[xmdkq]

Anyone here with the 336se having moved up to the 339i along the way? I am tempted on replacing my Dv 336se that quit on me recently with the Lafigaro. Is there any hum if any? Usually with the dv the hum disappears with usage depending on the tube. That said I enjoy the dv very much, especially the preout function to the poweramp. Just curious if the 339i preout derives from all the tube stages like the Dv. Thanks.

336 is my early product. 339 has a great improvement and its performance has been greatly improved.

 

[rayshader]

I had the 336se very early in my Head-Fi journey. It was my first tube amp purchase. Bought it 2nd hand but it gave me a lot of joy. Along with that I bought my first 2 headphones - hd650 and DT880. 336se can be very erratic with tubes - some tubes would be quiet, others noisy, even though the tubes were ok. But when it had the right tubes in it, boy it sure did rumble.

I move up to the 339 not the 339i and the step up is significant. It's almost double the joy. Fortunately by the time I got the 339, I had a lot more tubes and a lot more that were acceptably quiet and sounding good. With the 339, my ears were opened to what is possible with a good tube amp and headphone. Been through a lot of tube amps since then but the 339 still thrills.

Likewise, 336se was my maiden voyage into the world of tubes, what have I been missing all these times? The soundstage generated from tubes remains something truly special unknown to me prior. I concur totally, tubes can be a hit and miss. Finding a keeper would stir me to look for another exact twin. Insofar, my fav combo is Raytheon vt-231 with Russian 6H5C. Now doubling the joy as you have so eloquently put sounds truly tempting for the 399. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

I still have both. Right now the 336se is used with my record player and my 339i is for my headphones. Both serve their purposes quite nicely. There is hum as there always will be but depending on your tube choices and headphones some combinations are almost negligible. The fun of tube rolling!

I assume you hooked up the phono stage to the dv336? Yes hum is part of the ownership that I am aware of, as stated with the above my fav combo on the 336, I get a dark n quiet background, balanced all rounder basically. I am just curious what’s your fav combo if any for your 339? I understand 339 with adapter opens another channel of venture. Thx for sharing.

336 is my early product. 339 has a great improvement and its performance has been greatly improved.

Good to know thank you.

 

[mordy]

I still have both. Right now the 336se is used with my record player and my 339i is for my headphones. Both serve their purposes quite nicely. There is hum as there always will be but depending on your tube choices and headphones some combinations are almost negligible. The fun of tube rolling!

"If they make it, it hums." Old tube audiophile proverb

 

[rayshader]

Just to share, since xmdkq has replied earlier, I have taken the liberty to pm him. Since I am able to converse in Chinese, the dialogue quickly warmed up to be a rather engaging one. From our brief exchange, he shared at his semi retired status, he is trying to focus on the production based on interest rather than purely just a commercial venture so to speak. Thus being hands on from the design to the production under his supervision, his team remains small. More like a boutique outtake rather than just stacking up the figures. I can only imagine if he had intended to enlarge the scale of production, outsourcing within China should not be of an issue. He shared some of the special models made with beefy components crowding the entire chassis to a very limited numbers available. Infact when I shared my DV336se had failed to output any music, he gave me a tip and just one to check the underside of the output PCB. Curiously I opened up the unit myself and laughed, there was indeed an issue of a component touching the case ever so slightly. He was absolutely right! What can I expect from the man who created the unit himself. I got that issue fixed myself and the 336se has been up and working since. Before I could share my joy with him, he sent me a few photos of a silver version of the DV336se featuring Vishay output film caps. Off memory I do not recall the existence of such a model. He went to the store in the morning to dig up the unit in hope to offer me with a better 336se. He offered to mod the unit with better parts throughout including the replacement to better tubes to improve the unit knowing how the 336se was my first tube amp and what it all meant. However, he remains firm on the 339i being the superior product out of the two. Well I am glad for the conversation from just a night prior that provided me with a better insight into his products and even more so to the generosity bestowed by the man himself. It truly has been a pleasure.

Thank you xmdkq!

 

[UntilThen]

Thanks for sharing this @rayshader . With no manufacturer or amp builder to please, I can only say that the LF339 produces an astonishing level of SQ excitement. Couple with the low cost, this amp is absolute great value.

LF339 has the grit and bite to the overall tone. Along with a solid bass presentation, I find listening to music with LCD-3f and LF339 fed by Yggdrasil very satisfying.

I refuse to make comparisons with some of of the known amps that I've had, such as Glenn Super 9 OTL, ALO Audio Studio Six and Oblivion. Needless to say, I'm very pleased with these amps too. However I find the LF339 stands with it's head held high in the midst of such company. Each of these amps have it's own uniqueness with their overall tone presentation. End game is a myth but I dare say that owning any of these amps, you can end your search and just enjoy the music. I single out the LF339 though for it's incredible value for money.

 

[JKDJedi]

Long time fan of the Figaro amp and pleasantly surprised to see it driven by the 6J5 tubes (I recently got on the 6J5 bandwagon) so even more entruiged at the moment with this amp. My question is what simple mods is this community doing to the Figaro? And is the Drop version worth grabbing?
EDIT: I know I know..read the thread... doing that, answered the last one already

 

[JKDJedi]

Few pics this morning


Ordered some RCA cables from ShenzenAudio for line out + pre out to the 789. The pre helps give the 789 a little bit of soundstage but it's nowhere close to plugging straight into the tubes.


Bendix 6080WB - I swapped the tubes from right to left and the hum largely swapped with it - probably to be expected with these old tubes


You can see the green caps wired to the tube sockets, unique in this latest 339 revison.


Focal Elex


5693 - one of the best driver tubes for the 339 amps, full stop.


Passive cooling seems much better this time around.

Those 5693 have the same pin layout as the 6J5 ?

 

[tintinsnowydog]

Long time fan of the Figaro amp and pleasantly surprised to see it driven by the 6J5 tubes (I recently got on the 6J5 bandwagon) so even more entruiged at the moment with this amp. My question is what simple mods is this community doing to the Figaro? And is the Drop version worth grabbing?
EDIT: I know I know..read the thread... doing that, answered the last one already

Those 5693 have the same pin layout as the 6J5 ?

There’s not too much modding that has been done with the amp, the internal parts are already quite good. I guess there are the output caps which you can change but the big ones under the top cap cover are very hard to access. Brown power supply caps too but would require removing and soldering them would be quite fiddly. Best option would be to custom order a build from Yuking and have upgraded parts added initially!

there are twoversions of the amp, the 6SJ7/5693 and the 6J5/variants which are different pinouts. I dont think the 6J5 one is commercially available as of now (may have been in past) but yuking can do a custom order with any input tube

 

[JKDJedi]

There’s not too much modding that has been done with the amp, the internal parts are already quite good. I guess there are the output caps which you can change but the big ones under the top cap cover are very hard to access. Brown power supply caps too but would require removing and soldering them would be quite fiddly. Best option would be to custom order a build from Yuking and have upgraded parts added initially!

there are twoversions of the amp, the 6SJ7/5693 and the 6J5/variants which are different pinouts. I dont think the 6J5 one is commercially available as of now (may have been in past) but yuking can do a custom order with any input tube

Thanks for the reply, I sent you a PM before reading this.

 

[UntilThen]

This weekend I returned to Sydney after being away for 4 weeks. Awaiting me are the hd650, la figaro 339, burson conductor v2+ and topping d10. The rest of the gear are in Canberra. A tale of 2 cities for me.

Using just Topping D10 > La Figaro 339 > HD650, I could not fault the musical presentation. It's a cheap package by today's standard but sound good. Very good indeed. Forget about big dollars item gear. These are value for money. HD650 was my 2nd headphone since I started in 2015 but it's still sounding ..... well just great.

Tubes in the LF339 are Mullard EF80 with adapters and GE 6as7ga. Now the GE 6as7ga were $10 each from https://www.partsconnexion.com/. One of the first few tubes I bought in this tubey hobby.

 

[adeadcrab]

Underrated power tubes (6AS7GA)...

 

[UntilThen]

Underrated power tubes (6AS7GA)...

I know you have said good things about the 6AS7GA.... no arguments from me. At just $11 each from https://www.parts-express.com/6as7ga-6as7-ge-jan-vacuum-tube--072-612, you could buy a dozen to light up the Christmas tree.

As I'm listening to it now, I'm thinking these do not sound like $11 each. They sound like a lot more. Much much much more and I hope Parts Express don't raise the price when they read this.

 

[JKDJedi]

I know you have said good things about the 6AS7GA.... no arguments from me. At just $11 each from https://www.parts-express.com/6as7ga-6as7-ge-jan-vacuum-tube--072-612, you could buy a dozen to light up the Christmas tree.

As I'm listening to it now, I'm thinking these do not sound like $11 each. They sound like a lot more. Much much much more and I hope Parts Express don't raise the price when they read this.

Are those Mullard EF80 pentode tubes? (I googled it real quick..yes they are.)

 

[UntilThen]

Yes Jedi EF80 are pentodes. So are the EF86. However with the adapters, they are used as strapped triodes here. I really like how these sound. Sometimes I like the more expensive EF86 better. At other times I'm thinking these EF80 are just as gorgeous, maybe a bit more mellow.

I really like the EF80, EF86 but they only work on my old LF399. On my 'new' LF339 which I bought from TinTinSnowyDog, those strapped triodes will wail like banshees. Not sure why.

 

[adeadcrab]

I know you have said good things about the 6AS7GA.... no arguments from me. At just $11 each from https://www.parts-express.com/6as7ga-6as7-ge-jan-vacuum-tube--072-612, you could buy a dozen to light up the Christmas tree.

As I'm listening to it now, I'm thinking these do not sound like $11 each. They sound like a lot more. Much much much more and I hope Parts Express don't raise the price when they read this.

been that price for at least 5 years already