[Nic Rhodes]

It has the old Svetlana logo on it.

 

[Iron58p]

Thank's
 
Now i'm listining on EF92, and sounds great

 

[KR500]

Received my pair NOS RCA 6DT6 tubes yesterday from the feebay seller for $9 shipped.
Okay, plugged them in and put on "Don't Talk To Strangers" by the Beau Brummels on Rhino and contrasted them with my favorite tube so far, the Mullard milspec EF95.
The 6DT6 sounds very good so far, it's the EF95 setting and I can't strap the 1-7 mod until I locate a bit of 25 stranded copper wire for a jumper. Guess I should have saved an old Walkman headphone cord after all . I have a large parts drawer but no bits of fine cable . Maybe a Cat5E cable would be a source ?
Anyway , the  6DT6 soundstage is different and the twelve string guitar , tambourine and crash cymbal sound better than the Mullard.... more body a , bit more definition. Me likey . It's not the precious....... but looking forward to listening to them some more.
But, dang it , a hum in the right channel. I touch the tubes just to make sure they're seated properly and notice that the proximity of my hands acts like an antenna as far as diminishing or increasing the hum in either or both tubes. Not sure if the tubes are microphonic or they're affected by the large transformers on my SET amp that sits next to it ?
So far my other tubes haven't exhibited any hum so maybe will try moving the headphone amp away from the other amp and see what happens to the hum issue.

 

[Iron58p]

 Svetlana are a very good surprise for me : balanced, open sound, clear, only a little harsh on hights, but i confide that after burn it will go away.
It's a very small problem for my hears.
 
In origin, i don't give 1 cent, but now they have surprised me, i can put them in the hight part of my ranking,
 
Until now, all the tubes that i have received i really like

 

[Iron58p]

But now i become curious !!
 
i want to know for every brands the year of manufacture, there are links avalilable ?

 

[hypnos1]

   
Good stuff, siles; nice choice of tubes at any rate!
 
I'm actually back to using my Tele/vanias (R), 1-7 strapped at the moment. Great tubes, for sure, much more mellow and large-soundstaged than the even more recent offerings.
 
I kind of got annoyed at my latest pairs of tubes last night... Basically, none of them sounded right to me at this point (I'll take this chance to mention that I was not intoxicated or otherwise impaired at the time, just a usual business day evening lol); NONE of them! I'm not sure whether some tubes evolved a bit after the burn-in period, or if part of the "magic" wore off, but these tubes just weren't working for me... They haven't been since I came back from vacation actually.
 
The "Haltmens" (R) -Haltron 6BE6 that look like Siemens tubes but should have been made by Toshiba (as people say on Facebook about relationships: "it's complicated"), while very nicely detailed, just lack any sort of warmth, and not just in the midrange. They simply don't allow me to enjoy my music that much, at least non-electronic genres. That's unstrapped mind you.
 
The Belgian M.B.L.E. EH90 are still warm and cozy but probably too much so, and lack the neutrality and absolute detail I seek in good tubes. At least, they're pleasant, but they may or might not quite be over the "best in class" line.
 
The Mullard Blackburn EH90 seemed like they had the most potential in the bunch -and they do, no doubt about that- but again, they just don't give me the same listening pleasure as other tubes... Too dry? Maybe. Too balanced? Not so sure about that. Too detailed? Actually, not that detailed, but more than enough. Basically, the toe-tapping factor just isn't there with these; at least it hasn't been for the last few days I was using them. It might come back to them at a later time, but for now, I need to go "back to basics" as gibosi did with the 6485 and 8425A tubes.
 
(For the last two tubes, my remarks apply both to unstrapped and 1-7 strapped settings; 1-7 setting just being even thinner and less toe-tapping, but having other advantages)
 
So, I went back to my latest "milestone" tube, and that was the Tele/vania -Sylvania- 5915/EH900S. And I'm glad I did, these are still fine tubes -and much more easygoing than the Siemens derivatives above.
 
At first, these 5915 seemed a bit tame compared to the recent tubes, but they are every bit as detailed -and probably more so given that much is spread over a huge yet natural soundstage- and qualitative. Again, that soundstage will make even the most closed headphones sound large and deep without taking intelligibility away. Treble is noticeably softer -in a good way- than the tubes above, mids are finally alive and musical, while bass is OK but not best in class. That was unstrapped mind you. 1-7 strapped, things tighten up quite a bit; enough that some acoustic tracks start sounding thin -the 1-7 curse!- but still nicer for most musical genres as the tubes are made more dynamic. These do have quite a bit less gain than other heptodes; enough that on some applications, I need to go over the 12 o'clock point on the volume pot, which I do not like to do.
 
So yes, if you see where I'm going with this, even the strapped 5915, while easygoing, are still not quite perfect and balanced imho. In fact, I'm starting to realize that none of my recent heptodes sound truly toe-tapping, detailed & balanced; none of them. And that's a bit of pickle, as far as I'm concerned, as I just can't trade musicality for detail or technical specs. The same thing happened -granted tenfold- with most triodes I tested.
 
I may temporarily try and go back to pentodes -dual control or not- if only to remember just what it is I was looking for in terms of sound quality and musicality.
 
Has anyone else had a similar experience with some heptodes, strapped or not? I'm kind of interested now.

 
Hi AFB.
 
Sounds like your vacation has had unforeseen consequences...poor chap! Actually, I reckon you are experiencing overload in trying to catch up with yourself...just a thought...
 
After a little 'reminiscing', you might want to give the Blackburns another go - but in 6-7. Thanks to the experience of one of our esteemed colleagues I was tempted to indulge, and in my system at least the result was encouraging - there was nothing 'thin' going on in MY ears!
At first, with the M.B.L.E.s, the extras were a little harsh for my gear. But after swapping back to the Bs the harshness disappeared, and the nice instrument separation/placement returned, but now with added body and 'sparkly' treble.
So perhaps you will keep this option in mind - when the dust settles!!
 
GOOD LUCK and happy rolling...

 

[mab1376]

Anyone see this?
 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Little-Dot-MK9-6N9P-6080-2-tube-OCL-Tube-Headphone-Amplifier-AMP-/251319619395?pt=US_Home_Audio_Amplifiers_Preamps&hash=item3a83d10f43

 

[MIKELAP]

Tempting!
Quote:

  Anyone see this?
 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Little-Dot-MK9-6N9P-6080-2-tube-OCL-Tube-Headphone-Amplifier-AMP-/251319619395?pt=US_Home_Audio_Amplifiers_Preamps&hash=item3a83d10f43

Nice tubes. How much is it cant see ebay add. found price $530.00 free shipping rightttt....

 

[MIKELAP]

those are the 6080's about same pricerange

 
They say the 6n9p chinese tubes are $20.00 a pair and they say the  6SN7 are compatible with the 6N9P but not same price more like $50.00 + a pair + shipping not in the same pricerange we are use to!

 

[gibosi]

  Anyone see this?
 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Little-Dot-MK9-6N9P-6080-2-tube-OCL-Tube-Headphone-Amplifier-AMP-/251319619395?pt=US_Home_Audio_Amplifiers_Preamps&hash=item3a83d10f43

 
I would be cautious...  It does not appear that this vendor is an "Authorized Little Dot Reseller" and thus it is likely that there will be no warranty through Little Dot if you buy from this vendor:
 
http://www.littledot.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=439&sid=02a9075fd96699d73ea5124f0d5c5ee8
 
It isn't showing up yet on Little Dot's official site:
 
http://www.littledot.net/forum/viewforum.php?f=9&sid=02a9075fd96699d73ea5124f0d5c5ee8
 
However, it is coming soon.
 
http://www.littledot.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2528&sid=02a9075fd96699d73ea5124f0d5c5ee8

 

[Audiofanboy]

Yup, I discovered the MK9 about a week ago, and it immediately aroused my curiosity, as it is supposed to basically be half of the -powerful as hell- MKVI+. I was waiting for someone else to pick up on it, knowing that the day would soon be at hand!
 
Still, while the specs seems really nice at first for that amp, I have to really wonder just why the hell it isn't that powerful...
 
"The maximum output power of 5):
A. 300 mw (600/300 ohm)
A. 300 MW (600/300 Ohm)
B. 350 mw ( 120 ohm)
B. 350 MW (120 Ohm)
C. 250 mw ( 32 ohm)
C. 250 MW (32 Ohm)
6) output impedance: 32 ohm - 600 ohm"
 
Imo, not particularly interesting power-wise compared to the good ol' MK III & IVs, especially factoring in the price of the best tubes for the amp (trust me, I checked that out the minute I found out about the amp lol). For half a k$ and another k$ worth of premium tubes, I would have like to find half the power of the MK VI+, that is, "5W per channel in 120 ohms"!
 
So, yes, I am a bit perplexed by this new LD offering, despite its obvious advantages.
 
Hypnos, thanks for the cheering up; worry not lad, I'll get better! I already am, in fact, as I just got my Canadian order of Japanese heptodes: 6 Haltron -Toshiba- 6CS6/EH90 -indeed identical to the "foreign Siemens" seen around here- and what turned out to be 4 Canadian General Electric, probably made by Marconi in Canada, 6DT6 tubes (actually marked "6DT6 Canada"). I had actually ordered CGE made in Japan, supposedly by Toshiba, 6DT6, but there was an obvious problem in my order, which I will attempt to get fixed asap. Seller has not been that responsive at this point, which annoys the living crap out the me (I have had a mistake made on almost half of my tube orders in the last 4 months; how hard can it be to get an order right...? If you can't get it right, then just don't sell tubes; sell, I don't know... Jam, green beans or somekind of vintage pyjamas instead... There's tons of other niche markets those ebay sellers could be focusing on, and actually getting right...)
 
Regardless, I have plugged in those ToshTronMens -Toshiba-made Haltron-branded Siemens-lookalike- in for a good burn-in, and have high hopes that they will entertain me for 20 hours or so, which is the usual amount of time that tubes seem to be useful to me these days... Much money spent, not that much use... They seem like excellent tubes from the start though!
 
I really need to figure out a way to use that grid 3 as the sole signal grid though -with g1 tied to the cathode instead- as I'm still pretty sure there is an untested potential in using the tubes that way.

 

[john57]

The MKVI+ is a balanced amp and the MK9 is single ended. Typically you can get up to twice the voltage swing using the balanced outs as compared to single ended outs. It depends on the circuit design as well.

 

[Audiofanboy]

  The MKVI+ is a balanced amp and the MK9 is single ended. Typically you can get up to twice the voltage swing using the balanced outs as compared to single ended outs. It depends on the circuit design as well.

 
Definitely, but the difference in specs here is pretty large and doesn't quite account for the single ended vs. balanced difference... Which is why I'm kind of curious as to where the true difference lies. Even a single ended amp using these kind of power tubes should be able to pump close to 1W into high impedance headphones...?

 

[Edgard Varese]

   Svetlana are a very good surprise for me : balanced, open sound, clear, only a little harsh on hights, but i confide that after burn it will go away.
It's a very small problem for my hears.
 
In origin, i don't give 1 cent, but now they have surprised me, i can put them in the hight part of my ranking,
 
Until now, all the tubes that i have received i really like

I've got a set of ten of those on the way, I'm really looking forward to rolling them in.

 

[mab1376]

   
Definitely, but the difference in specs here is pretty large and doesn't quite account for the single ended vs. balanced difference... Which is why I'm kind of curious as to where the true difference lies. Even a single ended amp using these kind of power tubes should be able to pump close to 1W into high impedance headphones...?

 
yeah, the VI+ pumps out 5w per channel into 120 ohms, this should 2.5w per channel into 120 ohms unless there's something drastically different with the topology.