[senseitedj]

Enjoying the telly with the view of the local skyline next to me

Rollin various rectifier tubes and SS power supply (JJ GZ34, U52 GEC and 274b Sophia). Testing with LCD 4z/HEDDphone

Keeping 300b and 6sn7 tubes constant for now. Will post ranking of rectifier tube / headphone pairings soon..

 

[baronbeehive]

Those Cary amps are beasts, but sweet ones One of my favorite features of those is the variable feedback. I usually preferred it with a little bit of feedback. I don't remember the increments but I seem to remember liking them set to 1/3 to 1/2 on the knob.

That's an interesting feature I haven't seen much. It's something I was thinking of trying on the LD.

 

[baronbeehive]

Interestingly, one of the reasons some prefer HEXFRED solid-state rectifiers is because they turn on and off more slowly, similar to a tube. They believe that very fast switching solid state rectifiers exhibit more odd-order "hash" distortion.

But given that my ears are old and worn out, I can't hear it. lol

Interesting to know. There can be effects such as you say and phase cycles are important. But I would have thought that for the PSU speed is key to avoid problems such as clipping and smooth out transient recovery. That's the reason I had to extend the chassis on my LD to use faster acting film caps over lytic caps and it does make a difference.

 

[UntilThen]

Enjoying the telly with the view of the local skyline next to me

Life's little pleasure. Telly could soon be the new name. When I think of Telly, it's the american actor Telly Savalas that I think of.

 

[baronbeehive]

Life's little pleasure. Telly could soon be the new name. When I think of Telly, it's the american actor Telly Savalas that I think of.

"Who loves ya baby"!

 

[Isaacc7]

That's an interesting feature I haven't seen much. It's something I was thinking of trying on the LD.

It’s a nice option although I think you’d probably set it and not move it again. And I can’t imagine doing too much tube rolling with the 211 lol. When I got to use them you could still get American 211 and 845 tubes no problem. Nowadays I think it’s only Chinese and German.

 

[bcowen]

It’s a nice option although I think you’d probably set it and not move it again. And I can’t imagine doing too much tube rolling with the 211 lol. When I got to use them you could still get American 211 and 845 tubes no problem. Nowadays I think it’s only Chinese and German.

KR is currently making both the 211 and 845. Not cheap, but not as expensive as NOS RCA's and GE's.** Unbelievable how the prices on those have skyrocketed. Back when I had the 211 amps (and the 805's) which admittedly was a long time ago, I got two nicely matched pairs of RCA 845's for around $500 (total). Single RCA's are now going for $1500+. Sheeez.

** despite my habitual bashing of GE tubes, their 211 was an extremely good sounding tube. Don't know if they ever made an 845...I never had the chance to hear them if they did.

 

[audiargent]

Enjoying the telly with the view of the local skyline next to me

Rollin various rectifier tubes and SS power supply (JJ GZ34, U52 GEC and 274b Sophia). Testing with LCD 4z/HEDDphone

Keeping 300b and 6sn7 tubes constant for now. Will post ranking of rectifier tube / headphone pairings soon..

Would be interesting to hear as I have the HEDDphone as well!

 

[senseitedj]

Would be interesting to hear as I have the HEDDphone as well!

Stiff competition between HEDDphone + GEC U52 vs. lcd 4z + SS PSU for the top spot. Tough to decide between the two but what a nice problem to have

In the meantime. Enjoy the telly in evening lights.

 

[Isaacc7]

KR is currently making both the 211 and 845. Not cheap, but not as expensive as NOS RCA's and GE's.** Unbelievable how the prices on those have skyrocketed. Back when I had the 211 amps (and the 805's) which admittedly was a long time ago, I got two nicely matched pairs of RCA 845's for around $500 (total). Single RCA's are now going for $1500+. Sheeez.

** despite my habitual bashing of GE tubes, their 211 was an extremely good sounding tube. Don't know if they ever made an 845...I never had the chance to hear them if they did.

Rarity leads to high price. I always wondered why Dennis called the 805 amplifiers that. They didn't use the 805 tube!

Also, I'm really enjoying the GE 6bg6. There's a couple of flavors of them, one looks like their 6l6gc but with black instead of grey plates. A lot of people like their 6l6gc so I'm hopeful.

 

[UntilThen]

Stiff competition between HEDDphone + GEC U52 vs. lcd 4z + SS PSU for the top spot. Tough to decide between the two but what a nice problem to have

In the meantime. Enjoy the telly in evening lights.

Glad you're enjoying Telemachus.

 

[bcowen]

Rarity leads to high price. I always wondered why Dennis called the 805 amplifiers that. They didn't use the 805 tube!

Also, I'm really enjoying the GE 6bg6. There's a couple of flavors of them, one looks like their 6l6gc but with black instead of grey plates. A lot of people like their 6l6gc so I'm hopeful.

Yeah, I'm not sure either. But the thought of 1500 volts in a protruding top cap is a bit on the insane side, so glad they went with the 845 instead. Probably saved a few audiophile lives.

I remember the first version used an EL34 instead of the 300B. It was a nice sounding amp like that but nothing superlative. The 300B took it to a whole 'nuther level.

 

[Isaacc7]

Yeah, I'm not sure either. But the thought of 1500 volts in a protruding top cap is a bit on the insane side, so glad they went with the 845 instead. Probably saved a few audiophile lives.

I remember the first version used an EL34 instead of the 300B. It was a nice sounding amp like that but nothing superlative. The 300B took it to a whole 'nuther level.

Don't think the 805 tube has a top cap.

Dennis demoed those amps at a dealer I used to hang out at. Part of his spiel was the safety measures he designed into the amp. Boasted that he could pull the 211 out while it was playing music and not incur and danger. He moved towards the playing system and we all flinched lol.

 

[senseitedj]

So after 25 hours or so of testing with various HP and Rectifier tube /SS PSU combinations, here are my rankings. 300B and 6SN7 tubes are kept constant. I will also state the impedance output as it has significant influence on its dynamics.

Will also read out what the mA meter says on the amp so everyone can get a feel on how the rectifier tubes changes things. The change from swapping rectifier tubes itself provides more significant difference than listening to different SS amps.

300B: PSVANE HiFi Series
6SN7: Sovtek (6h8c)

HPs: HEDDphone/ LCD-4z
Rectifier Tubes: JJ GZ34S, Sophia 274B Clear version, GEC U52 brown base

Rankings:

=1 (LCD-4z + SS PSU, Lo Z) 68mA on meter

Best performing from a technical standpoint. Best balance in FR across the spectrum. Soundstage, imaging and layering are the best. Instruments are placed in 360 space with very corporeal seperation of disance from the listener. Hearing details from tracks I did not hear before. Microscopic details and textures are presented very clearly such as from violin strings and guitar plucking. It has the speed of SS to render these very clearly but the harmonic richness of the 300B to enhance the sound. Very relaxing listen, 'ease-ful' sounding and minimal listening fatigue.

=1 (HEDDphone + GEC U52, Hi Z) 60 mA on meter

Loses out abit in instrument depth layering, but still good placement around 360 space. Has very good speed but the 300B sound is even more significant. Vocals feel powerful and have much more body. Highly engaging and emotional experience. Loses out abit on detail retrieval, but textures are still rendered clearly but with even more harmonic richness and weight. Never thought my HEDDphone can sound this engaging. Tube reverb is strong. Very edge-of-your-seat listening experience.

2 (HEDDphone + JJ GZ34, Hi Z) 70 mA on meter

Same as above with GEC U52 but even more intense and visceral. Soundstage becomes more narrow. You get more impact and slam. Good imaging and placement around 360 space but doesn't have same open feeling as the GEC U52. Tube reverb is significant but not as abundant and smooth as with the GEC U52

3 (LCD-4z + GEC U52, Lo Z) 63 mA on meter

Same as with HEDDphone but LCD-4z is already coloured so relatively speaking its not as well balanced as with the pairing with the HEDDphone. Vocals are more intense and full bodied but doesn't have same level of detail retrieval and sense of ease as the SS PSU pairing.

4 (HEDDphone + SS PSU) 66 mA on meter

Same level of technicalities as the LCD-4z + SS PSU, but relatively speaking, lacking harmonic richness and abit on the bland side compared with the other configurations

=5 (LCD-4z + Sophia 274B, Lo Z) 47mA on meter

=5 (HEDDphone + Sophia 274B, Hi Z) 45mA on meter

Sophia 274B provides the most relaxing listening experience. This is your typical lush and slow 300B amp sound. miss out alot on detail retrieval and instrument placement. Soundstage is largest here, but instruments seem to be coming from some distance from some point afar. 'Image-lock' is not very strong here. Treble is very sweet and bass is very thumpy. Mids are good too but nothing as visceral the GEC U52 or the JJ GZ34.

6 (LCD-4z + JJ GZ34, Lo Z) 70mA

Good speed but its too thick for me. Feels abit congested relative to the rest. Impact and slam are on another level but just too much for me at the end of the day

___________________________________

Hopefully this mini-review can be of some use. It can at least highlight the merits and uses of the Dual PSU option, and how it affects the sound. If you have a lot of headphones with various impedances, I think this is a very must have feature.

I feel that the results from the HEDDphone are a applicable for hard to drive HPs like Susvara and 1266. The results from LCD 4z are applicable to more of your sensitive planars like Meze Empyreans/Elites, Final D8000 etc.

 

[K3cT]

@senseitedj So in conclusion you seem to prefer the SS rectification overall?