[ThurstonX]

Sadly, I have to agree with @rb2013 and @gibosi's comments re: the Russian 6N5Ps.  I gave my pair 71 hours straight burn-in, and the etchy, distorted warble in the vocals (esp., but pretty much throughout) was noticeable; very much so on some recordings.  Then, for the first time, I rolled a pair of 1963 Siemens E88CCs I got recently.  I gave them 25 minutes to warm up, then listened to the last few songs I tested the 6N5Ps with.  So sweet.  Everyone should treat themselves to at least one pair of exceptional tubes (the more the merrier, of course! 

 ).  I've been rolling a lot of B-team tubes lately, and there is no mistaking the difference between those and these Siemens, the '69 CCas, the '68 Telefunken E88CCs, and of course Bob's '75 Rockets 

  And I've got a nice, deep bench with the '60s-era Heerlens of various types, a couple Tesla E88CCs, and probably something else.  I think that about does it for me and Russian tubes for a while.
 
One funny thing I noticed about the 6N5Ps in the Lyr, and I've seen this with other pairs, is a difference in the intensity of the orange glow between the two (filaments? LOL, I still suck at IDing the parts

 ).  I was worried it was the Lyr, until I rolled the Siemens.  Gorgeous li'l twins 

 

[rb2013]

Sadly, I have to agree with @rb2013
 and @gibosi
's comments re: the Russian 6N5Ps.  I gave my pair 71 hours straight burn-in, and the etchy, distorted warble in the vocals (esp., but pretty much throughout) was noticeable; very much so on some recordings.  Then, for the first time, I rolled a pair of 1963 Siemens E88CCs I got recently.  I gave them 25 minutes to warm up, then listened to the last few songs I tested the 6N5Ps with.  So sweet.  Everyone should treat themselves to at least one pair of exceptional tubes (the more the merrier, of course!   ).  I've been rolling a lot of B-team tubes lately, and there is no mistaking the difference between those and these Siemens, the '69 CCas, the '68 Telefunken E88CCs, and of course Bob's '75 Rockets    And I've got a nice, deep bench with the '60s-era Heerlens of various types, a couple Tesla E88CCs, and probably something else.  I think that about does it for me and Russian tubes for a while.

One funny thing I noticed about the 6N5Ps in the Lyr, and I've seen this with other pairs, is a difference in the intensity of the orange glow between the two (filaments? LOL, I still suck at IDing the parts  ).  I was worried it was the Lyr, until I rolled the Siemens.  Gorgeous li'l twins 

+1

 

[rb2013]

After having spent a bit more time with these tubes in a different amp, I can confirm that both add a certain raspiness to the music, especially vocals and horns, and like you, I find that I just don't want to listen to these tubes anymore. There are lots of better tubes out there....

And my advice to anyone hesitating to purchase a Lyr 2 because it can't be used with these tubes, Pull the trigger! lol

I have never heard a Lyr or a Lyr 2, but I can say that ECC88, E88CC and E188CC are the noisiest tubes in my collection. For example, any 1940's era 6SN7 is significantly quieter. So I have to believe that if the noise reduction improvements in the Lyr 2 work well, that would be a very good thing.

My 6n23p's are dead quite in my Lyr. I listen at 10 oclock, 11 oclock, and 12 oclock. At 12 on the Lyr with the HD800's that's far louder then I'd ever listen. I'm sure if I put the vol the amp itself would put out some noise. But that's impractical, even dangerous, especially with headphones. Any accidental source or short would likely cause hp damage and posdible hearing loss.

I believe the improvements in the power supply filteing on the Lyr2 was an effort to quiet the Lyr on very low impedence phones.

 

[ThurstonX]

My 6n23p's are dead quite in my Lyr. I listen at 10 oclock, 11 oclock, and 12 oclock. At 12 on the Lyr with the HD800's that's far louder then I'd ever listen. I'm sure if I put the vol the amp itself would put out some noise. But that's impractical, even dangerous, especially with headphones. Any accidental source or short would likely cause hp damage and posdible hearing loss.

I believe the improvements in the power supply filteing on the Lyr2 was an effort to quiet the Lyr on very low impedence phones.

 
Same here.  I often listen at a high volume (not that high, but rarely low), and all my best tubes are dead quiet, except the wonky D-getter 6922s (pretty sure I was sold a lemon), as are quite a few of my better 6DJ8/ECC88s.  Not sure if it's the right or best test, but without music playing I like to crank the volume to the max and listen, and then tap on the amp and tubes.  I don't do it often, mind, as it is playing fire.  No argument there, and obviously not normal use.  It's bad enough when you get dramatic volume changes when shuffling, or just an album change.
 
Pretty sure you're correct re: the Lyr 2, but maybe there's some trickle down benefit for less sensitive cans.

 

[gibosi]

This suggests to me that the Lyr, both 1 and 2, must be designed very well. In my experience, ECC88 type tubes are more susceptible to AC hum from the heaters and random RF than most other double triodes. Converting my amp to DC heaters helped quite a bit, but still, I often hear noises which appear to be from random RF interference, typically from electrical motors, for example, a laser printer. I do believe the 6N23P's are the quietest of this breed, but other double triodes, such as 6SN7's, E80CC's and 5687's seem to have much less susceptibility to this kind of noise. So kudos to Schiit Audio.

 

[rb2013]

This suggests to me that the Lyr, both 1 and 2, must be designed very well. In my experience, ECC88 type tubes are more susceptible to AC hum from the heaters and random RF than most other double triodes. Converting my amp to DC heaters helped quite a bit, but still, I often hear noises which appear to be from random RF interference, typically from electrical motors, for example, a laser printer. I do believe the 6N23P's are the quietest of this breed, but other double triodes, such as 6SN7's, E80CC's and 5687's seem to have much less susceptibility to this kind of noise. So kudos to Schiit Audio.

+1. On all my DACs and amps I use ERS shielding paper on the inside of the cases. This can be had at Parts Connexion. I also use the very good Synergistic Research active shielded, X2 Ref power cords. For interconnects I use the tube powered active shielded AuralThrills BCS rca interconnects. All this works to eliminate RF and EMI. These have given me a very deep silent background.

I love the 6sn7's, had a huge collection back when I had my ASL mono block Hurricanes. The VT231 Tungsol Round Plates Oval Micas, and the '40s Sylvania 6sn7W metal bases were some of my favorites.

The 6922/6dj7/6n23p/E88CC class of tubes have been known to have excellent audio characteristics. Used by top end audio companies like Conrad Johnson in their sota $25k preamps like the ART, ART II, ART Ill.

I love this tube!

 

[rb2013]

http://www.partsconnexion.com/accessories_ers.html

 

[gibosi]

http://www.partsconnexion.com/accessories_ers.html

 
I wish I could use ERS shielding paper. It would certainly help. But my amp has been cobbled together out of odd bits and pieces, and much of the wiring is out in the open, so there is no way I can easily use shields. However, I confess I am much more of a tinkerer and tube roller than audiophile, so a little noise doesn't bother me all that much, especially with open headphones.
 

 

[rb2013]

I wish I could use ERS shielding paper. It would certainly help. But my amp has been cobbled together out of odd bits and pieces, and much of the wiring is out in the open, so there is no way I can easily use shields. However, I confess I am much more of a tinkerer and tube roller than audiophile, so a little noise doesn't bother me all that much, especially with open headphones.

A couple of things you could try. Shorten the wires as much as possible, they act as RF antenna, so the longer they are the more sensitive they are. Second use bypass film caps on all the important caps, especially the coupling caps. The rule of tubes is 1/500th to 1/1000th the value of the cap being bypassed. I really like the Vishay MKP1837's, Parts Connexion has a wide range of values, and they're really cheap! This will also help filter out ps ripple.

Cheers!

 

[rb2013]

http://www.seattlerobotics.org/encoder/jun97/basics.html

A good primer on bypass caps.

 

[gibosi]

This is great information! Thanks!
 
But I am hoping that soon I will have an all-tube amp, P2P wiring, 6AS7 powers, a tube rectifier and able to roll 6DJ8's, 6SN7's as well as most of the other medium-gain, indirectly-heated-cathode double triodes. And I will continue to use my tricked out Little Dot as a test amp. For my next project, I want to try to roll some common cathode double triodes, such as the E90CC's, which are said to be the Holy Grail in the TORPEDO parafeed headphone amp. Should be interesting.
 
But this is topic for another forum... 
 
Thanks again!

 

[roman410]

No, they do not have date codes.I found active listing:http://www.ebay.com/itm/Quad-4-6922-Tube-GOLD-PIN-E88CC-CEI-NIB-1970s-Audio-Amp-Rohren-valvola-Lamp-/231351605066?pt=Vintage_Electronics_R2&hash=item35dda1574a. So far #3 in my rank.

 

[htr2d2]

http://www.seattlerobotics.org/encoder/jun97/basics.html

A good primer on bypass caps.

Nice article. Very informative, Bob.

 

[FYL941]

Question:  Which tube "socket" savers are people using for the lyr 2?  The tubes are really hard to remove and insert and I was wondering would these help with that.  Found some on tubemonger.com and partsconnexion but I'm unsure as to which would work best with the Lyr.  thanks!

 

[dailydoseofdaly]

^ i used the tubemonger ones 
http://www.tubemonger.com/NOVIB_Socket_Saver_with_Vibration_Red_B9A_NOVAL_p/novib.htm