[Contrails]

Awesome, thanks mate.  
 
And what would you recommend for the driver tubes? 6sn7 or 6sl7.  The 6sn7 seem to be a bit expensive.

 

[khaine1711]

  Awesome, thanks mate.  
 
And what would you recommend for the driver tubes? 6sn7 or 6sl7.  The 6sn7 seem to be a bit expensive.

 
You can get cheap 6sl7/6sn7 in the form of 6c8g, 6f8g or 7n7, 7F7 - will need adapter though.

 

[Contrails]

 You can get cheap 6sl7/6sn7 in the form of 6c8g, 6f8g or 7n7, 7F7 - will need adapter though.

 
Thanks again.

 

[DefQon]

   
You can get cheap 6sl7/6sn7 in the form of 6c8g, 6f8g or 7n7, 7F7 - will need adapter though.

 
+1.
 
6SN7 are dirty cheap but a balanced pair or quad can cost quite a bit, nothing expensive compared to say a single GEC 6AS7G or so.
 
I also greatly prefer the 6F8G's using an adaptor in place of a 6SN7, more body and layering to the music. Not much variants to choose from though compared to the vast amount of different 6SN7's out there.
 
John did recommend 7N7's in his impressions but I haven't had luck grabbing a cheap set with adaptor to try out.

 

[Contrails]

Cheers for the replies guys.  I have one more query, I will be connecting this amp to the balanced outputs of a MDAC and using He500.  If I use XLR cables and connect the MDAC to the balanced outputs of the amp, do I still need a balanced cable for the He500 to get the balanced sound? or can I connect the headphones straight into the 1/4" jack and it's still balanced as the source is balanced?

 

[alota]

the problem with 6sn7 is the gain

 

[DefQon]

  Cheers for the replies guys.  I have one more query, I will be connecting this amp to the balanced outputs of a MDAC and using He500.  If I use XLR cables and connect the MDAC to the balanced outputs of the amp, do I still need a balanced cable for the He500 to get the balanced sound? or can I connect the headphones straight into the 1/4" jack and it's still balanced as the source is balanced?

 
Source will be balanced but you need to run balanced out to utilize balanced powah. 

 

[2K9R56S]

Hello.  Long time lurker, first time customer here.  Last week I ordered the MK VI+ directly from LD, so I'm hoping it will be here by the end of the month.
 
Anyway, I'm curious to know what everyone is using for a balanced source?
 
I've narrowed it down to the Musical Fidelity M1DAC and the Teac UD-H01.  I've had the Teac DS-H01 for a long time and love the sound of it, so I figured the UD-H01 would be just as good if not better.  And it's exactly half the price of the M1.  But then I also find myself looking at the M1's website just about every day.  Thoughts?  Alternatives?
 
One last question.  On the current MK VI+, are both the balanced and SE outputs live regardless of which input is being used?  Or is it balanced in / balanced out & SE in / SE out only?
 
Thanks!

 

[zenpunk]

Both are active regardless of the inputs but it has to be used balanced from input to output or you are just wasting your time and money.

 

[2K9R56S]

That's what I was hoping.  I wanted to make sure I could hear a balanced source through the SE output, because there will be times I'll have to use my closed pair of SE headphones.  Then when the rest of the family goes upstairs to bed I can break out the balanced open headphones.

 

[Makiah S]

OMG the price of this thing... it's perfect  
 
SO I'm looking at grabbing one of these in the Sprig of Next Year, any one have any recommendation for a good set of tubes to roll into to this to make it more suitable for Low Gain Headphones [on the SE out put] and give it a very airy and detailed almost solid state like sound signiture? I ofc want those lovely tube mids... but I want all the detail of Solid State, including the nice sound stage and depth My budget for extra tubes will be at $166 with shipping 
 
My source will b my Audio GD10ES2 [it has 2 3pin XLR out puts set to Fixed Line out] that is ofc dual outputs from the DAC 

 

[khaine1711]

  OMG the price of this thing... it's perfect  
 
SO I'm looking at grabbing one of these in the Sprig of Next Year, any one have any recommendation for a good set of tubes to roll into to this to make it more suitable for Low Gain Headphones [on the SE out put] and give it a very airy and detailed almost solid state like sound signiture? I ofc want those lovely tube mids... but I want all the detail of Solid State, including the nice sound stage and depth My budget for extra tubes will be at $166 with shipping 
 
My source will b my Audio GD10ES2 [it has 2 3pin XLR out puts set to Fixed Line out] that is ofc dual outputs from the DAC 

 
Tubes are very personal. Best of both world usually costs an arm an a leg 

. I'd suggest going through all the budget bargain on ebay first (those $10-20 bucks a pair) before dropping money into mega expensive stuff.
 
About gain, your ES2 can be used as preamp. Use the balance output of the little dot - and lower the output of your ES2 in case you have no volume control. 

 

[Makiah S]

   
Tubes are very personal. Best of both world usually costs an arm an a leg 

. I'd suggest going through all the budget bargain on ebay first (those $10-20 bucks a pair) before dropping money into mega expensive stuff.
 
About gain, your ES2 can be used as preamp. Use the balance output of the little dot - and lower the output of your ES2 in case you have no volume control. 

 
It can be used as a PreAmp and a Fixed Line out, would I want to double amp it? Still I would assume the VIII SE has it's own Volume Control [I would set the gain to low on the ES2 before going Fixed into the VIII SE]
 
and I want the MOST Solid State tubes I can get, any recommendations. As honestly... I don't like tubes that much I like solid state BUT a "solid state" sounding tube will still have more even harmonics than my Solid state EVER will so by default a cheap "solid state" like tube should do the trick
 
In addition I'm thinking of using the VIII se to drive a balanced T90 or Dt 880 [both balanced] Not sure what other high end phones I might get, additionally would this have enough current to drive something like a Hifiman HE 4 or HE 6? I know it's got the volts but does it have le amps? 

 

[khaine1711]

   
It can be used as a PreAmp and a Fixed Line out, would I want to double amp it? Still I would assume the VIII SE has it's own Volume Control [I would set the gain to low on the ES2 before going Fixed into the VIII SE]
 
and I want the MOST Solid State tubes I can get, any recommendations. As honestly... I don't like tubes that much I like solid state BUT a "solid state" sounding tube will still have more even harmonics than my Solid state EVER will so by default a cheap "solid state" like tube should do the trick
 
In addition I'm thinking of using the VIII se to drive a balanced T90 or Dt 880 [both balanced] Not sure what other high end phones I might get, additionally would this have enough current to drive something like a Hifiman HE 4 or HE 6? I know it's got the volts but does it have le amps? 

 
Depending on the implementation of the preamp, Kingwa's in particular is pretty darn transparent I must say. Also I thought you're getting the mk6; if you get the mk8se there'll be no problem since its power output is much less than its mk6 siblings. Always use the balance out though, the SE output is likely only getting signal from half the amp.
 
"Solid state" like tube isn't cheap though. My Telefunken and Amperex are among the most expensive in my collections. But if you want the clarity for dirt cheap, you can try some Genalex re-issue 12AT7
 
If you're getting a mk8se, why not get a Hd800 though (instead of the hifiman orthos)...

 

[DefQon]

The Mullard CV4024 are amongst the best of the 12AT7 range without spending too much.