[MIKELAP]

 

  As usual, I find an answer just after I post.  The RTC 5654 RT tubes are a $17 upgrade on the little dot  site.  

This is one of the top plug&play drivers we found on this thread the 6HM5 tall bottle made in Yugoslavia $5.00 each  this link price is for 4 tubes look for pairs if you want on this sellers site but if your willing to buy ready made adapters things get even better im talking about 6sn7 as power tubes and c3g drivers. should be ok with mk2 check just to make shure
                                                                                                                                                                          http://www.ebay.com/itm/251611916081?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

 

[GnuB]

>  2. Some posts about the Power tubes indicate that the 6H30 series tubes could only be used in Version 2 of the MkIII without the resistor mod.  Do I have to open the case to tell the version or would the recent ship date make it a version 2 or higher?  I am considering the EH 6H30Pi.
 
So another find. The version number can be seen by looking in the peephole near the foot on the volume side.  Mine is version 4.

 

[MIKELAP]

  >  2. Some posts about the Power tubes indicate that the 6H30 series tubes could only be used in Version 2 of the MkIII without the resistor mod.  Do I have to open the case to tell the version or would the recent ship date make it a version 2 or higher?  I am considering the EH 6H30Pi.
 
So another find. The version number can be seen by looking in the peephole near the foot on the volume side.  Mine is version 4.

Yes you can use the  6H30Pi in your amp but the 6n6p-ir are cheaper and better .I have 2 pairs of Elektro Harmonix 6h30pi-EH gold pins that i dont  use .i either use the 6N6P-IR or the 6SN7                                                                                                                                                                           http://www.ebay.com/itm/171310973012?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

 

[GnuB]

Thanks MIKELAP.
>This is one of the top plug&play drivers we found on this thread the 6HM5 tall bottle made in Yugoslavia $5.00 each.
 
I did some research to find posts on the sound signature of the 6HM5.  Some posts suggested that they were warmer than the Voskhod and at least one suggested some apparent congestion on heavy instrumented tracks.  Hard for me to decide based on what I saw so far.  I like what I saw in the description of the Mullard M8100 at the beginning of this thread. I would go for it if the 6HM5 sounds like that description.
 
Anyhoo, already got some Electro Harmonix power tubes and Voskhod 6J1P-EV driver tubes on the way.  Adding a matched pair of 6HM5 drivers might round out the selection if they sound better than the RTC 5654 RT drivers that I already have.

 

[lglions]

  Thanks MIKELAP.
>This is one of the top plug&play drivers we found on this thread the 6HM5 tall bottle made in Yugoslavia $5.00 each.
 
I did some research to find posts on the sound signature of the 6HM5.  Some posts suggested that they were warmer than the Voskhod and at least one suggested some apparent congestion on heavy instrumented tracks.  Hard for me to decide based on what I saw so far.  I like what I saw in the description of the Mullard M8100 at the beginning of this thread. I would go for it if the 6HM5 sounds like that description.
 
Anyhoo, already got some Electro Harmonix power tubes and Voskhod 6J1P-EV driver tubes on the way.  Adding a matched pair of 6HM5 drivers might round out the selection if they sound better than the RTC 5654 RT drivers that I already have.

Just burn in Voskhod's. Out of the box they sounded like nothing special, but after heavy burn in they significantly improved.
 
6HM5 is a real bargain for the price. MIKELAP hooked me up with those earlier and I loved them. 

 

[MIKELAP]

 

  Thanks MIKELAP.
>This is one of the top plug&play drivers we found on this thread the 6HM5 tall bottle made in Yugoslavia $5.00 each.
 
I did some research to find posts on the sound signature of the 6HM5.  Some posts suggested that they were warmer than the Voskhod and at least one suggested some apparent congestion on heavy instrumented tracks.  Hard for me to decide based on what I saw so far.  I like what I saw in the description of the Mullard M8100 at the beginning of this thread. I would go for it if the 6HM5 sounds like that description.
 
Anyhoo, already got some Electro Harmonix power tubes and Voskhod 6J1P-EV driver tubes on the way.  Adding a matched pair of 6HM5 drivers might round out the selection if they sound better than the RTC 5654 RT drivers that I already have.

Just burn in Voskhod's. Out of the box they sounded like nothing special, but after heavy burn in they significantly improved.
 
6HM5 is a real bargain for the price. MIKELAP hooked me up with those earlier and I loved them. 

Burn in time is said to be 100+ hours on Voskhod 

 

[GnuB]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/251691711374
 
Are these the Tall Bottle versions?

 

[Oskari]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/251691711374

Are these the Tall Bottle versions?

Yes

 

[MIKELAP]

  http://www.ebay.com/itm/251691711374
 
Are these the Tall Bottle versions?

Yes they are but those are more expensive the link above was 4 tubes for around $20.00 .By the way dont waste your money on matched pairs 

 

[GnuB]

OK. Sold.  Ordered the lot of 4.

 

[papy]

Hello All, 
It has been quite a long time since i had lurked that regularly on Head-Fi but I had to post in this thread to pass my thanks to all the contributors for shedding some light on the somewhat daunting world of tubes and Little Dots. I have been a relatively happy owner of HD650 / DT880 600 ohm / K702 ran through a Slee Solo Ultra Linear Amp directly from an Arcam CD73. I loved the laidback sound of the HD650 from the off although always found it a bit muffled. The DT880 brought a greater sound stage but the harshness of treble and the distant sound left a feeling of under-appreciation. The last addition of the K701 was an overall winner for me in terms of clarity, particularly for my main interest, classical music.
 
This under-achievement for the Senns and the Beyers brought me back to Head-Fi 2-3 months ago and I started to look a little bit more into tube amps. Not so much for an upgrade, think more of a complementary side-step. Then came this thread and I took the plunge on the Little Dot Mark II early December. 
 
In the last month, I replaced the stock power tubes with 6N6P's.
 
Also bought up one pair of driver tubes for each of those for tube rolling initiation :
 
GE JAN 5654W
6HM5 Yougoslavia 
Mullard 5654
6J1P Voskhod
Mullard EF95
 
Needless to say I have properly fallen in love with my headphones, particularly with the DT880, but the HD650 is not far behind either. The combo DT880 + Mullard 5654 is to die for. I still get its great sound stage but the harshness has gone and the sound is so much closer and immediate, all topped up with greater details : for instance the fret work and instrument separation on Jordi Savall's Istanbul CD or Quatuor Mosaiques's Haydn String Quartets... or the now softer voices in Alessandrini's recording of Pergolesi's Stabat Mater. Some of my reference rock CD's for past headphone tests got such a new lease of life too !! (Clapton's unplugged, Jack Johnson's Brushfire Fairytales, Massive Attack 100th Window, Steely Dan's AJA etc...). Wow !
 
When I finally "force" myself to remove the Mullards, I have been starting burning in the 6HM5 and the Voskhod with the HD650. The gain in clarity with those tubes is exactly what I searching for. Can't wait to hear what these tubes will bring in when fully burnt it. I am listening to Chris Rea's Dancing down the Stoney Road while typing this...pure bliss.
 
So far, to accommodate the 300 ohm Senns and the 600 ohm DT880, I have set up the switches to Switch 1 On and Switch 2 Off. Serving both quite well. Don't want to make a habit of fiddling with the innards too much.  
 
The Arcam CD player allows me to have both amps plugged in so I have been able to A/B while listening as well, just to make sure it was not just a new toy bias. The improvements go from extremely marginal to absolutely staggering, depending on the recordings. Not bad for the MKII at a quarter of the price. The Solo UL is pretty awesome in itself though, don't get me wrong. I have found myself many times forgetting about the ongoing A/B'ing halfway through, just getting pulled into the music, just to realise eventually the headphone was in the Solo UL. i think it is a nice testament to how good and complementary both amps will be. 
 
 
Two quick question to wrap up please : 
 
* Have you guys used http://tubes-store.com before ? no issues ? I am considering to order some 6N6P-I (or IR) and some Voskhod 6J1P-EV there. 
* Would Elektro Harmonix 6H30PI Gold bring a substantial difference as power tubes ? Thought I'd ask, £50 a pair is still a bit steep for a tube beginner like me.   
 
so yeah, otherwise...thank you very much !!
 
 

 

[MIKELAP]

  Hello All, 
It has been quite a long time since i had lurked that regularly on Head-Fi but I had to post in this thread to pass my thanks to all the contributors for shedding some light on the somewhat daunting world of tubes and Little Dots. I have been a relatively happy owner of HD650 / DT880 600 ohm / K702 ran through a Slee Solo Ultra Linear Amp directly from an Arcam CD73. I loved the laidback sound of the HD650 from the off although always found it a bit muffled. The DT880 brought a greater sound stage but the harshness of treble and the distant sound left a feeling of under-appreciation. The last addition of the K701 was an overall winner for me in terms of clarity, particularly for my main interest, classical music.
 
This under-achievement for the Senns and the Beyers brought me back to Head-Fi 2-3 months ago and I started to look a little bit more into tube amps. Not so much for an upgrade, think more of a complementary side-step. Then came this thread and I took the plunge on the Little Dot Mark II early December. 
 
In the last month, I replaced the stock power tubes with 6N6P's.
 
Also bought up one pair of driver tubes for each of those for tube rolling initiation :
 
GE JAN 5654W
6HM5 Yougoslavia 
Mullard 5654
6J1P Voskhod
Mullard EF95
 
Needless to say I have properly fallen in love with my headphones, particularly with the DT880, but the HD650 is not far behind either. The combo DT880 + Mullard 5654 is to die for. I still get its great sound stage but the harshness has gone and the sound is so much closer and immediate, all topped up with greater details : for instance the fret work and instrument separation on Jordi Savall's Istanbul CD or Quatuor Mosaiques's Haydn String Quartets... or the now softer voices in Alessandrini's recording of Pergolesi's Stabat Mater. Some of my reference rock CD's for past headphone tests got such a new lease of life too !! (Clapton's unplugged, Jack Johnson's Brushfire Fairytales, Massive Attack 100th Window, Steely Dan's AJA etc...). Wow !
 
When I finally "force" myself to remove the Mullards, I have been starting burning in the 6HM5 and the Voskhod with the HD650. The gain in clarity with those tubes is exactly what I searching for. Can't wait to hear what these tubes will bring in when fully burnt it. I am listening to Chris Rea's Dancing down the Stoney Road while typing this...pure bliss.
 
So far, to accommodate the 300 ohm Senns and the 600 ohm DT880, I have set up the switches to Switch 1 On and Switch 2 Off. Serving both quite well. Don't want to make a habit of fiddling with the innards too much.  
 
The Arcam CD player allows me to have both amps plugged in so I have been able to A/B while listening as well, just to make sure it was not just a new toy bias. The improvements go from extremely marginal to absolutely staggering, depending on the recordings. Not bad for the MKII at a quarter of the price. The Solo UL is pretty awesome in itself though, don't get me wrong. I have found myself many times forgetting about the ongoing A/B'ing halfway through, just getting pulled into the music, just to realise eventually the headphone was in the Solo UL. i think it is a nice testament to how good and complementary both amps will be. 
 
 
Two quick question to wrap up please : 
 
* Have you guys used http://tubes-store.com before ? no issues ? I am considering to order some 6N6P-I (or IR) and some Voskhod 6J1P-EV there. 
* Would Elektro Harmonix 6H30PI Gold bring a substantial difference as power tubes ? Thought I'd ask, £50 a pair is still a bit steep for a tube beginner like me.   
 
so yeah, otherwise...thank you very much !!
 
 

Yes ive bought from them before no problems to report.I have all of these power tubes and the one i liked the most was the 6N6P-IR and they usually cost around  $25.00 a pair cheap .Here's a review that was made awhile ago on the different power tubes p201 post# 3007. Have fun 

 

[bharat2580]

Hello All, 
It has been quite a long time since i had lurked that regularly on Head-Fi but I had to post in this thread to pass my thanks to all the contributors for shedding some light on the somewhat daunting world of tubes and Little Dots. I have been a relatively happy owner of HD650 / DT880 600 ohm / K702 ran through a Slee Solo Ultra Linear Amp directly from an Arcam CD73. I loved the laidback sound of the HD650 from the off although always found it a bit muffled. The DT880 brought a greater sound stage but the harshness of treble and the distant sound left a feeling of under-appreciation. The last addition of the K701 was an overall winner for me in terms of clarity, particularly for my main interest, classical music.

This under-achievement for the Senns and the Beyers brought me back to Head-Fi 2-3 months ago and I started to look a little bit more into tube amps. Not so much for an upgrade, think more of a complementary side-step. Then came this thread and I took the plunge on the Little Dot Mark II early December. 

In the last month, I replaced the stock power tubes with 6N6P's.

Also bought up one pair of driver tubes for each of those for tube rolling initiation :

GE JAN 5654W
6HM5 Yougoslavia 
Mullard 5654
6J1P Voskhod
Mullard EF95

Needless to say I have properly fallen in love with my headphones, particularly with the DT880, but the HD650 is not far behind either. The combo DT880 + Mullard 5654 is to die for. I still get its great sound stage but the harshness has gone and the sound is so much closer and immediate, all topped up with greater details : for instance the fret work and instrument separation on Jordi Savall's Istanbul CD or Quatuor Mosaiques's Haydn String Quartets... or the now softer voices in Alessandrini's recording of Pergolesi's Stabat Mater. Some of my reference rock CD's for past headphone tests got such a new lease of life too !! (Clapton's unplugged, Jack Johnson's Brushfire Fairytales, Massive Attack 100th Window, Steely Dan's AJA etc...). Wow !

When I finally "force" myself to remove the Mullards, I have been starting burning in the 6HM5 and the Voskhod with the HD650. The gain in clarity with those tubes is exactly what I searching for. Can't wait to hear what these tubes will bring in when fully burnt it. I am listening to Chris Rea's Dancing down the Stoney Road while typing this...pure bliss.

So far, to accommodate the 300 ohm Senns and the 600 ohm DT880, I have set up the switches to Switch 1 On and Switch 2 Off. Serving both quite well. Don't want to make a habit of fiddling with the innards too much.  

The Arcam CD player allows me to have both amps plugged in so I have been able to A/B while listening as well, just to make sure it was not just a new toy bias. The improvements go from extremely marginal to absolutely staggering, depending on the recordings. Not bad for the MKII at a quarter of the price. The Solo UL is pretty awesome in itself though, don't get me wrong. I have found myself many times forgetting about the ongoing A/B'ing halfway through, just getting pulled into the music, just to realise eventually the headphone was in the Solo UL. i think it is a nice testament to how good and complementary both amps will be. 


Two quick question to wrap up please : 

* Have you guys used http://tubes-store.com before ? no issues ? I am considering to order some 6N6P-I (or IR) and some Voskhod 6J1P-EV there. 
* Would Elektro Harmonix 6H30PI Gold bring a substantial difference as power tubes ? Thought I'd ask, £50 a pair is still a bit steep for a tube beginner like me.   

so yeah, otherwise...thank you very much !!

 

I have the 6h30pi gold and to me they are good at heating up the unit but sound wise not so special

The ir and i are great but depends on the drivers you use. And the dac and phones

With 6n6p-i i use the voskhods and the combination is great. Maybe a bit loose in the bottom end. But plenty of it.

With the 6n6p-ir i use the mullards ef95 or 92 and they complement each other. The fast and tight ir's pair well with the smooth a bit lousy mullards overall good presentation, the mullards have lot of bass amaount and the ir's keep then tight and in check.

I use the 30pi with both of them and they dont sound too different but they are more transparent then either of the other power tubes thats what i will say

 

[bharat2580]

Hello All, 
It has been quite a long time since i had lurked that regularly on Head-Fi but I had to post in this thread to pass my thanks to all the contributors for shedding some light on the somewhat daunting world of tubes and Little Dots. I have been a relatively happy owner of HD650 / DT880 600 ohm / K702 ran through a Slee Solo Ultra Linear Amp directly from an Arcam CD73. I loved the laidback sound of the HD650 from the off although always found it a bit muffled. The DT880 brought a greater sound stage but the harshness of treble and the distant sound left a feeling of under-appreciation. The last addition of the K701 was an overall winner for me in terms of clarity, particularly for my main interest, classical music.

This under-achievement for the Senns and the Beyers brought me back to Head-Fi 2-3 months ago and I started to look a little bit more into tube amps. Not so much for an upgrade, think more of a complementary side-step. Then came this thread and I took the plunge on the Little Dot Mark II early December. 

In the last month, I replaced the stock power tubes with 6N6P's.

Also bought up one pair of driver tubes for each of those for tube rolling initiation :

GE JAN 5654W
6HM5 Yougoslavia 
Mullard 5654
6J1P Voskhod
Mullard EF95

Needless to say I have properly fallen in love with my headphones, particularly with the DT880, but the HD650 is not far behind either. The combo DT880 + Mullard 5654 is to die for. I still get its great sound stage but the harshness has gone and the sound is so much closer and immediate, all topped up with greater details : for instance the fret work and instrument separation on Jordi Savall's Istanbul CD or Quatuor Mosaiques's Haydn String Quartets... or the now softer voices in Alessandrini's recording of Pergolesi's Stabat Mater. Some of my reference rock CD's for past headphone tests got such a new lease of life too !! (Clapton's unplugged, Jack Johnson's Brushfire Fairytales, Massive Attack 100th Window, Steely Dan's AJA etc...). Wow !

When I finally "force" myself to remove the Mullards, I have been starting burning in the 6HM5 and the Voskhod with the HD650. The gain in clarity with those tubes is exactly what I searching for. Can't wait to hear what these tubes will bring in when fully burnt it. I am listening to Chris Rea's Dancing down the Stoney Road while typing this...pure bliss.

So far, to accommodate the 300 ohm Senns and the 600 ohm DT880, I have set up the switches to Switch 1 On and Switch 2 Off. Serving both quite well. Don't want to make a habit of fiddling with the innards too much.  

The Arcam CD player allows me to have both amps plugged in so I have been able to A/B while listening as well, just to make sure it was not just a new toy bias. The improvements go from extremely marginal to absolutely staggering, depending on the recordings. Not bad for the MKII at a quarter of the price. The Solo UL is pretty awesome in itself though, don't get me wrong. I have found myself many times forgetting about the ongoing A/B'ing halfway through, just getting pulled into the music, just to realise eventually the headphone was in the Solo UL. i think it is a nice testament to how good and complementary both amps will be. 


Two quick question to wrap up please : 

* Have you guys used http://tubes-store.com before ? no issues ? I am considering to order some 6N6P-I (or IR) and some Voskhod 6J1P-EV there. 
* Would Elektro Harmonix 6H30PI Gold bring a substantial difference as power tubes ? Thought I'd ask, £50 a pair is still a bit steep for a tube beginner like me.   

so yeah, otherwise...thank you very much !!

 

Why you would replace the stock power tubes with the same ones ?? I think the unit comes with the 6n6p

 

[Oskari]

Why you would replace the stock power tubes with the same ones ?? I think the unit comes with the 6n6p

Chinese 6N6 --> Russian 6N6P?