[AuditoryCanvas]

Stop with the act bro, I was just posting what I was paid to say!
JK bro!!!

Not expecting that check to clear are you?

 

[AuditoryCanvas]

I think we should have some s'mores and sing.

Edit: +1 on all counts. Great group on this thread for sure.

 

[ThurstonX]

There it is

 

[Phantaminum]

MJ2 is finally being delivered to me after sending it out on the 6th of February for repairs.

First thing I’m going to do is stick those Ken-Rads in there and then switch over to the LM gold pins. I didn’t think I could miss a piece of equipment this much.

 

[koover]

MJ2 is finally being delivered to me after sending it out on the 6th of February for repairs.

First thing I’m going to do is stick those Ken-Rads in there and then switch over to the LM gold pins. I didn’t think I could miss a piece of equipment this much.

If I didn’t have my gear for that long?....it would “literally” be like going through a major drug withdrawal. I know you have your Fulla Schiit to get you through, but no.....just no. You’re a better man then I.
Glad you got your baby back. Hey.... isn’t that a commercial jingle?

 

[Autostart]

MJ2 is finally being delivered to me after sending it out on the 6th of February for repairs.

First thing I’m going to do is stick those Ken-Rads in there and then switch over to the LM gold pins. I didn’t think I could miss a piece of equipment this much.

Keep us posted

 

[Phantaminum]

If I didn’t have my gear for that long?....it would “literally” be like going through a major drug withdrawal. I know you have your Fulla Schiit to get you through, but no.....just no. You’re a better man then I.
Glad you got your baby back. Hey.... isn’t that a commercial jingle?

You’re telling me. I’ve been listening the HD650 with a Schitt Fulla 2. I’ve lived with music that has no taste, weight, or life for a month.

I might as well died. Ok, overly dramatic but yeah, music isn’t fun when it sounds so bland.

Keep us posted

10-4.

So I attribute it to the cursed Telefunken e188ccs that I’ve paired up. I’ve taken the cursed Teles and had them blessed by a Priest, a Buddhist, and a Rabbi after they walked into a bar.

 

[TK16]

Quite a long time for a blown fuse bro, good luck on it working.

 

[MWSVette]

I sent out an Asgard 2 for repair on Feb 4, and according to FedEx should get it back Thursday. A little over a 3 week turnaround. I was pretty pleased with Schiits service, it was an out of warranty repair, total cost $60.00 including shipping back to me. Quite reasonable I think.

Glad I had Lyr and other amps to listen to though. Not sure I could go back to my Fiio...

 

[TK16]

These '59 Foton 6N3P 30 hrs in sound fantastic. Much better than any Russian tube I ever heard. Sounds close to the WE 396A square getter, and Heerlen PW in lush rich tone. The other Russians, Reflektor and Okt's are quite good in their own right, but these are on another level. Not sure how the mid 60's sound in comparison, maybe @AuditoryCanvas can chime in. Remember him saying those are quite good as well. Got a set of 65/66 sitting in a box waiting for burn in.

 

[ThurstonX]

My 1966 Fotons are right there with the '59s; so much so I bought another coupla pairs from the same seller... though the latter might be Reflektors. Older really is better. Tell yourself that each and every day

 

[Phantaminum]

Been sitting here for the last few hours listening to the Mjolnir 2 and rolling some tubes. I feel like a little kid in a candy shop.

Few early impressions:

• Telefunken e188ccs are some very sweet tubes. The sub bass that this tube kicks out is bananas. Made me sit up in my chair a few times. Mid range is more neutral with extended highs.They have a nice...flow? The highs became slightly fatiguing with the Aeon Flow Open but paired much better with the HD650s. Made them bump even though it felt like the headphone was protesting.
• Voshkod 1978 6N23P sound good out the box. Close to the Seimen's e88CCs sound, more euphonic, but not quite there yet. Have a few more tubes to burn in before I get to these so may update this impression later.
  
• The double post getter 75' Ruskies that AuditoryCanvas sold me are becoming one of my favorite tubes. They are also the cheapest tubes in my collection by far. Less burn time than all of the the other Russian tubes, very euphonic, great detail retrieval, good sub bass, fast, and not the slightest bit fatiguing. Matter of fact you can say this about most of the Russian tubes.
  
• Reflektor 6n3p-l also sounded good right out the box. More so than the 6N23P but the mids sound slightly pushed back.
  
• Gold pin LME's D-getter have more detail than the steel pin O-getter. They have a much more open sound than most of the other tubes but sacrifice a little bit in slam and more in sub bass. These do vocals so well. Smooth tubes that I can see myself putting in for a full Sunday's worth of listening. If you like the JW 2C51s/WE 396As I think you'll like these as well.
• Ken-Rads. Well...embarrassingly enough I forgot to purchase another set of socket savers. Thought I could make it work but the adapters are just too big. So I'll have to wait until those come before posting an impression.

Also found that I had one of Amperex tubes burned out which I think is what caused the Mjolnir 2 fuse to blow. Maybe it's the Amperex tubes that are cursed.

 

[billerb1]

My 1966 Fotons are right there with the '59s; so much so I bought another coupla pairs from the same seller... though the latter might be Reflektors. Older really is better. Tell yourself that each and every day

Have a pair of ‘66’s on the way that TK turned me on to. Want to feel the joy.

 

[AuditoryCanvas]

Here's my two cents. YMMV.

The 59 Fotons I have do have a slight edge over the 65 pair I have, but it's very slight and could just be down to being a well matched pair, or the typical variances in tubes. I have a pair of 62 Fotons that sound equally as good as the 59s, so it likely is variance.

The Reflektors seemed to change to different construction after 60 for some of them. I found the ones that had the older almost flat disc getter (small disc, same size as the newer ufo type), sound better than the ones with the upside down big dimple like ufo getter.

I still found the Foton to sound nicer than the flatter getter Reflektors, but it's not a huge difference.

overall, I find the 50s and early to mid 60s ruskies to sound nicer than the late 60s onwards. I also find the 80s ones to not sound as nice as 50s, 60s, and 70s, with some exceptions, but one thing the 80s have going for them, is a lot more stability and consistency in test results and triode balance, making them much easier to match.

A heads up if you find any 50s/early to mid 60s 6n3p - They're a nightmare to match. I received 15 50s tubes in the last batch, and 5 of them either had a short, or were below minimum/replace value.

Of the remaining ones, I didn't end up with 5 matched pairs. Some of them matched within 2% to 10%, some were out by over 20%. I'm hoping for more batches to be able to make more matched pairs.

Based on 3 of 15 having shorts in the last batch, I don't recommend buying untested batches or pairs unless you have the means to at least test for shorts.

Old Istok and Fotons seemed to fare less well than the Reflektors, but when they're good, they're really good.

 

[billerb1]

Well I'm good and scared now. There goes a hard-earned $12.