Quote:
Redbull, I saw that you have Leben 3000 and DV337 THA in your headamp inventory... Leben use EL84 as power tube and 337 use 6AS7 as power tube... what is your opinion no both?
Leben uses 2x EL84 for each channel, push-pull, with feedback and output transformer.
THA337 using single 6AS7 dual triode on each channel, I guess no feedback (never read info on this), and OTL.
Sound impression on Leben in comparison to DV337,
- Leben is more 'clean' sounding, instrument separation is better, maybe due to its feedback system? 337 is more 'round', lush and 'romantic' in comparison, breath can be heard more on Leben.
- Leben FAST! and very dynamic, bass quantity is slightly less, but very impactful, hard hitting and very detailed, maybe due to its push-pull system and a lot of POWER? DV bass sound a little 'loose' in comparison, not that DV bass is bad, it is actually a LOT better than GS Solo SRG I used to have.
- Leben treble is very very clean and extended, maybe due to the nature of Pentode's vs Triode, makes DV sound a little less refined on top and a little roll off, but still VERY good.
- Leben timbre is very good, realistic and 3 dimensional, I don't know what causes this, maybe due to its design itself and PLENTY of power (2 power Pentode for 1 channel?), superior control to the headphone driver. It's much easier to identify what is the material making that sound, is it wood, metal, woodwind, string, without having to think hard, it's so obvious.
- Leben soundstage is slightly narrower than DV.
Despite my comment above, I LOVE both, yes they sounded different, but there's something in DV that I can't miss.
My friend is in the process of building Crack, it will be interesting to compare the sound to DV, considering Crack is using one dual triode for 2 channel and use triode as the driver tube, DV is using Pentode as driver tube.
That's all I can capture the differences of both.