[SonicTrance]

Maxx's design is more conservative and pretty, he managed to keep his components inside the stock chassis.

Yeah, this is what I'm shooting for

 

[Maxx134]

Although I placed physical limitations (upon my version),
It was still enough to realize every areas benifits.

For instance My HD800 has a bass impact level on my amp I have not ever heard elswhere (edit: EC2a3 also did it)

I suspect the sonic benifits will be magnified on the larger MK6 tubes,
once all coinmasters planned mods are in.

This is why I wanted an MK6 owner involved.

 

[coinmaster]

Plus I have Duelunds! 

 
Makes me wonder if it is even possible to improve better once I'm done with the upgrades.

 

[Maxx134]

Every manufacturer has to come to terms with profit margins so the possibility is that most amps have upgrade potential..

The advantage we have here is a very great design foundation,(being balanced) and low price for such value.

 

[coinmaster]

So in other words, it's going to be like a $5k-10k retail amp when it's done. Considering the normal profit margins of headfi equipment.

 

[Redge78]

  So in other words, it's going to be like a $5k-10k retail amp when it's done. Considering the normal profit margins of headfi equipment.

No, it's not. A proper industrial process would try to maximise the "Quality / Price" ratio.
And at that, those boutique caps are not optimum, even if their "quality" alone are stellar.

 

[coinmaster]

Not sure I understand. How are they not optimum?
 
If Woo made an amp with the best quality components that made it the size of a speaker amp surely it would sell for at least 5k.
 
$3000 worth of upgrade components into an amp that probably costs $500 stock to make. Putting it at $3500 not counting any potential bulk discounts and the fact those default components wouldn't be there to begin with. So lets say $2800 for giggles, from what I've seen , people in the audio industry like to double, triple, or even quadruple the manufacturing price for retail. Except for china, they thrive on slim profit margins it seems. Which Is why I'm using a Little dot amp and an Audio-GD dac. Chi-Fi FTW 

 

 

[Redge78]

  Not sure I understand. How are they not optimum?
 
If Woo made an amp with the best quality components that made it the size of a speaker amp surely it would sell for at least 5k.
 
$3000 worth of upgrade components into an amp that probably costs $500 stock to make. Putting it at $3500 not counting any potential bulk discounts and the fact those default components wouldn't be there to begin with. So lets say $2800 for giggles, from what I've seen , people in the audio industry like to double, triple, or even quadruple the manufacturing price for retail. Except for china, they thrive on slim profit margins it seems. Which Is why I'm using a Little dot amp and an Audio-GD dac. Chi-Fi FTW 

 

The quality is optimum, the Q/P is not. But that's not a surprise, it's quite common to pay 10 times more the last 10% performance.
 
Now, as an industrial engineer having to spend $1000 to improve an amp, do I choose the Duelund option or do I choose some $200 Copper foil Jensen/Jupiter/Audyn ... and use the remaining $800 to improve the wiring AND the heating system AND the resistors AND the regulated PSU AND the styroflex bypasses etc ... ???
 
And for your information, the $5K is not sexy anymore ... think $10K and more => Ex :Viva Egoista "845" monster :
http://vivaaudio.com/

 

[Thenewguy007]

Anyone tried the Sennheiser HD800, Beyer T1, or Hifiman HE-6 with the VI or VIII & also had an America or European high end tube amps to compare it to?
 
Like Eddie Current, Woo Audio, Donald North Audio , Decware, Cavalli Audio Liquid Gold amps etc..?

 

[Redge78]

  Anyone tried the Sennheiser HD800, Beyer T1, or Hifiman HE-6 with the VI or VIII & also had an America or European high end tube amps to compare it to?
 
Like Eddie Current, Woo Audio, Donald North Audio , Decware, Cavalli Audio Liquid Gold amps etc..?

Maxx is your man. You can MP him, I suppose.

 

[coinmaster]

  Anyone tried the Sennheiser HD800, Beyer T1, or Hifiman HE-6 with the VI or VIII & also had an America or European high end tube amps to compare it to?
 
Like Eddie Current, Woo Audio, Donald North Audio , Decware, Cavalli Audio Liquid Gold amps etc..?

I compared it to the magical amp in my mind that transports me to the 7th dimension of greatness with unicorns and rainbows that I always expect to hear when I try a new high end amp.
I did it with the HD800s.
Unfortunately the MKVI+ is rather low-fi in comparison 

. Let's see what happens when I finish with my upgrades. You guys should see the size of the components I ordered!
Look forward to the upcoming Mod thread 

 
 
But really, I've listened to quite a few $5000-$10000 amps with the HD800s and none of them sounded near as good as the MKVI+. I will say that those amps were either solid state or hybrid though, not pure tube.

 

[coinmaster]

Can someone confirm this for me?
 
 

  Question. My amp uses 2 power tubes per channel. I enjoy mixing power tubes because I get the sonic benefits of both tubes.
 
I've been told not to mix 5998 with 6080 and 6as7g because they bias differently. However I've seen sources on the internet that indicate the 6080 is the same as the 5998 and the 6as7g.
 

 
It is true that the optimal bias for a 5998 is different than that for a 6080/6AS7. However, your amp will bias the 5998 and the 6080 identically. So it doesn't really matter if there is a 6AS7 in one socket and a 5998 in the other.
 
And there is another difference between these tubes. The mu, or amplification factor, for the 6AS7 is 2.0 whereas it is 5.5 for the 5998, so the channel balance as well as the sonics may be different. All that said, if you like the sound, I would say go for it.


 

So I won't break my tubes or my amp by mixing 5998 with 6080/6as7?

 

[Maxx134]

Quote:
..unicorns and rainbows..


Lol ,
Never experienced unicorns or rainbows but I did have small angels come down and sit on my amp...
And Everyone will see them once I am done...

 

[tll]

Help..

After upgrading the 330ohm resistors, 0.22uF capacitors and all the power supply related electrolytic caps, I have no sound coming out but buzzing.

The two meters' reading are normal.

I am now in the process of diagnosing the problems. Can anyone help to measure the power and driver tube plat voltages so I could isolated the problem.

The following are the readings I got with my faulty amp, measure on the tube socket without tube

Driver tube #pin number
#2 227V
#3 0V
#5 228V
#6 0V

filament voltage normal

Power tube #pin number
#1 -29V
#2 110V
#4 -125V
#6 -132V


thanks

 

[coinmaster]

Help..

After upgrading the 330ohm resistors, 0.22uF capacitors and all the power supply related electrolytic caps

 

Um.. you replaced them all? Like, all of them? With what?
 
For anyone considering upgrading their amp I suggest waiting until the official Little Dot mod thread comes out. So bad things like this don't happen and you don't waste money inefficiently. Maxx and Redge have already figured out everything from every angle.
For example you don't and aren't really supposed to replace all of the PS caps nor do you need to replace all the .22uf caps.
 
Make sure there's no wires that were severed anywhere or shorts in the solder.