[connieflyer]

PCT I am glad to see you back here, we missed your lively wit! Good to hear you have the new Gumby in hand and am sure you will like it. The Bimby was no slouch, either, are you putting the Bimby for sale? @hypnos1, I see no problem with the experimentation with the Euforia. It was your initial experimenting that first brought us the Elise, and the upgrades to the Euforia to begin with, so we owe you a debt of gratitude for your efforts. If you were recommending others to follow in your footsteps, could be different, but you are showing us what can be done with the gear we have on hand. And the other area's like the El11 and El12Spez tubes have really helped to move this amp up the ladder of success. So thank you Father of our amps!

 

[myphone]

pctazhp, welcome back. Good to hear you get better.

 

[DecentLevi]

Hi mordy...glad all you say is "Good Luck", and not 'Mad Fool' lol!! ...(which is what I do call myself from time to time!! ). But hopefully, it should in fact be plain sailing now, with the 'proper' RCA plugs here, ready and waiting to be soldered tomorrow. And it won't be a moment too soon - just had to have a music fix last night, so I plugged my original T1s (with stock cable) direct into Hugo2 (which is supposedly the best option!) and had to abort after just 10 mins' listen time!! ...a stark reminder/confirmation of just why I've been 'tinkering' with my system for a while now.
In fact, I hadn't quite realised the full extent of the recent improvements - for me personally at least!
And these go way beyond what the Chord guys would term 'tube amp coloring' lol!...unless such things as much smoother overall sound presentation and volume change/dynamics delivery; more pinpoint separation/positioning of instruments and voices within a more expansive, 3D stage; greater sense of immersion and intimacy...(just for starters)...can be termed 'coloring'!!!
...

I'd say that paints a mighty strong picture of the prowess of the Euforia as a headphone amp. I've personally been graced with trying the master class Hugo 2 twice, and each time I was completely amazed at the kind of fidelity / performance with several headphones just directly out of the Hugo 2, even on the same day as trying other top rigs including the so-called Orpheus 2, DAVE, and many other multi-thousands dollar rigs. But your saying (a well set up) Euforia sounds so much better that you couldn't even stand the Hugo 2 amped directly for more than 10 minutes really says something about this amps' potential.

 

[pctazhp]

PCT I am glad to see you back here, we missed your lively wit! Good to hear you have the new Gumby in hand and am sure you will like it. The Bimby was no slouch, either, are you putting the Bimby for sale? @hypnos1, I see no problem with the experimentation with the Euforia. It was your initial experimenting that first brought us the Elise, and the upgrades to the Euforia to begin with, so we owe you a debt of gratitude for your efforts. If you were recommending others to follow in your footsteps, could be different, but you are showing us what can be done with the gear we have on hand. And the other area's like the El11 and El12Spez tubes have really helped to move this amp up the ladder of success. So thank you Father of our amps!

Thanks so much CF. First, let me say I am comparing my older Bimby which remains Schiit's Gen 2 USB. I really don't know how much of the improvement I'm hearing is due to the more sophisticated design of Gumby or how much is due to the new Schiit USB Gen 5 implementation on Gumby. I really don't care because Gumby is now MY DAC!!!

Between my Bimby and Gumby the later is just far more natural, organic and enticing. Have to be careful when I start listening to it as it is truly captivating. Wonderful combination with Euforia EL11/EL12-Spez. It just gets everything right. Wonderful soundstage, imagine, natural vocals, highly musical. Really I am enjoying listening so much now.

I have no reason to keep Bimby. But right now I continue to have to be careful. I probably won't be able to drive myself at least for 3 more weeks, so I can't take on an extra task of having to ship Bimby if someone wants it. But that will change.

Again thanks so much for your thoughts and as always your wonderful friendship )))

 

[connieflyer]

Always good to hear from you PCT, we sure have been down a long and winding road together, and now you see what I mean about the Gumby. It is truly worth the cost to bring the Euforia up even higher. Just to reassure myself, I put my PSAudio new wave dac back in the loop yesterday. It was still a good sound, but after a bit, it did sound a little warmer and less detailed. T his morning, back with the Gumby and all is well with the music again. Next step is to get a Draug v2 headphone cable, I am sold on this one. It took my Senn 800 up a little more. Another worthwhile investment. Price to performance and value is very high on this one. This is one I bought, I had been in touch another headfi-er and since he had a Draug 2 was interested in his opinion. He confirmed what he heard, and on his recommendation and what I have read, purchased one of these, http://www.norneaudio.com/litzheim/...00-audeze-lcd-3-x-xc-hifiman-he-5-9-560-hd800 . Workmanship is crazy good, he has one person that does all the braiding and he is good at what he does. We may not be able to keep pace with @hypnos1, but we can get close!

 

[hypnos1]

—

Hi J...looks like your post disappeared again - anything to do with your 'edit' lol?!!

Anyway, thanks for your support of my latest (radical!) experimentation and agree with your decision not to 'dare' such extreme measures - I would never even consider advising anyone to do surgery inside their amps...unless 100% confident in their DIY amp skills (especially working with fine solid silver wires, which snap only too easily lol!!! ) and prepared to possibly invalidate their warranty. But I have to say the gains, if all goes well, are quite substantial!! ...more on that below...

Glad to see old friends continue to check in here. Continuing health issues have kept me away and I wasn't able to attend our local meet 2 weeks ago. But things are getting better.

My exciting news is I now have brand new Gumby DAC and am loving it. I'm not a real cable guy, but in celebration of Gumby I have ordered an update from my Morrow Audio MA3 RCA interconnects to 1-meter MA5 interconnects to run from Gumby to Euforia, mainly because of Gumby's larger form factor on my desktop. Probably won't have new interconnects for 30 to 40 days, but will report. Cheers to all))))

Sorry you weren't able to make that meet, pct, but really glad to hear things are moving in the right direction for you health-wise...keep it up!! Glad also you're still loving your Gumby.

I'd say that paints a mighty strong picture of the prowess of the Euforia as a headphone amp. I've personally been graced with trying the master class Hugo 2 twice, and each time I was completely amazed at the kind of fidelity / performance with several headphones just directly out of the Hugo 2, even on the same day as trying other top rigs including the so-called Orpheus 2, DAVE, and many other multi-thousands dollar rigs. But your saying (a well set up) Euforia sounds so much better that you couldn't even stand the Hugo 2 amped directly for more than 10 minutes really says something about this amps' potential.

Yes indeed DL...as a standalone transportable DAC/AMP (but needing a player also...) the Hugo2 is pretty amazing, and probably the very best such animal out there lol! But no match for what Euforia is capable of outputting...especially now!!...(see below...).

Always good to hear from you PCT, we sure have been down a long and winding road together, and now you see what I mean about the Gumby. It is truly worth the cost to bring the Euforia up even higher. Just to reassure myself, I put my PSAudio new wave dac back in the loop yesterday. It was still a good sound, but after a bit, it did sound a little warmer and less detailed. T his morning, back with the Gumby and all is well with the music again. Next step is to get a Draug v2 headphone cable, I am sold on this one. It took my Senn 800 up a little more. Another worthwhile investment. Price to performance and value is very high on this one. This is one I bought, I had been in touch another headfi-er and since he had a Draug 2 was interested in his opinion. He confirmed what he heard, and on his recommendation and what I have read, purchased one of these, http://www.norneaudio.com/litzheim/...00-audeze-lcd-3-x-xc-hifiman-he-5-9-560-hd800 . Workmanship is crazy good, he has one person that does all the braiding and he is good at what he does. We may not be able to keep pace with @hypnos1, but we can get close!

Hi cf...glad to hear you too are enjoying the higher levels of performance Euforia is capable of, given upgrades elsewhere in the system. And I'm sure you're catching me up fast, lol!! ... Now all you've gotta do is brush up on your soldering skills, get some Neotech cable and wire (plus some KLEI [Eichman] silver RCA plugs) - as below, and kiss goodbye to your warranty by acquainting yourself with Euforia's innards!...(On second thoughts, save yourself a whole pile of angst and skip the internal surgery part!!! ).


Anyway, with the help of @mordy 's good luck wishes, plus a whole heap of understanding from my better half (the air has been somewhat blue this week - ref. snapping silver wires!!), I'm glad - nay relieved! - to say all is now well and I'm a VERY happy chappie once more. In deference to @Oskari 's skills (ponies??!!! ), I shall try to be concise in my summation lol!

Basically, guys, all the qualities of silver and copper UPOCC wire that I've already mentioned before are taken to another level - along with Euforia, of course! - by doing the dastardly deed and taking both the interconnects and headphone cable direct to the amp's internal wiring. I still can't quite believe the degree of improvement in all the areas mentioned previously : clarity; dynamics; detail/resolution; timbre; focus/imaging; even more enhanced/spatial soundstage...all delivered with impeccable control, precision and balance across the entire frequency range, and without sounding 'clinical' in presentation whatsoever - the opposite, in fact...immersive, embracing, effortless, natural/'organic'...truly wonderful.

And so at the very least, I can only repeat my advice to practice soldering skills - or find a friend who has them! - and make up your own interconnects and headphone cables using Neotech cable and 'hook up' wire...at a fraction of the cost of commercial products! This UPOCC stuff has taken me totally by surprise...(if you hadn't already noticed lol!! )...and lives up to all the claims made by those who have bottomless wallets and can afford the likes of cleareraudio.com's topflight OCC silver Optimus interconnects at £895 for a half metre, using less wire than my own DIY cables at about £250!...both using the same (expensive!) RCA plugs : just a couple of photos for y'all...CHEERS!...CJ



Top left - interconnect cable's wires clamped onto one of KLEI (Eichmann) Pure Silver Harmony's connections... I always try to get metal-to-metal contact before soldering lol

Apologies for the poor photos of setup, but I like the absence of HP jack, and the sight of those interconnects that show they mean business!!

Pictures of said Neotech cable...I showed recently the separate 'hook up' wires I used for the headphone cable... :



The 'XLR' version that has 3 lots of 3-wired connectors - I joined red and black for signal, and added silver wire to the clear for return (both also had a UPOCC copper wire added...that the £895 cable doesn't possess!!

 

[connieflyer]

A nice review on headphonics for the Euforia
https://headfonics.com/2017/10/feliks-audio-euforia-review/

 

[Tunkejazz]

A nice review on headphonics for the Euforia
https://headfonics.com/2017/10/feliks-audio-euforia-review/

Nice review. I partly disagree about the bass assessment though

 

[connieflyer]

Same here I think it has plenty of bass. It may not be as thunderous as some of them but it's clear concise and very present if it's in the music it's in there. Also the Sound Stage can be increased by the type of tubes that you use. The el11 and el12 Spezial give a much broader sound stage very open. Other than that think it's a pretty good review.

 

[pctazhp]

Same here I think it has plenty of bass. It may not be as thunderous as some of them but it's clear concise and very present if it's in the music it's in there. Also the Sound Stage can be increased by the type of tubes that you use. The el11 and el12 Spezial give a much broader sound stage very open. Other than that think it's a pretty good review.

I very much agree.

 

[connieflyer]

As you should! The word has come from on high!

 

[Oskari]

In deference to @Oskari 's skills (ponies??!!! ), I shall try to be concise in my summation lol!

How would you rate your success?

 

[hypnos1]

Same here I think it has plenty of bass. It may not be as thunderous as some of them but it's clear concise and very present if it's in the music it's in there. Also the Sound Stage can be increased by the type of tubes that you use. The el11 and el12 Spezial give a much broader sound stage very open. Other than that think it's a pretty good review.

Spot on, cf...such reviews are always subject to many different constraints of course, but on the whole it is indeed a very positive endorsement of Euforia's (and F-A's) qualities.

Over this past year, I personally have seen any hint of the mentioned 'weak links' gradually ease away with each and every upgrade to the rest of my system - and that's with retaining the same tube combo, which needs no repetition here methinks lol!!

As you - and others - intimate, bass may well not be the fullest out there, but more than makes up for it in its quality...which I think the reviewer basically agrees with in the end, and which I myself think is FAR more important!! However, I must qualify this statement re. quantity after my recent (end game??!!) entry into super cable territory...ie. with more hours now on the interconnects (KLEI recommend 100+hrs just for their silver RCA plugs alone!!) and HP cable, any more bass would be almost suicidal...especially with Sade's 'Soldier of Love' album assaulting the ears! Not to mention Eiji Oue/Minnesota Orchestra's amazing version of 'Fanfare for the Common Man'...that famous intro now sends even more shivers up and down my spine!

And more shivers still, from the crescendo passages in Rossini's 'William Tell Overture' (Carlo Maria Guilini/Philharmonia Orchestra), and the finale's solo trumpet followed by more brass...mind blowing!
Bass detail and quantity galore from all these examples, along with many others already.... And as if not to be outdone, mids detail and tonal range are also like never before...and as for the upper frequencies, all I can say is - superb just doesn't cover it.

And the icing on the cake is that other 'weak link' mentioned...soundstage/imaging. Again - as you say, cf - these are already addressed in good measure by the EL11/EL12 Spezial combo, but now taken to much greater heights courtesy of those (solid!) UPOCC silver and copper wires. My T1s are now outperforming the Senn HD800 in these areas by an even bigger margin - reversing the situation prior to my latest exploits lol.

Another bonus is regarding vocals - at first I thought my new cables might just be pushing voice very slightly back, but after more test pieces it became clear that my system was in fact delivering a more accurate reproduction of how the vocals were actually engineered in the first place...some almost 'in your face', others more recessed...and thus devoid of any system 'influence' lol!

And so, in short, my own Euforia is now almost a totally different animal to the early days....but obviously, my other upgrades (not least of which is Hugo2!) have all contributed greatly to this level of performance, and for which I regard myself as truly fortunate. I can only hope that perhaps my journey might encourage others to keep pushing the boundaries - wallets and loved ones permitting lol! ...CJ

 

[hypnos1]

How would you rate your success?

Hmmmm, O, my dear friend, methinks I've just answered that question...BIG TIME lol!!! ...

 

[myphone]

Rolled three different 5998 tubes today: 1957 (left), 1963 (middle) and 1958 clear top (Right). They have different internal structures.

1958 clear top is clearly better than the other 2 versions: more palpable, richer tone, better resolution and clearer presentation.

Have not noticed major sonic difference between the 1957 and 1963 versions, even though internal structures are very different.