[Globox]

First of all, the 2 red rings go on the XLR plugs of the right cable so you know it is the right cable.
here is a picture of the connector with 2 different rings :

About the cable, I personnaly bought some "Sommer Cable SC-Albedo MKII" for my XLR cables. Unfortunatly, it is not the best one (but already, one of the best). Today, I would buy some
"Sommer Cable Carbokab 225". It is 10% more expensive but it is also supposed to be a little better.
Finally, as I don't live in the US, I don't know where to buy that stuff overthere (I found the prices above on amazon.com). I bought my stuff at Thomann.de.

 

[Naugrim]

So I haven’t been enjoying my Ether Flows with my Mjolnir/Gumby. Just wasn’t feeling interesting. Started looking at finally getting some tubes or something. JusT realized I’ve had it in single ended/rca mode instead of balanced. Switched it back and it was night and day. LOL. What a relief. I’m an idiot.

 

[goldsgym]

First of all, the 2 red rings go on the XLR plugs of the right cable so you know it is the right cable.
here is a picture of the connector with 2 different rings :

About the cable, I personnaly bought some "Sommer Cable SC-Albedo MKII" for my XLR cables. Unfortunatly, it is not the best one (but already, one of the best). Today, I would buy some
"Sommer Cable Carbokab 225". It is 10% more expensive but it is also supposed to be a little better.
Finally, as I don't live in the US, I don't know where to buy that stuff overthere (I found the prices above on amazon.com). I bought my stuff at Thomann.de.

So are the red rings necessary, or could I just leave the black rings on there that the connectors come with? It's a nice touch, but I personally don't need the color coordination for my setup.

 

[Globox]

You definitly dont NEED them. But I feel like it is easier to get everything in place with a colored connector. As it is like 50c each, I feel like it is not expensive at all. But well, you dont need it to have your cable working !

 

[goldsgym]

You definitly dont NEED them. But I feel like it is easier to get everything in place with a colored connector. As it is like 50c each, I feel like it is not expensive at all. But well, you dont need it to have your cable working !

Ok, I just didn't want to forgo something that was needed in order to use to cables. I figured they were just for color coding, but in this world of hi-fi audio you never can be too careful haha. Thank you very much for your input. I went ahead and ordered the connectors as well as the Sommer Cable Carbokab 225 cable. I'm definitely excited to put these two cables together. Maybe next I'll build myself a custom balanced cable for my HD 800 S

 

[callumrd1]

Ok, I just didn't want to forgo something that was needed in order to use to cables. I figured they were just for color coding, but in this world of hi-fi audio you never can be too careful haha. Thank you very much for your input. I went ahead and ordered the connectors as well as the Sommer Cable Carbokab 225 cable. I'm definitely excited to put these two cables together. Maybe next I'll build myself a custom balanced cable for my HD 800 S

Where did you end up ordering from?

 

[goldsgym]

Where did you end up ordering from?

I got the cable from Ebay and the Neutrik connectors from Amazon.

 

[gc335]

Where did you end up ordering from?

Mediabridge also has good cables. You can find them on Amazon. I use them for all my stuff.

 

[bzzzt]

So I’ve been listening to a variety of tubes with my Mjo2 and while I know there are plenty of tube reviews out there, I figured I should chip in my impressions.

These won’t be incredibly detailed reviews using lots of audiophile terms, but may be helpful as a data point anyway. Feel free to ask for any more specific info and I’ll do my best to share my thoughts.

When I mention grades, its relative to what I have heard, and very subjective. When I mention upgrade, these offer noticably better sound but its not going to change the amp into a different amp.

Gear used for these impressions: Roon -> Aurilac Aries -> Gumby -> Mjo2 -> {Th900, Eikon, HD650}, balanced ins and outs
Genres: Rock, Rap, EDM, Reggae, Jazz, Pop, Blues

Stock tubes: These are just... decent. They sound good but not particularly great, I definitely think they are worth upgrading. Grade C.

LISST: I often prefer these to the stock tubes. They just sound to me slightly faster and more precise, and the stock tubes don’t do enough to overcome them, but its sort of a tossup depending on headphones and choice of music. Nice to be able to switch back and forth.

64 Sylvania Gold 6DJ8 O Getter made in Waltham, Mass.: Really enjoyable tube, clean and even. These are a decent upgrade over stock tubes. Nothing wrong but not amazing, just very good. Grade B+

iFi NOS JAN-5670 (6922): Good mids but other than that they sound sort of... lame I guess. They are a upgrade to stock but not worth the price for the nicely boxed iFi ones, just get an adapter and order the tubes seperately would be cheaper. Good but the Sylvania are better. Grade B-

Amperex 60s 6DJ8/ECC88 made in Holland: Clean, quiet, maybe a little warmth. Again these are a very good upgrade over stock but they don’t blow my mind. Grade B+

Siemens 1970 E88CC A-frame getter, gold pins made in Germany: Now this is definitely a big upgrade from the stock. Great precise bass, super clean, musical. Love em but they aren’t the absolute best I have heard and I still (rarely) prefer LISST with some cans/tracks. But that is very rare, and I could be very happy if I just left these in and forgot about anything else. Grade A-

Reflektor 1975 SWGP Silver Shields “Holy Grail”: Damn. Wasn’t expecting these to be so much better, heard they were good but... soundstage, precision, extension is just the best I’ve heard. These are better than all of the above pretty much all the time. Finally a bit of the flavor of that 3D aspect that tubes can bring. Never want to roll these out. Grade A+

Anyway, let me know if you have any questions, hope some of these opinions are useful to someone.

 

[goldsgym]

Oh man, I can't believe that I pulled the trigger and picked up the Gumby with a Violectric V281. I won't say that I'm not thrilled, but I seriously hope this is a real upgrade to my current jotunheim with built-in DAC. From what I've read, it seems that it will be. Making the custom XLR cables will be fun as well. I'm hoping that this will be my end game setup, but I fear that the curiosity of the Yggy will get the best of me sooner or later... hopefully later

 

[koover]

So I’ve been listening to a variety of tubes with my Mjo2 and while I know there are plenty of tube reviews out there, I figured I should chip in my impressions.

These won’t be incredibly detailed reviews using lots of audiophile terms, but may be helpful as a data point anyway. Feel free to ask for any more specific info and I’ll do my best to share my thoughts.

When I mention grades, its relative to what I have heard, and very subjective. When I mention upgrade, these offer noticably better sound but its not going to change the amp into a different amp.

Gear used for these impressions: Roon -> Aurilac Aries -> Gumby -> Mjo2 -> {Th900, Eikon, HD650}, balanced ins and outs
Genres: Rock, Rap, EDM, Reggae, Jazz, Pop, Blues

Stock tubes: These are just... decent. They sound good but not particularly great, I definitely think they are worth upgrading. Grade C.

LISST: I often prefer these to the stock tubes. They just sound to me slightly faster and more precise, and the stock tubes don’t do enough to overcome them, but its sort of a tossup depending on headphones and choice of music. Nice to be able to switch back and forth.

64 Sylvania Gold 6DJ8 O Getter made in Waltham, Mass.: Really enjoyable tube, clean and even. These are a decent upgrade over stock tubes. Nothing wrong but not amazing, just very good. Grade B+

iFi NOS JAN-5670 (6922): Good mids but other than that they sound sort of... lame I guess. They are a upgrade to stock but not worth the price for the nicely boxed iFi ones, just get an adapter and order the tubes seperately would be cheaper. Good but the Sylvania are better. Grade B-

Amperex 60s 6DJ8/ECC88 made in Holland: Clean, quiet, maybe a little warmth. Again these are a very good upgrade over stock but they don’t blow my mind. Grade B+

Siemens 1970 E88CC A-frame getter, gold pins made in Germany: Now this is definitely a big upgrade from the stock. Great precise bass, super clean, musical. Love em but they aren’t the absolute best I have heard and I still (rarely) prefer LISST with some cans/tracks. But that is very rare, and I could be very happy if I just left these in and forgot about anything else. Grade A-

Reflektor 1975 SWGP Silver Shields “Holy Grail”: Damn. Wasn’t expecting these to be so much better, heard they were good but... soundstage, precision, extension is just the best I’ve heard. These are better than all of the above pretty much all the time. Finally a bit of the flavor of that 3D aspect that tubes can bring. Never want to roll these out. Grade A+

Anyway, let me know if you have any questions, hope some of these opinions are useful to someone.

Nice review. Even though I run with a LYR2, they both use the same tubes. Question:
I own the 1974 Reflektor SWGP Silver Shields. Have you heard these before and if so, how much better are the 75’s?

 

[bosiemoncrieff]

Where does one find those 1975 Reflektor tubes?

 

[bzzzt]

Nice review. Even though I run with a LYR2, they both use the same tubes. Question:
I own the 1974 Reflektor SWGP Silver Shields. Have you heard these before and if so, how much better are the 75’s?

I've never heard the 74, and I don't know how much these tubes vary year-to-year. Sorry.

 

[bzzzt]

Where does one find those 1975 Reflektor tubes?

I purchased them from a fellow enthusiast, who was able to walk me through how to verify they are authentic. He had purchased a couple sets from a seller in Russia a couple years ago, and sold me his spare set.

As for where to find them for sale today, I'm not sure. I've spotted some that seem misrepresented on ebay and some that could be the real deal, but that's a bit of a gamble I guess.

 

[TK16]

Well, I went ahead and pulled the trigger on the iFi tubes. They go for $99 for a matched pair on Amazon, so I went ahead and ordered them. Supposedly very lush and full midrange and increased depth of the soundstage. Will be very interesting to see how they turn out. As for the MJ2 + Gumby, it is going to be difficult to have to wait for another month for them to show up!

You can find those tubes very cheap on ebay and buy yourself this adapter. Much cheaper. Then you can use that same adapter on other 5670 variants.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/2pc-Gold-p...111735?hash=item2c9e670177:g:~IoAAOSw~OVWwGvh