[hypnos1]

  Hello Hypnos1 and everybody! I'm the lucky guy who won the Elise in the raffle. I've now gotten it home today installed the tubes and powered her up, but I'm having a problem. I get some hum when there is no sound, but I'm reading this is normal, so not a problem, though when listening to the hum there are sometimes blips and glass tap kinds of noises that change in character, so maybe still a problem. There are a couple things that I can't figure out. I'll email Lukasz tomorrow and see what he says.
 
1. If I hook my DX50 to the back and play music with the volume turned all the way down on the Elise, music comes out, and it sounds relatively clean but really quiet, same with the Geek Out 1000.
2. If I turn the volume up, the hum increases, but the volume of the music doesn't.
 
I've made sure the tubes are in their sockets right and my RCAs are well connected, but I can't figure out what is causing this hum and lack of ability to change music volume. Neither of the DACs I'm sending music out from have true line-outs, but I've done the standard thing and maxed out the volume from the source to emulate line-out.

 
Hi glassmonkey.
 
Congrats on winning the Elise...now we just have to see what's going on!
 
Can't really add much to what gibosi has said...mine does indeed hum a little at first, but disappears completely when the signal cuts in. It certainly sounds like you just aren't getting a proper line in signal - hopefully you can find/beg/steal/borrow something suitable! (Don't mean to insult you mon ami, but you are using the correct RCA sockets?! 

).
 
I'm sure there is a fairly simple explanation for this...and whatever it is, it will get sorted in the end.
 
Here's hoping for a speedy recovery!
 
Cheers for now.

 

[glassmonkey]

   
Hi glassmonkey.
 
Congrats on winning the Elise...now we just have to see what's going on!
 
Can't really add much to what gibosi has said...mine does indeed hum a little at first, but disappears completely when the signal cuts in. It certainly sounds like you just aren't getting a proper line in signal - hopefully you can find/beg/steal/borrow something suitable! (Don't mean to insult you mon ami, but you are using the correct RCA sockets?! 

).
 
I'm sure there is a fairly simple explanation for this...and whatever it is, it will get sorted in the end.
 
Here's hoping for a speedy recovery!
 
Cheers for now.

 
I'm looking into borrowing or buying a dac. My Geek Pulse XFi will come someday (hopefully soon, and I don't want to invest in another Dac when that is on it's way. I had the RCA ends plugged into the rightmost RCAs, the one's labeled input (I think). I did get sound out of it, so it must have been the right one.
 
The Elise didn't come with a manual. Are the other RCAs for using the amp as a pre-amp? I don't expect that it can drive bookshelf size speakers.

 

[hypnos1]

   
I'm looking into borrowing or buying a dac. My Geek Pulse XFi will come someday (hopefully soon, and I don't want to invest in another Dac when that is on it's way. I had the RCA ends plugged into the rightmost RCAs, the one's labeled input (I think). I did get sound out of it, so it must have been the right one.
 
The Elise didn't come with a manual. Are the other RCAs for using the amp as a pre-amp? I don't expect that it can drive bookshelf size speakers.

 
Hi again gm.
 
Sure is gonna be interesting to see how the Pulses perform - hope you don't have too long a wait!
 
Yep, the vertical RCAs are as pre-amp use (and boy, does it work wonders for my Vincent SS amp!!)...but first we've got to have other things sorted - hope you manage to borrow the necessary soon (you have no amp/tuner/receiver with normal RCA line outs?...).
 
This certainly is a strange one, as anything like volume pot troubles I should have thought would be obvious when undergoing pre-delivery  testing and burn-in...all will be revealed soon enough, I'm sure...

 

[glassmonkey]

I have a feeling it's the lack of a true line out on both the Geek Out 1000 and the DX50. I don't have a desktop DAC yet. The DX-50 has a coax digital out. I'm going to see if using a £8 dac that is just designed to convert coax and toslink to RCA will work with the amp.
 
Fingers crossed.

 

[glassmonkey]

Thanks hypnos1 for sharing your Elise at the meet! It made my decision much easier in the raffle. This is a beautiful amp. I hope I don't have to wait too long to hear it's beautiful sounds again. 

 

[hypnos1]

  Thanks hypnos1 for sharing your Elise at the meet! It made my decision much easier in the raffle. This is a beautiful amp. I hope I don't have to wait too long to hear it's beautiful sounds again. 

 
Glad you liked it...her sister was obviously waiting for you in the raffle - lucky you! 

 
Yes indeed, let's hope it's not too long...I (and others) am (are) looking forward to some in-depth impressions, lol!!

 

[Shaffer]

My Elise arrived today! Very fast shipping. It's absolutely beautiful. Lukasz was even kind enough to send along a set of Tung-Sols. Thank you.

BTW, my s/n is 007!

 

[Renderman]

Whoa great news! I was wondering who would get 007! Congratz Shaffer, I am very curious about your impressions!

 

[Shaffer]

Whoa great news! I was wondering who would get 007! Congratz Shaffer, I am very curious about your impressions!

So far, so good. I found the amp to be somewhat sensitive to interconnects; the "wrong" one allows for a buzz. I listened to the Russian 6AS7s for about an hour, I know that's not long enough, and replaced them with a pair of NOS Chathams. I'm very happy with what I hear. Give me a week or so for a better set of impressions.

 

[Renderman]

Sure! Take your time Thank you for your initial impressions. Btw, I was keen to try out my other tubes too, hehe. Happy listening!

 

[hypnos1]

So far, so good. I found the amp to be somewhat sensitive to interconnects; the "wrong" one allows for a buzz. I listened to the Russian 6AS7s for about an hour, I know that's not long enough, and replaced them with a pair of NOS Chathams. I'm very happy with what I hear. Give me a week or so for a better set of impressions.

 
Hi Shaffer.
 
So glad your amp arrived quickly, in good condition and not "b(B!)onded" by Customs, lol...sorry! 

...
 
Glad also you like her already - I applaud your choice of Chathams, and with a good few more hours' burn-in I'm sure you will be EXTREMELY happy!  

...I (we all) look forward to your later findings...
 
CHEERS!  

 

 

[hypnos1]

Have finally got my gear back together after the meet (a good opportunity to clear the cobwebs/dust etc. from the spaghetti! Not to mention setting up the TT for a bit of nostalgia - even if the T1s will prove merciless with surface noise, lol!!).
 
And boy, I'd almost forgotten just how good the sound is now - powered from a conditioned/filtered mains (complete with unswitched wall socket and upgraded fuses - I know, I know! 

) and fed by the Audiolab's ESS Sabre DAC she is MUCH happier than at the meet (as am I!!). Of course the meet environment is far from ideal for serious listening, but the difference is far greater than I would have imagined - I have fallen in love all over again! 

...
 
Especially as I am listening to some marvellous hi-res tracks on the HDTracks samplers 2013 and 2015 (free!). If you get the chance I can highly recommend these for seeing just what the Elise can do - they cover most musical tastes. The guitar work, piano, sax, trumpet, double bass and voices (both male and female) especially are some of the best sounds I have ever heard - this amp sure does like hi-res signals...but please, if you can, treat her to the best signal you can manage, not to mention headphones of course 

...

 

[Shaffer]

The Elise, in many ways, reminds me of modern high-performance tube amps like ARC's Ref150. The sound isn't tubey in a classic 50s-60s definition of the term - no bloated, rolled-off bass, very extended on top, fast, exciting sounding with almost startling transient response, and no grain. The bass, in particular, is extremely impressive. It extends as deep as my Krell and has almost the same degree of control. From tubes. Unbelievable. This is not a $500 amplifier. It's worth far more. The fit and finish, alone, speaks of a bespoke product. Not a single rough edge or a fastener in sight. If I had to guess, as one who worked in the high-performance sector of the industry, this amp should retail for about $2K.

... more to come in a week or so.

 

[Renderman]

The Elise, in many ways, reminds me of modern high-performance tube amps like ARC's Ref150. The sound isn't tubey in a classic 50s-60s definition of the term - no bloated, rolled-off bass, very extended on top, fast, exciting sounding with almost startling transient response, and no grain. The bass, in particular, is extremely impressive. It extends as deep as my Krell and has almost the same degree of control. From tubes. Unbelievable. This is not a $500 amplifier. It's worth far more. The fit and finish, alone, speaks of a bespoke product. Not a single rough edge or a fastener in sight. If I had to guess, as one who worked in the high-performance sector of the industry, this amp should retail for about $2K.

... more to come in a week or so.

Wow! Such praise for the modest Elise! I'm really glad you like yours, what cans do you mostly listen with on the Elise? To my (and presumably also Hypnos1's ears) paired with Beyerdynamic T1's sounds absolutely beautiful! I would imagine other Beyerdynamic headphones would have a similar synergy.
 
Very nice to read all the positive reactions on the Elise, hopefully many will have the pleasure of enjoying her sweet sounds.
 
Enjoy Shaffer! I wish you many more hours of musical bliss.

 

[Shaffer]

Wow! Such praise for the modest Elise! I'm really glad you like yours, what cans do you mostly listen with on the Elise? To my (and presumably also Hypnos1's ears) paired with Beyerdynamic T1's sounds absolutely beautiful! I would imagine other Beyerdynamic headphones would have a similar synergy.

Very nice to read all the positive reactions on the Elise, hopefully many will have the pleasure of enjoying her sweet sounds.

Enjoy Shaffer! I wish you many more hours of musical bliss.

I mostly stick to bass-modded K702 and HD600 (which act as my tube amp reference) with the Elise. I did try my Beyers - DT990 and DT880/600 - and preferred them with the Violectric V200. So far, not that it's been so long, I really like the K702 with the amp. To be perfectly honest, the T1 is on my list of future purchases. There's another amp I'm interested in, and then the T1.