[bcowen]

I thought you told me you had buried them in the bunker.. where he was sure to find them.

Perhaps my choice of words on that left something to be desired. I buried him in the bunker, and stashed all his tubes in the lake (where I can easily retrieve them with his golf cart).

 

[UntilThen]

Dammit, you're already living in tube heaven lol!

A story worth telling here. A year after I got Oblivion, I was in the hunt for different amps again. So at the start of this year, the purchase started with a He1000se followed by the Questyle CMA 12, Violectric v280, Schiit Mjolnir 2, La Figaro 339i, SMSL Sp200, Elekit TU-8500 and TU-8200 and Auralic Taurus Mk2. So I was listening with He1000se and all these new toys and Oblivion was untouched. Then I decided to invest in a custom amp call Odyssey. That started the process of selling off all these amps again.... after a few months.

It was only in the last week that I really sit down and enjoy music with He1000se, LCD-3f, He6se with Oblivion. I can now say that I've wasted my time and energy chasing other amps when the best sounding amp is right here with me - Oblivion. An amp that has all the tube goodness, stunning details and amazing soundstage without the need to roll tubes. An amp that is super quiet and cool to the touch. An amp that does not boast expensive transformers, sockets, capacitors. An amp that even have speakers out and at 2.3w can drive my Axis Voicebox S at nearfield listening with no problems.

An amp so cool I can even rest the He1000se on it. I'm still on my 1st set of tubes since Oblivion came to me on 23rd Dec 2019. Tubes has never been changed once.

So the question is ... how will Odyssey fare against Oblivion? We have a double O here.

 

[UntilThen]

Perhaps my choice of words on that left something to be desired. I buried him in the bunker, and stashed all his tubes in the lake (where I can easily retrieve them with his golf cart).

Your end of year appraisal is due and we have much to discuss about your performance.

 

[bcowen]

Your end of year appraisal is due and we have much to discuss about your performance.

But you already said I'm not getting a raise, so my performance is substantially irrelevant. However, if you were to double my salary to $2 an hour I might consider upping my game a bit....but only if you get the gold toilet seat reinstalled too.

 

[UntilThen]

Flash back to 23rd Dec 2019. This is a first picture that I took of Oblivion. I remember driving back to Canberra to retrieve it and then drive back to Sydney to enjoy my 2 weeks leave for Christmas 2019 with Oblivion.

Tone right now is as fresh as when I heard it then. I only wish I had sampled Citadel. It was my literature book when I was in high school !

 

[hpamdr]

They're in the lake.

The one you visit with the golf cart That's why you know where they are !

 

[baronbeehive]

Perhaps my choice of words on that left something to be desired. I buried him in the bunker, and stashed all his tubes in the lake (where I can easily retrieve them with his golf cart).

Just as well, I imagine he spends most of his time there anyway .

 

[baronbeehive]

Your end of year appraisal is due and we have much to discuss about your performance.

Perhaps if he agrees to become your full time butler.....

 

[baronbeehive]

A story worth telling here. A year after I got Oblivion, I was in the hunt for different amps again. So at the start of this year, the purchase started with a He1000se followed by the Questyle CMA 12, Violectric v280, Schiit Mjolnir 2, La Figaro 339i, SMSL Sp200, Elekit TU-8500 and TU-8200 and Auralic Taurus Mk2. So I was listening with He1000se and all these new toys and Oblivion was untouched. Then I decided to invest in a custom amp call Odyssey. That started the process of selling off all these amps again.... after a few months.

It was only in the last week that I really sit down and enjoy music with He1000se, LCD-3f, He6se with Oblivion. I can now say that I've wasted my time and energy chasing other amps when the best sounding amp is right here with me - Oblivion. An amp that has all the tube goodness, stunning details and amazing soundstage without the need to roll tubes. An amp that is super quiet and cool to the touch. An amp that does not boast expensive transformers, sockets, capacitors. An amp that even have speakers out and at 2.3w can drive my Axis Voicebox S at nearfield listening with no problems.

An amp so cool I can even rest the He1000se on it. I'm still on my 1st set of tubes since Oblivion came to me on 23rd Dec 2019. Tubes has never been changed once.

So the question is ... how will Odyssey fare against Oblivion? We have a double O here.

I can almost feel my relapse beginning...

I can't wait to see how the amp compares, I am interested to see how it sounds with all the modern gizmology on it, glad to see you have decided to keep the old school cathode bias though!

 

[UntilThen]

I can almost feel my relapse beginning...

I can't wait to see how the amp compares, I am interested to see how it sounds with all the modern gizmology on it, glad to see you have decided to keep the old school cathode bias though!

I did not decide. Tomas did. I did not even know what old school means. When I first talk to Tomas about this custom amp, I have certain objectives and I listed it out for Tomas:-

1. Sound great with 2nd harmonic distortions like Auris Nirvana - the 10 grand amp. I wanted an amp that has great tube tone and that can use various pre and power tubes but without going over board.
2. Powerful - must drive Susvara well and my Axis Voicebox S speakers.
3. Quiet - because I hate hiss and hum.
4. Not terribly hot.
5. Looks good.
6. Have different impedance for various high and low impedance headphones.
7. Have good parts so I can say that I did not hold back in getting the amp that I want.

Odyssey will have a hard task pleasing me because what I'm hearing now with LCD-3f or He1000se + Yggdrasil + Oblivion sets me on a course of great musical contentment and bliss. Strangely Tomas told me that I will be very pleased with Odyssey. He must know something that I don't. I am more anxious and excited than you are.

 

[SonicTrance]

I can almost feel my relapse beginning...

I can't wait to see how the amp compares, I am interested to see how it sounds with all the modern gizmology on it, glad to see you have decided to keep the old school cathode bias though!

Not sure what modern parts you're referring to baron? Odyssey will not have any of it. It will be an old school amp with 100% tube and OT goodness! No regulators, no gyrators, no CCS's...
I'll build it like that to give Matt a nice contrast to his Oblivion!

 

[UntilThen]

Not sure what modern parts you're referring to baron? Odyssey will not have any of it. It will be an old school amp with 100% tube and OT goodness! No regulators, no gyrators, no CCS's...
I'll build it like that to give Matt a nice contrast to his Oblivion!

Thanks Tomas. It's 31st March today and it's getting closer. Baron must be thinking of the Yamamoto's sockets when he said modern gizmology.

I'm always interested in contrast. The fact that the two 'O's are very different in build implementation and design gets me excited. 100% tube and OT goodness you say? By the time I'm finished spending on tubes, it will cost more than the Sowter's transformers.

In the midst of all this excitement, a package arrived yesterday... a package I had forgotten about. About 2 months ago, John Burson contacted me about testing the OP amp in my Topping D10. It didn't turn up after a long time. I surmised that it must be in the lake where Bcowen have left them. So this long weekend, I get to open up the D10 for some OP amp swapping and see if it makes a difference to my 3rd dac.

 

[hypnos1]

Hi @UntilThen ...I do indeed like sticking my nose in now and again re. tubes especially. For years now they've given me no end of pleasure, fascination and further insight into the whole realm of hi-fi...tube or otherwise!

Anyway, as pretty well my final incursion into ostensibly a non-tube rolling thread (so apologies to those not so smitten lol! ), I just thought a nod to the Aussie tube makers might be in order...viz the 2 EL3N tubes that I found easily a match for what I personally regarded as the best EL11 ever - ie. the (old) black glass Valvo, with woven mesh plate (NOT simply stamped). And with the added bonus of not sometimes having a slight hum depending on the powers used.

I was very lucky to find these two - one labelled 'Mullard', the other 'Philips MiniWatt' and was mighty impressed with them :



They are in fact classed as EL3NG...the top photo showing just how different they look to other EL3Ns and EL11s. And rarer than the proverbial hens' teeth! So you can imagine my angst when I managed to crack the Mullard while converting!!

And just look at how wonderful a true woven mesh plate looks :




Ah well, whatever...it's going to be very interesting to see how more versatile 'old school' stacks up against 'new school' in the performance stakes when that fateful(?!) day arrives M...CHEERS!...CJ

ps. These and the Valvo plates are oval as opposed to the TFK/RFT round ones...

 

[baronbeehive]

Not sure what modern parts you're referring to baron? Odyssey will not have any of it. It will be an old school amp with 100% tube and OT goodness! No regulators, no gyrators, no CCS's...
I'll build it like that to give Matt a nice contrast to his Oblivion!

Oh right, sorry I wasn't concentrating, for some reason I thought the Odyssey was basically an Infinity with all the above, PSU regulation and so on, but using cathode bypass instead of the above. Sorry for misleading anyone, it will still be very interesting to hear what UT thinks.. when he gets it in June.

Still open loop though I gather, which should be very interesting indeed!

 

[baronbeehive]

I was very lucky to find these two - one labelled 'Mullard', the other 'Philips MiniWatt' and was mighty impressed with them :


Ah well, whatever...it's going to be very interesting to see how more versatile 'old school' stacks up against 'new school' in the performance stakes when that fateful(?!) day arrives M...CHEERS!...CJ

Indeed.. and your relapse is just waiting to happen .

So the Australian "Philips" and "Mullard" were actually better than the real thing?