy to use amplifier, where you can plug a very wide variety of tubes and obtain immediate changes. More than this it is very responsive to interconnect cables and the rest of the line. But Elise was always for me a little bit harsh on some specific albums and too tubey sounding. This is why I always tried to tame it using combinations with great detail, closer maybe to solid state. Eternity is in the opposite direction, it sounds somehow between a tube amplifier and a solid state one, combining the detail and dynamics of SS with the lack of harshness of a tube amplifier. On Eternity I always try to add distortion, on Elise I was always trying to lower it. The reason I have decided to go for Eternity, and this amplifier was born, because it is the first small headphone only amplifier made by UltraSonic, was that for almost 2 years I was listening only to KT66 and tubes from the family of 6V6. These tubes were the ones providing me more clarity and reducing the harshness on Elise, alongside some silver interconnects which have the same effect. So I wanted an amplifier built for them, to renounce on the adapters and to use the tubes properly. On Eternity the same combination is not possbile, 6V6 can be used only in output, but on input I have 6J5 which are sounding very clean and towards the sound of the 6V6 as drivers in Elise. But the problem on Eternity is that sometimes I miss a little bit of that harshness, everything sounds bold and clean, but sometimes dull and lifeless. And Eternity is much harder to use than Elise, because you need to manually adjust bias and take brakes between rolling and so on. Not bad compared to other amplifiers in the same category, but harder than F.A. And Eternity needs electrically matched pairs of tubes, especially in the input stage, where Elise, using both triodes of a 6SN7 in parallel, does not really care about internally matching. In short:
- Elise is more versatile, easier to use, warm and forgiving, more intimate
- Eternity is more complex, clean and clear sounding to a point you miss distortion, wide sounstage
- I think Eternity works best with T1.2 because it is warmer, romantic and adds some distortion
- I think Elise works better with more neutral headphones (HD800, Auteur, Verite)
Of course, you can combine them differently and roll tubes, but I try to answer in a simple way. And I do not fully understand it yet either.
Well, I hope you got an idea.
Now to answer to your question:
Eternity is not better than Elise, but different. And I am not sure if the difference is caused by the manufacturer or the specific signature of a SET amplifier compared to an OTL. I have a feeling that it is a combination of both. As you most probably know, UltraSonic amplifiers have a modern approach on electronic tube design using SS components alongside tubes. Being an unconventional design it provides a different signature than other classic amplifiers. Elise is a very versatile and easy to use amplifier, where you can plug a very wide variety of tubes and obtain immediate changes. More than this it is very responsive to interconnect cables and the rest of the line. But Elise was always for me a little bit harsh on some specific albums and too tubey sounding. This is why I always tried to tame it using combinations with great detail, closer maybe to solid state. Eternity is in the opposite direction, it sounds somehow between a tube amplifier and a solid state one, combining the detail and dynamics of SS with the lack of harshness of a tube amplifier. On Eternity I always try to add distortion, on Elise I was always trying to lower it. The reason I have decided to go for Eternity, and this amplifier was born, because it is the first small headphone only amplifier made by UltraSonic, was that for almost 2 years I was listening only to KT66 and tubes from the family of 6V6. These tubes were the ones providing me more clarity and reducing the harshness on Elise, alongside some silver interconnects which have the same effect. So I wanted an amplifier built for them, to renounce on the adapters and to use the tubes properly. On Eternity the same combination is not possbile, 6V6 can be used only in output, but on input I have 6J5 which are sounding very clean and towards the sound of the 6V6 as drivers in Elise. But the problem on Eternity is that sometimes I miss a little bit of that harshness, everything sounds bold and clean, but sometimes dull and lifeless. And Eternity is much harder to use than Elise, because you need to manually adjust bias and take brakes between rolling and so on. Not bad compared to other amplifiers in the same category, but harder than F.A. And Eternity needs electrically matched pairs of tubes, especially in the input stage, where Elise, using both triodes of a 6SN7 in parallel, does not really care about internally matching. In short:
- Elise is more versatile, easier to use, warm and forgiving, more intimate
- Eternity is more complex, clean and clear sounding to a point you miss distortion, wide sounstage
- I think Eternity works best with T1.2 because it is warmer, romantic and adds some distortion
- I think Elise works better with more neutral headphones (HD800, Auteur, Verite)
Of course, you can combine them differently and roll tubes, but I try to answer in a simple way. And I do not fully understand it yet either.
Well, I hope you got an idea.
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