[hearditontheX]

Oh and Finnegan is maturing, he barely bats around a tube anymore. His tastes have changed.

Finnegan is weird, even on the cat scale.

 

[yonson]

It would probably work if it had a tube in it. I know, I know...the volume knob is in the way. Not your fault.

It's a REALLY nice volume knob too!

I have to say, the looks of it in person is pretty impressive. It's much bigger than I was expecting, and I LOVE the color combo...
But it's DOA and is going back for replacement.

 

[bcowen]

It's a REALLY nice volume knob too!

I have to say, the looks of it in person is pretty impressive. It's much bigger than I was expecting, and I LOVE the color combo...
But it's DOA and is going back for replacement.

Bummer. Didn't mean to make light of your misfortune -- always a downer to get a new toy in and have to send it back. I'm sure they'll get it back you quickly though.

 

[axle11]

It's a REALLY nice volume knob too!

I have to say, the looks of it in person is pretty impressive. It's much bigger than I was expecting, and I LOVE the color combo...
But it's DOA and is going back for replacement.

I got a HEL for my gamer son for XMAS. Hope it’ll be a happy one.

 

[bcowen]

I was hoping for a little clarification on your bias (pun intended) against GE tubes.

Do you dislike all GE tubes, or just certain models?

The GE 6FQ7 is one of my favorites from the 6FQ7/6CG7 family, but I've never tried GE's anywhere else.

There are two types of GE's: those that were actually made by GE, and those that were made by someone else and labeled as GE's. Some of the latter can be diamonds in the rough. The former are meh-ville at best, or can be like Philips ECG's that are bright, screechy, and instantly fatiguing. Most tubes that were actually made by GE have little dots etched into the glass underneath the etched tube designation:

While I can't say with any certainty that every tube actually manufactured by GE has the dots, I think it *is* safe to say that if there are dots etched in, it was actually made by GE. Hopefully that makes sense to someone besides me.

I don't hate all GE tubes. I had some GE-made 211's with some previous amps that were a significant step up from the Chinese tubes they replaced. Then I spent nearly 2x of what I paid for the GE's on some RCA's. The RCA's were a bit better, but the GE's acquitted themselves quite nicely for the money. So I guess you could say the only GE tubes I really don't like are those that 1) were actually made by GE, and 2) have 8 pins or 9 pins. And of course this is just my opinion. To each his own. I obviously haven't heard every GE tube type made, and as we all know there are particular synergies between tubes, components, and ears. But at the same time take a look on Ebay for any tube number you can think of. Why are the GE's always much less expensive than *all* the others?

And this just FWIW: see if your 6FQ7's have the etched dots. If not, there's a good chance they were made by RCA (who produced bazillions of that tube type) and just OEM'd for GE. If they do have the dots, try some clear-top (side getter) RCA's (not the chrome domes). They're still relatively inexpensive, and you might be surprised...

 

[yonson]

Bummer. Didn't mean to make light of your misfortune -- always a downer to get a new toy in and have to send it back. I'm sure they'll get it back you quickly though.

Schiit happens...

 

[bcowen]

Schiit happens...

LOL! Yeah, but it's always better when it happens to someone else.

 

[valiant66]

A super sys.... All passive preamp, maybe one or two balanced ins/outs, one or two SE ins and outs, with a 64 step attenuator or a nice pot.

I am a big fan of passive pres. I have an Adcom SLC-505...
.

 

[ScubaMan2017]

I get quite a few tubes from @bcowen and they are always in original or brand new boxes so the first thing I do is remove the tubes from the boxes, use the boxes for fire starter, then store the tubes on their side like bottles of red wine. Generally they just become cat toys anyway so why make Finnegan open the little boxes? This is not the preferred method of handling tubes but it causes Bill to go into what appears to be a panic attack so that is always good for an evenings entertainment. Eventually I just make up a story about how they sounded cause oftentimes I never see them again anyway. Oh eventually I will move our refrigerator forward and find the tubes safely stored with a season's worth of other cat toys but they are perfectly safe under there.

...my students would call you... savage. Savage troll.

 

[Paladin79]

...my students would call you... savage. Savage troll.

Lol Bill does an amazing job with his testing and tube handling procedures so he will get the irony.

 

[yonson]

LOL! Yeah, but it's always better when it happens to someone else.

Meh, yeah it sucks, but luckily I don't need it right this second, which is why I ordered it early...

 

[valiant66]

I think that's even more heretical to the Schiit philosophy than doing an op-amp, class D amp, or a D/S DAC...

Especially considering they do numerous D/S DACs...
.

 

[33na3rd]

There are two types of GE's: those that were actually made by GE, and those that were made by someone else and labeled as GE's. Some of the latter can be diamonds in the rough. The former are meh-ville at best, or can be like Philips ECG's that are bright, screechy, and instantly fatiguing. Most tubes that were actually made by GE have little dots etched into the glass underneath the etched tube designation:



While I can't say with any certainty that every tube actually manufactured by GE has the dots, I think it *is* safe to say that if there are dots etched in, it was actually made by GE. Hopefully that makes sense to someone besides me.

I don't hate all GE tubes. I had some GE-made 211's with some previous amps that were a significant step up from the Chinese tubes they replaced. Then I spent nearly 2x of what I paid for the GE's on some RCA's. The RCA's were a bit better, but the GE's acquitted themselves quite nicely for the money. So I guess you could say the only GE tubes I really don't like are those that 1) were actually made by GE, and 2) have 8 pins or 9 pins. And of course this is just my opinion. To each his own. I obviously haven't heard every GE tube type made, and as we all know there are particular synergies between tubes, components, and ears. But at the same time take a look on Ebay for any tube number you can think of. Why are the GE's always much less expensive than *all* the others?

And this just FWIW: see if your 6FQ7's have the etched dots. If not, there's a good chance they were made by RCA (who produced bazillions of that tube type) and just OEM'd for GE. If they do have the dots, try some clear-top (side getter) RCA's (not the chrome domes). They're still relatively inexpensive, and you might be surprised...

Thank you for the detailed reply!

I will have to check my GE 6FQ7's and see if they have the dots.

I do have a quartet of the RCA clear top 6FQ7's, and they are nice indeed!

 

[Tim van der Leeuw]

Especially considering they do numerous D/S DACs...
.

Yeah, I'm aware of that of course, but doing a D/S DAC was listed by Jason in his recent post as one of points of "heresy".
Reading the start of the story, about the inclusion of USB, even adding USB was a heresy for Mike at the beginning. But now we've got Unison USB and it sounds great.

 

[ev666il]

To be fair, right now they're only doing Modi 3 as a D/S DAC that I know of?

Perhaps also Gungnir D/S, though IIRC Jason mentioned that version's not selling very well and may be discontinued. That would really leave just the Modi 3 as the only D/S DAC in Schiit's offering, which is consistent with Mike's philosophy that D/S has a place in cheaper, simpler designs.

EDIT: No, wait. Hel and Fulla.

Still cheaper and simpler, but "numerous" doesn't seem off anymore.