[connieflyer]

One last bit of advice, when removing tubes, do so by the base not the glass.

 

[Oskari]

I've never used socket savers with Elise or Euforia and I haven't had any problems. I can't think of any other F-A amp owners who use them routinely.

I generally use socket savers with Elise and I haven't had any problems. The primary reason is heat, especially with 6080s.

 

[Oskari]

So I don't need socket savers and I will be carefull when I insert the tubes, when the sockets are tight I will leave a little space.

Octal tubes and sockets are seldom a problem, but do make note of this:

One last bit of advice, when removing tubes, do so by the base not the glass.

 

[Oskari]

Contrary to pct, I have read that I believe on the Elise thread early last year. I believe a member had trouble removing a tube, and it was suggested to leave eniugh room to insert a small jewelers screwdriver under the tube to get it started out.

This might have been specifically about the C3g. Those are quite fragile.

 

[connieflyer]

I do believe you are correct. And if I'm not mistaken that was H1 that gave out that bit of advice but my mind was lucky just to remember that I heard it let alone who was the author

 

[hypnos1]

I have just some questions.
After reading something about heat and octal socket savers. Do I need them for my Euforia?

Maybe not really a question, I read somewhere I should not insert the tubes completely into the sockets but leave a little room to get a screwdriver under it so I can always get the tubes out of the socket when they like the amp too much and hang on to it.

Are there more Tricks I need to know of?

Althalus

Hi Al...the guys have pretty well covered these topics - and as @Oskari and @connieflyer (well done!) mentioned, great care was (is!) needed especially with the C3g driver. I did also more recently mention it might be worth leaving the slight gap for levering purposes in the Euforia sockets as they are often a much tighter fit than in the Elise - most times the tubes can be manoeuvred out with gentle "rolling" while pulling, but sometimes the last bit might suddenly release with a jolt, so care is needed re. the direction in which it might travel lol!!

A lot also depends on the tubes' pins - some can have a tad wider diameter, and those of many old tubes (used, or not) need a good clean - some use a sharp knife, I personally prefer fine emery paper (or medium, then fine if really crusty lol!)...this helps keep the surface smoother for the sockets. Some also use "Deoxit", which can help minimise oxidation of the pins. If not gold plated, it also pays to check their condition from time to time - dirty pins really can be troublesome, let alone degrade sound quality, of course!

IF you do ever need to lever up a tube, just protect the amp's surface against abrasion, naturally, and work your way gradually around the entire base.

I'm sure you'll have a few more questions once you get under way, but we should be able to answer most of them...hopefully lol! But most of all, give the amp, and tubes, plenty of time to "burn in", and for your ears/brain to fully absorb and decipher the sound, which will gradually change over the first weeks. Only then will you have a good reference point for trying other tubes! IMHO, rapid swapping of tubes can be very misleading - it takes quite a long while for the brain to "readjust" to different signatures in a meaningful way. In addition, no two tubes will ever be totally identical, and sometimes the amp also needs a while to settle into variations between different tubes, even within the same family. Accurate assessments require time to have any real validity!

But the really main thing is to ENJOY your time with this wonderful amp...hopefully without spending the endless hours (and money!) I personally have invested in this hobby over the past few years lol!!!...(it's been quite a journey, one way or another, but one I wouldn't have missed for the world...and met some really great guys along the way...).

Yeah. The major drawback to solid state amps is that one is stuck with the manufacturers specific voicing based on source and headphones used, coupled with the designer's own preferences. On the other hand, I believe that it is probably difficult, if not impossible, for a manufacturer of tube amps to entirely escape the coloration that is inherent with tubes - likely due mainly to the even order harmonic distortion tubes introduce which is what attracts many to tube amps, but which also is not entirely "clean" and "neutral".

From a consumer's standpoint, there seems an infinity of choices for sources, amps and headphones. And virtually impossible to properly audition more than a handful of choices. I don't understand how many brick and mortar stores can stay in business and provide a reasonable offering of the latest and greatest.

So we all do the best we can based on our own personal preferences and budget considerations. Some have the money and interest to pursue perfection, which they never seem to find. I went through that for several decades with speaker based stereo systems, so I understand the appeal. But there are also people who set up a reasonably good system and enjoy it for decades. For me, Euforia offers great performance at a reasonable price. I've been lucky to acquire a good selection of top performing tubes. I'm at the stage of my life that I crave simplicity. I would not enjoy sitting down to listen and having to decide which amp and which headphone I'll use. And for me Euforia sounds great with a wide variety of tubes. Yes, I can detect differences, but they are not very important to me. Far more important for me is exploring new music, which is why Tidal is my main music source.

You are so right, pct...on all counts. As for myself, I'm quite sure your past 'bug' has been laying dormant...just to wing its way across "The Pond" straight to my door - and so I can blame YOU, my good friend, for all my recent "madness" lol!! ...

Speaking of which, after kicking out to the shops our visiting company, I managed to reterminate that coax cable (succeeding first time, miraculously...darn those tiny jacks!!) and feed the Hugo2 properly. Suffice to say, what comes straight out to the T1s is crazy good...this simply has to be the best (semi!) portable DAC/AMP out there...period! But your point re. the relative lack of flexibility soundwise still holds true, even though this beauty has multiple choices of "crossfeed" and filters. They just cannot (yet!) match the variations we get by trying different tubes in our tube amps - especially OTL ones.

And I'm glad to say that despite H2 doing a fair few things better straight out to the cans - ie. the usual strengths of good SS, and in a way more accurate and "pure", as you mentioned - the way tubes 'play around' with/distort the signal can (not always!) bring another dimension entirely to the overall experience. And so it is with Euforia and my own particular tube setup. I know the element of 'familiarity' will still be strong at the moment, and I don't doubt that if I'd lived with H2 for the same length of time my views might well be different. But as it is, a special magic returned with each track I know intimately by now, and I'm pretty sure this will remain the case forever more lol, despite the fact I haven't yet put H2 properly through its paces by any means...plenty of time yet!!

At least I can say that, without question, the DAC function alone is of the highest order, and has indeed raised Euforia's game yet again...this amp is simply a very hard act to beat, anywhere near the price. The Feliks family have every right to be proud of their achievements...and for which I'm sure we are all extremely grateful lol! ...CHEERS!...

 

[connieflyer]

A little softer side for PCT

 

[connieflyer]

One fine rendition, perhaps an omen..

 

[connieflyer]

Who says China does not produce quality?!?!? She hits some crazy notes

 

[pctazhp]

@connieflyer Thanks for all the great music. Perfect for a Sunday morning. But I'm not going with that "omen" part!!!! Let's both plan to stick around for a while. I don't think it's quite yet time for either of us to be changing our zip codes quite yet (as my x-mother-in-law used to describe that going-home thing) !!!

@hypnos1 Exciting news about Hugo2. Since I first became involved in high end audio back in the early 70s there have always been many creative, dedicated designers who adopted different approaches that produced amazing products. How someone starts with basically nothing and can produce a top-performing amp, DAC, headphone, etc is so beyond my ability to conceive I don't even try. I find it amazing how humans have been able to basically start with dirt and produce all of the amazing goodies we enjoy today.

 

[connieflyer]

Just an aside PCT you have mentioned about how amazing humans can be make things out of nothing and end up with something fantastic. I have been watching the National Geographic Channel a program they called genius it is about a life's and struggles of Albert Einstein and at first I thought me might be interesting probably won't it is in fact very interesting and very enlightening. It's amazing how one can just wonder how can this be and then come up with a method to determine how it really is it was interesting how his mind worked to come up with E equals MC squared absolutely amazing but the human mind can do so many wonderful things. Music is one of them of course and music and Mathematics and physics all kind of run together when you think about it it's everything on a wave everything on a frequency of some sort. that's my thoughts for this morning and I'm sticking with them. Have the watering done already Connor nice sitting out on the deck watching the hummingbirds come in Connor was sitting on the end of the steps little while ago in a hummingbird came up sampling some of the flowers and got within about a foot of his face and just kind of sitting there in mid-air Motionless hoovering and the two of them are staring at each other I thought sure Connor was going to jump up and get them or the hummingbird was take off if they set that way for about 20 seconds just long enough for me to move try to grab the camera to get a picture of it and then of course all gone you guys have a great day so much for Sundays

 

[pctazhp]

Thanks CF. I'll look for that National Geographic program. I love stuff like that. I got pretty far with physics in college before I switched to a history major and laid the foundation for a life of producing nothing except a bunch of arguments I actually studied physics in the same buildings where Einstein spent his later days. Just proves there is no such thing as human osmosis)) One of my favorite books that completely twisted my brain into a pretzel (where it still remains as you well know) was Hawking's A Brief History of Time. Have you read it?

Loved your description of Connor and the hummingbird

 

[connieflyer]

I have that book bought it when it first came out and read it many times. I'm doing fine up until string theory I've read that chapter a dozen times and it's still just barely sinking in but a fascinating read no matter what. His second book was good as well but not nearly as well written done mostly by his students. Yeah Connor was very photogenic with that hummingbird wish I would have been able to get a picture of that

 

[connieflyer]

Tried to explain to sue about the Multiverse and she just gave me that look like said if you want to eat dinner tonight change the subject once you start thinking along those lines your mind just kind of opens right up and gets larger than what you can imagine. Always have loved the Sciences think it's fascinating

 

[tjw321]

Thanks CF. I'll look for that National Geographic program. I love stuff like that. I got pretty far with physics in college before I switched to a history major and laid the foundation for a life of producing nothing except a bunch of arguments I actually studied physics in the same buildings where Einstein spent his later days. Just proves there is no such thing as human osmosis)) One of my favorite books that completely twisted my brain into a pretzel (where it still remains as you well know) was Hawking's A Brief History of Time. Have you read it?

Loved your description of Connor and the hummingbird

I studied physics in the same building as Stephen Hawking - no osmosis here, either.