[UntilThen]

Thanks! It was a challenge to fit everything on the inside, lol!


When I first started building amps I got the plates from a guy in the UK. So far everything has gone pain free with my orders until brexit happened. I probably could get plates from someone in Sweden but I want them exactly the same!


You can disconnect the fan if you want.

Just commenting on your 3 replies above.

There must be a lot you have to fit inside the chassis. I gather that the big round hat outside of the chassis must be the oversize power transformer? So the 2 output transformers must be inside?

It's a shame that Brexit has made it difficult to obtain parts from UK. I hope Sowter won't take too long with Odyssey's transformers. 12 weeks minimum did you say? That's 3 months. What about Yamamoto's sockets? I hope Yamamoto has it ready made.

I could disconnect the fan (I don't know how ..yet) but there's no need right now because at 5:50 am in the morning, with no music playing and Oblivion powered on and volume to the max, I hear no noise. This is 1 year 4 months after I got Oblivion and repeatedly transporting it between Sydney and Canberra. It must be the most traveled amp.

My impression of Oblivion has remained the same as day one. Just love this amp for it's clarity and details, slight tube tone and wide soundstage. Cool running and at 2.3w drives my Axis Voicebox S @ 5 ohms 83 dB linear for 1w at 1m, adequately in nearfield listening. Also the looks... just great.

 

[joseph69]

@SonicTrance
You need to either center the badge on the faceplate or on top of the chassis against the faceplate for a cleaner look.

 

[UntilThen]

@SonicTrance
You need to either center the badge on the faceplate or on top of the chassis against the faceplate for a cleaner look.

Are you suggesting this for your next custom amp? How about 300b old school from Tomas?

 

[joseph69]

Are you suggesting this for your next custom amp? How about 300b old school from Tomas?

Unfortunately, no more anything for me from so far away.
My current amps are here to stay, and if I have any unfortunate issues Woo is a 45min drive and HeadAmp is located in Virginia.

 

[UntilThen]

Makes sense Joesph. With those 2 amps you don’t need anymore.

I will settle with a KT88 amp from Tomas and a 300b amp locally. Don’t need a solid state because Oblivion is almost my solid state. Being a tube amp person, that would be it as far as amps go for me.

 

[DecentLevi]

I have OCD and it drives me mad to know both channels might not be identical. By the way I force myself to forget about the triodes in the 6SN7.

If you're concerned about imperfect channel matching in your system, you may be surprised to know most people have R/L hearing differences - even substantially different. Not particularly overall 'volume' differences, but variance of ability to hear certain frequencies from your right to left ears. I've tested my own hearing on several occasions and I was frankly taken aback and how poorly my left ear fairs to my right ear on certain frequencies.

Try this sine wave frequency sweep tool, going slowly from low to highs. A perception of a R/L shift during this test is actually down to your own hearing because the source is in mono.
https://www.szynalski.com/tone-generator/

I recommend testing with a solid-state amp because imperfectly matched tubes may make a slight difference. Use headphones with low THD especially electrostatic, because sometimes frequencies above/below the human hearing range manifest themselves in the form of a physical vibration of components inside the headphone. @UntilThen may have a good solution with his physical dual channel EQ which can allow one to compensate for frequency-specific hearing differences between L/R. But it makes me balk at a much longer signal path subtracting from audio purity(?)

 

[SonicTrance]

Hi Tomas, could I trouble you to tell me if Eternity with these tubes has more tube tone than Oblivion? Also what other aspects are different in terms of sound between the 2 amps ... from your recollection. I know you do not have an Oblivion with you right now. Thanks.

It's no trouble and the answer is yes! Eternity will have more tube tone than Oblivion with any tubes. My balanced amps will sound cleaner than the SE amps, always.
Other differences are wider soundstage in the balanced amps but heavier bass punch in the SE amps. I have three amps I use at home. One Citadel with DHT #47 tubes for speaker only, one Citadel for headphones/speakers and one Infinity. The latter two are in my lab and when listening to headphones I prefer the Citadel and with speakers the Infinity for greater bass punch.

It's gonna be interesting to hear how your Odyssey compares to my regular amps! It should be a beast with speakers!

There must be a lot you have to fit inside the chassis. I gather that the big round hat outside of the chassis must be the oversize power transformer? So the 2 output transformers must be inside?

Yes, yes and yes.

What about Yamamoto's sockets? I hope Yamamoto has it ready made.

I actually got the sockets yesterday! They look great!

I could disconnect the fan (I don't know how ..yet) but there's no need right now because at 5:50 am in the morning, with no music playing and Oblivion powered on and volume to the max, I hear no noise. This is 1 year 4 months after I got Oblivion and repeatedly transporting it between Sydney and Canberra. It must be the most traveled amp.

Just leave it if it doesn't bother you. It only good to get the air moving inside the amp.

My impression of Oblivion has remained the same as day one. Just love this amp for it's clarity and details, slight tube tone and wide soundstage. Cool running and at 2.3w drives my Axis Voicebox S @ 5 ohms 83 dB linear for 1w at 1m, adequately in nearfield listening. Also the looks... just great.

I'm glad you still like it!

 

[UntilThen]

It's no trouble and the answer is yes! Eternity will have more tube tone than Oblivion with any tubes. My balanced amps will sound cleaner than the SE amps, always.
Other differences are wider soundstage in the balanced amps but heavier bass punch in the SE amps. I have three amps I use at home. One Citadel with DHT #47 tubes for speaker only, one Citadel for headphones/speakers and one Infinity. The latter two are in my lab and when listening to headphones I prefer the Citadel and with speakers the Infinity for greater bass punch.

It's gonna be interesting to hear how your Odyssey compares to my regular amps! It should be a beast with speakers!

Thanks for sharing. I have a pretty good idea how these amps sound now. As for Oblivion vs Odyssey, I can imagine the contrast to be great. Add in the 300b custom amp with interstage transformers, 2021 is looking to be very exciting. I thought that 2019 with GOTL, Studio Six and Oblivion is the year where I could say I had enough of tube amps but 2021 .... I don't know what to expect.

I actually got the sockets yesterday! They look great!

I didn't think that sockets would get me so excited but I am with these. Now shoot out some pictures of it when you have the time.

 

[OctavianH]

I thought that 2019 with GOTL, Studio Six and Oblivion is the year where I could say I had enough of tube amps but 2021 .... I don't know what to expect.

I'm looking forward to your 2023!

 

[hpamdr]

It's no trouble and the answer is yes! Eternity will have more tube tone than Oblivion with any tubes. My balanced amps will sound cleaner than the SE amps, always.
Other differences are wider soundstage in the balanced amps but heavier bass punch in the SE amps.

@SonicTrance :
During your test for DL infinity and Octavian Eternity and many tubes. Have you found some major tonal difference with the output different tubes (EL32, EL34, EL39, EL12spe, KT66, KT88 ). For input tube to get more flavor than 6SN7 / 6J5 did you tested e88cc or 6SL7 ?

 

[baronbeehive]

Hey guys, a little diversion, well we've had many of those on this thread which I'm not complaining about. I was just wondering if anybody has heard anything better sounding re: production quality, than this. If you have I would like to know. It is 1080HD quality on youtube whatever that is.



As a guy in the comments section said he didn't know his headphones could sound that good!

Edit: I may not need to get those 1000SE's after all! Wish all music was recorded like this, lucky B&W users!

Edit: Just looked up the audio quality setting equivalents and the 1080p is equivalent to 128kbps AAC surprisingly.

 

[UntilThen]

I'm looking forward to your 2023!

You do realize that after Odyssey and Destiny, I'll have no more tube amps right? It's kind of the end for me and it should be because I've great expectations for these amps, especially Odyssey.

 

[UntilThen]

@SonicTrance :
During your test for DL infinity and Octavian Eternity and many tubes. Have you found some major tonal difference with the output different tubes (EL32, EL34, EL39, EL12spe, KT66, KT88 ). For input tube to get more flavor than 6SN7 / 6J5 did you tested e88cc or 6SL7 ?

I doubt Tomas has the time to be making such observations of tonal differences between driver and power tubes. His primary objective in testing would be to run a couple of tube combinations in the new amps and see how they sound and if the amps operate optimally with said tubes. The rest is for prospective owners to experiment and give their impressions.

 

[bcowen]

You do realize that after Odyssey and Destiny, I'll have no more tube amps right? It's kind of the end for me and it should be because I've great expectations for these amps, especially Odyssey.

I'm thinking we need to start a betting pool on this. I give you a year.

 

[jonathan c]

I'm thinking we need to start a betting pool on this. I give you a year.

Two more amps as sequels come to mind: Iliad and Manifest....