[connieflyer]

You are correct sir. El 39 tube is one of the best ones that I have seen for this amplifier. I have some Dario El 38 also that are very good compare favorably to the e l 39 much better then the mullard e l 38 you don't see very many of those around either

 

[hypnos1]

Well, for that not, but you can blame me for my further advices:

At this point in time, when you will soon have an M-Scaler for your TT2 you definitely need some good dual BNC cables and 2 linear power supplies for both TT2 and M-Scaler.
Then you might be fine for a period of time, in which you can think about Dave.

PS. When you receive it, if you can, it would be interesting to try an M-Scaler + Hugo 2 vs M-Scaler + TT2. But for connection to Hugo 2 things are not as simple because I think you'll need an adapter from 2 x BNC -> Coax (?) to be able to link them?

Right-o OH, this time I can blame you...at least for the LPSs! Contrary to Chord's opinions, and voiding the warranty if they damage the TT2 or m-scaler, my inexpensive LPS (but with much better replacement mains and DC cables) does indeed bring improvements over the stock SMPS power supply . So now - again at my own risk - I am awaiting a second for the m-scaler, which should soon be off the production line, hopefully!

As for the "good" BNC cables, I'm glad to say that my shift from tube experimenting to cables is paying very handsome dividends indeed. And for any DIYers interested in such a venture, I shall give a brief(?!) summary of my findings re. an alternative to the conventional coax digital cable.

After my mk1 version, using cat 7 Ethernet cable's four individually foil shielded conduits as carriers for replacement Neotech teflon coated UP-OCC solid silver and copper wires, and which almost matched a £900+ Chord Indigo Tuned Aray cable, I copied their design of using two separate cables - one for signal, and the other's (wire) conductors for return instead of the conventional use of a single's braid shield. (I personally have always questioned the efficacy of using such a mismatched return, especially in a cable using high quality signal wires lol!).

Anyway, being surprised at the results from my unorthodox use of cat7 cable instead of normal coax, I made such a dual cable using cannibalised cat 8 cables this time (their being of even higher spec, with better shielding still). And the results (for my TT2 at least) were way beyond expectations...surpassing in fact said Chord cable. And so, perhaps just an idea for those willing to have a go at trying such an animal...or if not, at least dualing conventional coax cables, and not using any braided shield as return!

NB. cat 8 cable is sturdier than cat 7, and it's much harder to extract the original twisted wire pairs, especially over about 35cm. Over that, cat 7 would be a better bet. And if UP-OCC teflon coated silver runs too expensive, then at least teflon coated OCC copper will still perform extremely well.

Also, in my system at least, the superior shielding has meant no need for ferrite cores .

So, GOOD LUCK to any intrepid trailblazers...this time for cables instead of tubes lol!

ps. Will let you know if the second LPS for m-scaler is a waste of money or not (then I would blame you, mon ami!! )...CHEERS!...CJ

 

[connieflyer]

Sounds like you have a good handle on the wire situation

 

[hypnos1]

Well guys, nice to see the 'unorthodox' tube route is still bringing positive results for folks...there certainly are plenty to choose from lol! Plus, combinations to suit all tastes and preferences methinks, courtesy of a very forgiving Euforia (and Elise!).

And I would just repeat that if anyone's interested - and has the patience/time! - in ploughing back through my past posts, I have made fairly comprehensive appraisals of a host of such alternatives to stock configuration as they progressed from initial conversion that should give pointers as to their potential character...

eg. re. the EL3N - and as @aqsw mentioned - this tube is fairly 'warm' in character...too warm and 'lush' for many, who then went on to prefer the German designed TFK/RFT EL11. But a good few - including myself - actually preferred the Valvo version, which falls somewhere between the two (particularly the impossible now to find mesh plate version).

And @connieflyer , with that comprehensive collection of (recent) superlative tubes you have, you're well set for you're AE Euforia, once it arrives! I can't wait to see what you make of it compared to the original...I only hope you're as pleased/impressed with it as I am with my Chord TT2.

I wish you all continued HAPPY LISTENING with your Feliks Audio amps......CHEERS!...CJ

 

[OctavianH]

Right-o OH, this time I can blame you...at least for the LPSs!

You are indeed on a very perfectly justified road to Dave, but I would say you can add also an Aurender N10
I am very happy about what I read and I am sure these are great findings, I will, most probably, adventure on the road of DYI and the idea of using CAT7 is brilliant.
In the meantime I still enjoy my good old Qutest which was moved to another position because of some problems with the USB cable and the poor contact to Qutest USB-B input:

 

[hypnos1]

Sounds like you have a good handle on the wire situation

Ah well cf, although I was glad for the respite from tube experimentation, I just couldn't stay away completely from 'fiddling' lol! And though not as interesting/sexy as new, unexpected tubes, these cable experiments have been just as profound (and money saving)...perhaps I should patent the design!!

 

[hypnos1]

You are indeed on a very perfectly justified road to Dave, but I would say you can add also an Aurender N10
I am very happy about what I read and I am sure these are great findings, I will, most probably, adventure on the road of DYI and the idea of using CAT7 is brilliant.
In the meantime I still enjoy my good old Qutest which was moved to another position because of some problems with the USB cable and the poor contact to Qutest USB-B input:

Hmmm OH...don't even go there re. an Aurender! But luckily, I'm more than happy with my Naim...does wonders for my amps lol!

Sorry to hear of your USB issue with Qutest...the sooner you can move to BNC electrical digital cable the better IMHO! And if you do ever go DIY cabling and try the cat 7/8 route, just give me a buzz if you should need any pointers...

ps. Just a quick couple of photos - one of the dual cable in question, and one showing 2 remaining cat 8 foil shields with original wires still in situ :


(For this cable I used just 2 of the foil carriers - one for a 24AWG Neotech silver wire (inside some additional teflon tubing), the other for some 26AWG silver...).

 

[OctavianH]

Sorry to hear of your USB issue with Qutest...the sooner you can move to BNC electrical digital cable the better IMHO!

I always considered both 2Qute and Qutest USB-B inputs to be problematic, I used during the years several cables and no one gave me the sensation of a tight connection. So I start to wonder if the USB-B type of connector, cable or the Qutest itself is the problem. But maybe I am the only one having these problems because nobody else complained about this on the dedicated threads. Anyway, I will be much more careful with this input jack in the future and if I'll add M-Scaler it will not be used anymore, but most probably the USB-B input of the M-Scaler will be the same.

PS.
Hmm I wrote DYI instead of DIY. Pff, sometimes english beats me. What to say, it's not my mother tongue so I have an excuse... but I can try to improve it.

What Does DYI Mean?
DYI stands for “Doing Yourself In”. In this context, and not the context of the very similar DIY, the slang word is used as a warning that actions have consequences. Example would be saying that having too many drinks at a bar will cause someone to do themselves in; that is get in trouble or do something they will regret.

Wow, never knew that.

 

[mordy]

I always considered both 2Qute and Qutest USB-B inputs to be problematic, I used during the years several cables and no one gave me the sensation of a tight connection. So I start to wonder if the USB-B type of connector, cable or the Qutest itself is the problem. But maybe I am the only one having these problems because nobody else complained about this on the dedicated threads. Anyway, I will be much more careful with this input jack in the future and if I'll add M-Scaler it will not be used anymore, but most probably the USB-B input of the M-Scaler will be the same.

PS.
Hmm I wrote DYI instead of DIY. Pff, sometimes english beats me. What to say, it's not my mother tongue so I have an excuse... but I can try to improve it.



Wow, never knew that.

Always learning something new... Here and there I read about DIY that leads to DYI, especially when it comes to restoring old cars lol......Many unfinished projects out there.....

 

[DecentLevi]

I got my first BNC coax cable last week from my Singxer SU-1 DDC to my Qutest and the improvement over USB was substantial. I got mine from BlueJeans Cable company who makes solid quality cables of all types at an affordable price. I'm not confident any thicker or dual BNC cable can potentially improve things - however I've heard extremely promising things about glass optical cables such as this one from Lifatec. These use "470 Audio Data Silflex Glass Fiber Optic strands", and the with these kind of materials you don't have to get into pricey territory with rare earth metals and get possibly the best sound. The format is not compatible with my DDC but perhaps optical cables are supported with some of your systems.

 

[OctavianH]

Yes, Lifatec are the best TOSLINK out there. There are also some Supra ZAC Toskink guaranteed for 384KHz 32bit which is quite impressive and the price is decent:
https://www.av-connection.com/?PGr=739

I use USB on my Qutest for several reasons:
1) I have some 24bit/192KHz files
2) I have only 1 optical input used by my CXC CD transport

So for the PC it remains the USB input, but I obtained "spectacular" results using JCAT USB Femto PCIex -> USB card powered externally by an 5V LPS. I might say the USB problems are solved when using this card on the other end of the USB cable. But you need a PC for this, if you have a laptop then this solution is not suitable.
I tried also ISO Regen and iFi iGalvanic + iFi iUSB nano but were inferior to the JCAT. Now I just plug this card in the PC and I am able to use my 6TB of storage for the digital files. I encoded all my CD collection and rarely play stuff directly from the CD, for me it is much simpler.
When I want to make a comparison I just swith the "white" input to "green" and put the same album on the CD and if they are almost the same I guess I am fine. As a player I use Foobar and follow this guide here for tweaking (mainly ASIO, buffering and some basic settings):
https://diyaudioheaven.wordpress.com/digital/pc-software/foobar-2000-for-dummies/
Inside this guide there is a link to another one for DSD playback.

 

[hypnos1]

Always learning something new... Here and there I read about DIY that leads to DYI, especially when it comes to restoring old cars lol......Many unfinished projects out there.....

Too true mordy!! And the same can apply to 'simple' cable making alas if certain basic precautions aren't adhered to lol ...namely ensuring not the tiniest strand of return shielding comes anywhere near touching the signal line!! And this is yet another advantage of using two separate cables for electrical ('coax') digital transfer, with one's wires for return instead of using the braided shield.

 

[hypnos1]

Yes, Lifatec are the best TOSLINK out there. There are also some Supra ZAC Toskink guaranteed for 384KHz 32bit which is quite impressive and the price is decent:
https://www.av-connection.com/?PGr=739

I use USB on my Qutest for several reasons:
1) I have some 24bit/192KHz files
2) I have only 1 optical input used by my CXC CD transport

So for the PC it remains the USB input, but I obtained "spectacular" results using JCAT USB Femto PCIex -> USB card powered externally by an 5V LPS. I might say the USB problems are solved when using this card on the other end of the USB cable. But you need a PC for this, if you have a laptop then this solution is not suitable.
I tried also ISO Regen and iFi iGalvanic + iFi iUSB nano but were inferior to the JCAT. Now I just plug this card in the PC and I am able to use my 6TB of storage for the digital files. I encoded all my CD collection and rarely play stuff directly from the CD, for me it is much simpler.
When I want to make a comparison I just swith the "white" input to "green" and put the same album on the CD and if they are almost the same I guess I am fine. As a player I use Foobar and follow this guide here for tweaking (mainly ASIO, buffering and some basic settings):
https://diyaudioheaven.wordpress.com/digital/pc-software/foobar-2000-for-dummies/
Inside this guide there is a link to another one for DSD playback.

Yes OH...using computer as source does indeed have certain advantages, but whatever one does to mitigate USB flaws, this transfer method can surely never match the use of really good wire encased in a good cable, and especially terminated with the likes of BNC connectors (or better still, removing their pins and using the cable's wire(s) as the pin lol! ).

And re. the dual cable I described previously, I'm afraid your doubts re. its merits @DecentLevi are very much misplaced lol...not only from my own experimental findings that brought significant improvements over a single, but I'm sure there's good reason for the likes of Chord and Synergistic Research to adopt this method (not to mention some using mono crystal OCC wire) in their TOTL lines at thousands of dollars per metre!!...(not all folks who spend that kind of money 'have more than sense', as the saying goes ).

Anyway OH, whatever, forget USB and go for a really good server/player with its own internal CD copying to an SSD, plus other digital input playback, and never look back! But perhaps you don't need to bankrupt yourself totally with that Aurender lol!!...(sure looks nice though...).

 

[hypnos1]

Well @connieflyer and @OctavianH (and any DIY cable makers out there), just thought I'd add to my previous unorthodox alternative to coax digital cable...ie. this time using cat 7 ethernet as carrier for DC power supply wire.

In my own case, I stripped out all 4 original twisted pairs of wire and replaced with Neotech teflon coated UP-OCC copper (which isn't too expensive), one each for pos and neg., leaving 2 empty foil shields as extra shielding along with the braid. And terminated with a very nice, and not too expensive gold plated, part carbon fibre DC plug. Once again, very pleased indeed with its use for my inexpensive LPS, along with a nice bit of Neotech power cable + Wattgate connector for its mains supply. And I'm sure this mod can only be of benefit to whatever DC power supply is used... especially as with the digital cable, I personally find there's no need for ferrite cores, which I'd rather not use unless absolutely necessary lol . And so once again, surely indicates the superior degree of shielding provided by ethernet cable (which is precisely what it's designed for! ).

So, folks, a quick pic of the cable in question :



HAPPY DIY'ING...but not DYI'ing lol! ...CJ

 

[Dobrescu George]

My in-depth review about the Euforia Flagship from Feliks-Audio is live now! If you love tube AMPs, this one is a really good one, being neutral, clean, and also really transparent

https://www.audiophile-heaven.com/2020/05/director-of-sound-feliks-audio-euforia.html