[Acapella11]

so should i even bother with upgrading the power tubes at all then?i just bought some voskhod tubes to replace the drivers

I found sound quality differences expressed in percentages misleading because what does 10% mean for you and what for me? If a given sound would be just a somewhat darker or lighter or more spacious or punchier, would it then sound right? IMHO, the power tube change has enough impact in changing the sound that it is worth doing and in this thread are good suggestions as to which ones to try, so you are not fishing the dark.

Enjoy your search for tubes

 

[snowsurfer]

so should i even bother with upgrading the power tubes at all then?i just bought some voskhod tubes to replace the drivers

I upgraded them to the recommended Novosibirsk power tubes, and the difference is audible, but slight. They are cheap enough that I don't really mind, it is a cheap upgrade. I have a feeling that these power tubes get along better with my Voshkod driver tubes than with the GE JANs, they seem to work exceptionally well together.

 

[Johnybuchar]

Woooow i have recently replaced drive tubes back to 5654 GE 5star and i have absolutely fallen in love with them. I'm not sure if they burnt-in themselves but their organic sound is amazing! I highly recommend them and look for 5751 5star for my Yaqin .

 

[nofacemonster]

I am already using GE JAN 5654W with Little Dot MKII and HD-6XX. I am thinking of giving Mullard CV4010 a try. When i go to eBay, it says "RING GETTER" and "SQUARE GETTER". Which tubes should buy...? i don't know what it means by "Square and Ring Getter"....! which one sound the warmest...? i am lost in there now.

 

[Johnybuchar]

Mullard sounds definitely warmer and fuller than GE JAN 5654W but a little bit tight soundstage at least in my audio system. I like Sylvania 5654W (green printing) - details, top ends, glad mids, amazing soundstage and "silence between notes" .

 

[gibosi]

Ring getters were introduced around 1960, replacing square getters. Ring getters were cheaper to manufacture and further, they did a better job of keeping the getter splash away from the other internal components. However, tubes with one style of getter do not necessarily sound better than the other. For most of us, the most important thing about getter style is that it simply helps in dating tubes.

That said, it might be that tubes manufactured prior to 1960, with square getters, might sound different than those manufactured later.

 

[nofacemonster]

Ring getters were introduced around 1960, replacing square getters. Ring getters were cheaper to manufacture and further, they did a better job of keeping the getter splash away from the other internal components. However, tubes with one style of getter do not necessarily sound better than the other. For most of us, the most important thing about getter style is that it simply helps in dating tubes.

That said, it might be that tubes manufactured prior to 1960, with square getters, might sound different than those manufactured later.

Thank you for the clarification. So I think I should get the ring getter since they might last longer.

 

[nofacemonster]

Mullard sounds definitely warmer and fuller than GE JAN 5654W but a little bit tight soundstage at least in my audio system. I like Sylvania 5654W (green printing) - details, top ends, glad mids, amazing soundstage and "silence between notes" .

I am actually planning on buying Mullards mainly because of curiosity. I already have GE JAN5654W. According to you, it should sound fuller and warmer than GE's but soundstage will be tighter. Well first news is pretty good but i don't want the soundstage to get narrower than what it is now with my HD-6XX. I kind of enjoy the current soundstage even though it is like in a room and very intimate, i don't want it to be in my head.

 

[gibosi]

Thank you for the clarification. So I think I should get the ring getter since they might last longer.

No, they will not last longer. The getter type has no affect on how long a tube will last. IMO, you should ignore the getter type. Instead, you should read the reviews and get tubes that will sound best with your ears and gear.

 

[nofacemonster]

I am planing on getting Mullard CV4010 to replace Ge JAN5654W on my LD MKII. (I use a HD-6XX), The improvement in bass and mids will be noticeable or very subtle...? the whole purpose of getting the mullards is to improve the bass department and increase the overall warmth in sound.

 

[nofacemonster]

I just did a bit of tube rolling back and forth then figured out something strange with my Little Dot MKII amplifier. I am using a HD-6XX with it and FX Audio DAC-X6 (as a dac). I upgraded the stock tubes with Russian power tubes (Matching) and GE Jan5654W (Matching - Green letters) about three months back and i was listening as usual. Things were all good and today i thought of switching back and forth with DAC-X6 and Little dot to see because when i bought the little dot with stock tube there was a clear night and day like difference (Little dot in a good way). But today i noticed that DAC-X6 sounded much better with better low end bass etc. I decided to do this because i really felt something is lacking in my little dot.

Then as a solution i put the stock tubes back. Suddenly the LD MKII is back where it was, i can't believe for the life of me that these Chinese tubes were better sounding with more power in the bass than Russian + GE Jans combines. So for the testing purposes i left the chinese power tubes and changed it back to 5654 and the sound became less bassy to me.Then i tried the Russian power tubes and Chinese 6J1 (Stock) and there wasn't much to notice but still good bass and when i put all the chinese tubes back the sound was damn good.

Why is this...? is something wrong with my ears or the tubes? Does GE Jan 5654W sounds less bassy than chinese 6j1?

I am not sure how many hours i have used the GE and Russian tubes so far, maybe they need longer break in time...? i think i have probably use them maximum of 30 hours or so during last month or two. Does this mean they need burn in time and things will get better afterwards.....?

I don't have any other tubes to try on because i am new to this.

please shed some light on this matter.

 

[sevenbrides]

It is my first intervention in this forum, but I have been following it for some time.
I want to congratulate Acapella11 for the very beautiful table posted in pg 77 of this thread (table which I recently discovered), but I do not agree with the placement of the Shuguang 6K4 tube in the 6BA6 family.

In fact it appears from the datasheet of Shuguang 6K4 (in Chinese) as for the similar Russian 6K4P and 6K4P-EV tubes that both pins 2 and 7 are both already connected to cathode, grid (3) and screen, just like for the 6j1 ( 6j1p-EV etc).

So you don't really need the recommended connection between pins 2 and 7.
In my opinion it is enough to simply use the tube with jumper in position E95.

I will be very grateful to those who will kindly provide me with some information on the audio performance of Shuguang 6k4, 6K4P and 6K4P-EV maybe compared to the Russian Voskhod 6j1P-EV tube that I know very well.

Thanks, see you.

 

[sevenbrides]

for nofacemonster "don't have any other tubes to try on because i am new to this.please shed some light on this matter."

I have several preamplifiers with both valves and solid state and I have since bought a Little Dot MKii that I took out of curiosity and tried to compare (as buffer-preamplifier) with my others.
Little Dot with 6j1 chinese in stock sounds pretty good but I expected a lot more.
It's definitely improved by changing the tubes with Voskhod (rocket) 6j1p-EV, even if at this time (as a buffer) I still prefer others 3-4 my tube preamps also less expensive.
But we can't talk about these because the topic of this thread is Rolling tubes for the LIttle Dot used as a headphone amplifier.
But even as a headphone amplifier the use of the Voskhod 6j1p-EV (gold pins and not) has clearly improved the tone in general and the soundstage for which I recommend them without a doubt.
Instead the change of the Chinese power tubes with the 6N6 Russians brought very small changes.
Now I have ordered others tubes recommended in this forum by experts like Acapella11 or Gibosi or AudiofanBoy (and others) like GE 6AU6WA , 6J5P
and I want to try them to see if I can improve this very famous Little Dot, but for now quite behind three or four my others terrible " tube toys".

 

[nofacemonster]

I see plenty of 6j1p russian tubes available online for cheap price and they are voshkods. Then there is this 6j1p-ev tubes which are expensive. Are they same or two different tubes? They looks physically identical to me.

 

[warp2600]

I see plenty of 6j1p russian tubes available online for cheap price and they are voshkods. Then there is this 6j1p-ev tubes which are expensive. Are they same or two different tubes? They looks physically identical to me.

AFAIK the -ev extension means military grade i.e. manufactured to stricter specs and made to last longer.