[tunes]

I'm listening to the 1987 pressing of "Abbey Road" - Denon DCD-1600NE > Gungnir MB > Quicksilver > DT-880 [OG].

Bass extension, macrodynamics, microdynamics... it is all there. Noise floor is very low - especially after I went direct from my DAC to the amp.

I bought a couple sets of tubes as backups. With prices going up, who knows how much these valves will cost if/when I actually need to replace the originals. I'm not engaging in tube rolling. Honest.

But I will try the new tubes, anyway. I doubt I'll notice anything. My ears aren't that great.

I am having a hum problem. Any suggestions?

 

[David A Silva]

I am having a hum problem. Any suggestions?

First I would try swapping L <> R each pair of tubes to see if the hum switches channels. If no change and you have tube rolled, try putting the factory tubes back in.

 

[luishi5000]

I always hear a very quiet low level hum if my room dead silent and I concentrate on it.

I've conceded that the amp will never be perfectly silent if I deliberately look for it. Are any tube amps expected to be perfectly black beyond perception?

 

[gefski]

I am having a hum problem. Any suggestions?

External hum or through headphones? If through headphones, with music playing or with no music & silence?

 

[jonathan c]

I always hear a very quiet low level hum if my room dead silent and I concentrate on it.

I've conceded that the amp will never be perfectly silent if I deliberately look for it. Are any tube amps expected to be perfectly black beyond perception?

Icon Audio HP8 Signature (w/out Bluetooth option).

 

[tunes]

External hum or through headphones? If through headphones, with music playing or with no music & silence?

External
Not with music

 

[gefski]

External
Not with music

If it’s external hum, heard in a quiet room near the component, it could be DC on the AC line, or the transformer could be bad. There are several products to get rid of DC on the AC line. But not a device to fix ground loops; that’s for hum through speakers or headphones.

Having said that, every device on my table, QS, Yggy, linear power supplies, has audible hum when I put my ear right up to it.

 

[Pharmaboy]

Icon Audio HP8 Signature (w/out Bluetooth option).

You beat to it by posting this.

The HP8 is easily the quietest tube amp I've had here.

 

[infinity1]

I'm not sure if it helps but, I've gotten interference when using the amp near a wifi connection (phone, router, etc)

 

[luishi5000]

Icon Audio HP8 Signature (w/out Bluetooth option).

How does the HP8 compare to the QS overall?

The QS is my first tube amp so I'm curious how other tube amps compare.

I've just found out the Arya Stealth works perfectly with the Gold Lion tubes, the bass is so tight and natural which I was not expecting with a planar of lower impedance.

The album Where is the Drop by Deadmou5 is an orchestral masterpiece and is magical on tubes!

 

[jonathan c]

How does the HP8 compare to the QS overall?

The QS is my first tube amp so I'm curious how other tube amps compare.

I've just found out the Arya Stealth works perfectly with the Gold Lion tubes, the bass is so tight and natural which I was not expecting with a planar of lower impedance.

The album Where is the Drop by Deadmou5 is an orchestral masterpiece and is magical on tubes!

… take a look / scroll first at the ‘Icon Audio HP8’ thread to get a general idea of the amplifier…

 

[ckhirnigs113]

I traded my pair of early production Funkwerk Erfurt EL84s for a nice pair of 1958 welded plate Tungsrams. As some of you may remember, one ill-fated welded plate Tungsram took out the whole right channel of my Quicksilver a few months back. I rolled these in tonight with more than a little trepidation. So far so good!

Just like before, the pairing of long plate Amperex 12AX7s with these welded plate Tungsram EL84s is exceptional. Fingers crossed that things sound this great for a good long while without any more malfunctions!

 

[luishi5000]

My new Gold Lion EL84's have once again developed a high frequency noise issue. It's pretty upsetting.

They were fine when brand new, then slowly but surely they started to intermittently develop a quiet high frequency hiss.

Tapping them while running makes the buzzing go away momentarily only to return soon after. It's somewhat intermittent and random on each channel.

When listening to something with a quiet passage, it's just noticable though to pull me out of the experience, which is so unfortunate as I love every other aspect of the amp.

I'm not sure if it's:

The amp not rejecting the noise properly or causing it in the first place

The tubes all having defects themselves (original JJs have their own noise, as do my previous Gold Lions's)

My expectations that a tube amp should be capable of ruining completely silent (aside from the very quiet and forgivable hum)

 

[LanceSaintPaul]

Since the circuit is almost exclusively the tubes...

 

[David A Silva]

@luishi5000 , if the tubes start out quiet and then develop hiss, the problem is with the tubes IMHO.
When I started tube rolling a couple pairs of tubes I tried developed noise soon after burn in. Fortunately the third pair was a charm.