[rtsy]

I currently use mine with a decade old NAD 502 and vdH D102mkIII I/C. I'm looking for a warmer, more liquid sound kind of what I heard with a Rega Planar TT but on CD. Any recommendations?

This board seems to be teeming with MG-Head OTL fanatics but unfortunately, I'd still have to work on the softer side of head-fi-ing--the significant others, my wife and daughter gave me the X-Cans v2 as a Fathers' Day present--before I could even think about an amp upgrade.

TIA!

 

[ddriveman]

I use a Musical Fidelity X-Ray CD player with my HD-600 and X-Cans v2. Most recently, I've added a Musical Fidelity A3-24 DAC. The X-Ray by itself is pretty good with a high level of detail and information retrieval. However, adding the A3-24 upsampling DAC brought out additional warmth, smoother sounds and extended soundstage. Highly recommended.
Another thought is to upgrade the stock HD-600 cables to a better one. I use a Cardas cable and you get extended bass and highs with it.

 

[lonestar]

I'm sure you'll have lots of other great suggestions, but you should definitely consider simply adding a used high-end dac from the likes of Sonic Frontiers, PS Audio, Classe, Theta, EAD, etc.

I'm currently using a PS Audio Ultralink II dac directly into my XcansV2 and the only thing I really miss ARE MY SPEAKERS (sorry guys) AND MY TURNTABLE (the former are in the garage awaiting a living room remodel and the latter is in the shop for repairs). The sound is recording dependent (as it should be) but with the best, it is velvety smooth, punchy, the bass goes down into the basement and maybe a foot or two lower, the highs are smooth and not etched, and the mids are sweet and harmonically rich--like live music. Again, recording dependent.

BUT FIRST, I would URGE you to change out your stock Philips 6922 tubes as soon as possible. I thought they put a very harsh glare on all but the most laidback recordings. Changing them to the JJ ECC88s is probably the cheapest and route into tube-rolling. The differences are not subtle. The JJs have a much sweeter midrange, the bass goes much further down but is still very controlled, and the highs won't make your ears bleed.

Best of luck.

 

[Nick Dangerous]

Yep... that's exactly what I experienced. The brightness of the stock Philips tubes will sear your eardums like a barbecue grill.

 

[rtsy]

The stock tubes on my X-Cans v2 is the 6DJ8 ECC88. I think two or three other head-fiers got the same "stock" tubes.

I complained about sibilance on some records at the start with my HD495. The switch to the HD600 didn't remove the sibilance completely but the sibilance distracted me less due to the greater things on offer on the HD600--thundering bass for instance.

A further improvement was achieved via upgrading my van den Hul D102mkIII (not a bad I/C at all) to a pair of Silver Audio SB4s--frequency extremes were extended further, far more midrange and treble detail. Please don't ask me why I bought an I/C that cost as much as my headphone amp. It's one of those moments where my adrenalin got the better of me.

I'll be picking up a pre-owned X-PSU and a pair of Mullard 6922s within the week. I heard the X-PSU w. my HD495--not much improvement. I expect things to be different with the X-PSU and HD600.

Any experience with the Mullards?

Lastly, my NAD502 is really getting old. It may be time to retire it to an office system. I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of a loca ldealers stock of tube CD players. I know it's not nOrh (nor it's OEM) and Ah! Njoe Tjoeb 4000 so perhaps it's a Jolida or Heart. A better source may be my Christmas gift for myself in a couple of months.