I understand wanting to get a feel for the RO sound with the stock tubes but I know I have no self control!
I knew I would wind up with the Elrogs (now TM) so I went right to those when my Envy arrived on day 1.
Thanks to @paradoxper, I've been an Elrog guy all along the way!!!
the RO is the only amp I have heard that I found perhaps worthy of an upgrade from my envy which I love...I got a chance to spend a fair bit of time with the RO in a quiet setting for a fair bit of time with all of the top HP's...that said the weight and bulk is simply a deal breaker for me...I have no way of finding a spot for such a monster...no weay of moving it around at all I have had 2 back surgeries....it is howver a great amp ,albeit 100 pounds lol
Your aesthetic preference and mine clearly are somewhat different. I find the design uninspiring and even ugly. Do they have to shout so loud that it’s made by ampsandsound?
I very much agree. However, I think you can ask for custom colors and they may agree to remove that or at least color match it with the rest of the amp.
I'll stick with my Envy. It's remarkable how Feliks was able to keep the footprint relatively small without many compromises.
I very much agree. However, I think you can ask for custom colors and they may agree to remove that or at least color match it with the rest of the amp.
I'll stick with my Envy. It's remarkable how Feliks was able to keep the footprint relatively small without many compromises.
I understand wanting to get a feel for the RO sound with the stock tubes but I know I have no self control!
I knew I would wind up with the Elrogs (now TM) so I went right to those when my Envy arrived on day 1.
Thanks to @paradoxper, I've been an Elrog guy all along the way!!!
At 71 years of age I don’t think about what might be king in ten years. I’m really very happy with my latest set-up fronted by the Grimm MU2 and am just 100% enjoying the music presented to me by Immanis.
Envy is a great amp to learn the hobby as it works with so many great headphones and is widely available with great support from Feliks. Having owned my Envy for over 2 years, I’d say you really don’t have to go crazy with 300B to get great sound with it, but as an amp it does stride the line between not being that tubey but then not being entirely solid-state, so I can see why it doesn’t fit with many people, and you do probably need to roll through driver tubes and some 300B to find your preference. I’m not sure if that’s true about the lack of negative feedback in particular with this amp causing tubes to have more of an impact, but it is more of a 'synergy thing' than having to have the rarest and most expensive in the end and I honestly think Shuguang Treasure 300B sounds great with this amp, for example (although true NOS Brimars are good cry-once-buy-once for drivers). Happy for the former Envy owners that figure out their endgame headphones and shoot for the moon though and go all out with the ultimate in synergies with those headphones (TCs, Immanis). It does seem like Envy is a great jumping off point into the TOTL amp realm and a waypoint for many people, but quite frankly I’m content with mine at this point with Atrium and Unveiled and the rest of my headphone collection.
So after a bit of testing some new cables it's back to tube land and Melz. Short answer is I think they're quite good so far.
Started off this morning by listening to a different pair I know very well that are also "technically accomplished" just to get a grounding before putting Melz back in again.
They lean more towards neutral for me swinging Envy with TM just that one step closer to SS.
Bass is quite punchy, well defined, decent weight, enjoyable.
Mids are straight shooting, there's not quite the warmth or richness I gravitate towards with tubes & think I notice this most with male vocals. I need to spend more time with them before committing to that thought though and compare against TFK / RT's & the RFT's. Maybe pushes vocals slightly back compared to a tube with richer mids? (saying this listening with Immanis btw). My gut says paired with something rich in mid tone would be quite excellent, whether that be HP, different power tubes (WE?) or anything else upstream. (parsonal pref applies here!)
Treble is nice but doesn't excite me too much right now.
Stage is pretty good IMO, good size in all directions, nice spatial presentation.
Feels like quite a straight shooting tube, good clarity but maybe not the be all and end all in terms of resolution, and maybe a slight dryness in mid / treble (maybe need a little more harmonic richness for my ideal pref). I definitely don't hear them as harsh in anyway which I think these later ones have been described as before? An enjoyable listen for sure and definitely one of the better 6SN7 out there.
And these ones have no noise, no rattles etc! Always a bonus for Melz I think!
Folks, for those of you who might be waiting for the 15% discount coupon from Feliks Audio for a pair of WE 300B tubes, they are $200 off right now at the WE website (until the end of June), so if you are interested you can go ahead and place the order right now. I just did. Looking forward to trying these soon.
EDIT: if you’re in Europe it’s cheaper to order from the Spanish dealer, see below.
Also, Takatsuki 300B arrived today and thoroughly enjoying those. Very smooth and lush but detailed at the same time.
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