neoluddite
Head-Fier
1968/1969 Amperex Valvo CCa 6DJ8’s
Summary
Well, after all the listening, I have learned one thing: the Amperex sound is what I like. The Cca tubes sound terrific and is a slightly more sophisticated and more refined sibling compared to the Amperex 6922/730 PQ White Label D-getters. The Cca’s were more than twice the price of the D-getters. Yes, they delivered ever so slightly better sound, yet I will leave to each reader’s view if modest incremental sound is worth the extra money. Tubes aside, it is an interesting question: when we stop spending money on the diminishing returns of “ just a little bit better.”
Introduction
An apple does not fall too far from the tree: these tubes had a very similar general audio profile to the Amperex D-getters written about above. A warm middle voice, great base, rapid transient response and no higher frequency sharpness. Beautiful presentation of the music making it so easy to just get lost in the music, not the technical fine points of listening.
Overall, the CCa tubes offered slightly better separation and added a bit of air between the instruments. The sounds of the musician “at work” was a bit more distinct. Spatial queues were slightly better and more nuanced than the Amperex D-getters.
Here is the tricky question: Are they worth the >2x premium vs the Amperex D-getters? Was the extra refinement in the sound worthwhile? The answer is unique to every listener as is the condition of their wallet and their degree of audio tweaky-mania.
Having heard them, if I went back to my Amperex D-getters would I be unhappy? NOPE! Would I occasionally say to myself “.. heh, that sounds a tiny bit different..?” YUP… Would it ruin my listening to the less expensive tubes? Generally no, unless it was a for a piece I felt a deep connection with. For those with a greater focus on budget, my gut tells me you can get 99% of the sounds at less than half the price. For those that this little eccentric hobby is a happy sin for spending, the Cca tubes will please you and are incrementally better than the Amperex D-getters.
Specific Observations
Going back through my listening notes, let me offer a few observations (referenced to specific pieces on the listening play list that appears earlier in the post)
As a general note, the Cca tubes (as compared to the Amperex D-getters) were more quiet. Simply less background noise – I guess some would call this a black bottomless “silence” when there is no instrumental sound in a track. When an instrument begins to play, or singer sings, the sound rises smoothly out of the silence.
- On “Sailing to Philadelphia,” Knopfler’s voice is warmly and vibrantly presented: smooth, clear, strong and well integrated into the instrumental sounds. The guitar string pluck sounds are beautifully presented. Versus the Amperex D-getters, the Cca tubes are an equal match in performance on this track.
- Similarly, Marc Cohn’s vocals on “Silver Thunderbird” were presented by the Cca tubes equally compared to the Amperex D-getters. At approx. 2:20 into the track, a set of shakers carries the beat. In this situation, the Cca tubes outperform the Amperex D-getters, offering a slightly more realistic and airy sound.
- On Jackson Brown’s “Load Out,” the female vocalist signing “Ooooohhhh wont you staaaaayyyy….” at 0:37, is not as warmly and strongly presented by the Cca’s. Here, the Amperex D-getters outperformered.
- The piano key and chord strikes in George Winston’s “Longing/Love” were richly resonant and floating in space. The middle of the keyboard was warm with lots of clearly resolved and distinct overtones. The Cca tubes handled the spatial cues and the power of a well hammered piano key just as well as the Amperex D-getters did.
- In Steely Dan’s “Reelin’ in the Years,” the Cca’s do a better job separating the highhat and cymbals and offer a slightly more realistic brassy sound.
- Similarly, in Chumbawumba’s “Tubthumping,” there is a strangled/muted highhat deep in the background that pumps along with the base beat starting at 1:50. By 2:00 “.. don’t cry for me next door neighbor,” that highhat floats forward and is beautifully presented by the Cca’s – better than the Amperex D-getters by a goosebump or two.
- George Winston’s “Riders on the Storm” was better presented by the Cca tubes. At the conclusion of the piece there are some beautiful resonances that ring out and hold, slowly fading, after the final key strikes. The Cca tubes present these magnificent tones powerfully and clearly. Those resonances seemed to move through space as if they had three dimensional shape, like streams of sound. The Amperex D-getters resented the same sounds, but not as viscerally.
Heck if I know. Maybe just enjoy my music listening rather than focused critical listening. My local audio gear drug pusher convinced me to try a pair of iFi “NOS 6922’s” (GE 5670’s in a custom mount that rewires the heater pin assignment to match a 6DJ8/6922 pin assignment.) It has a capacitor filter on the filament to reduce modulated noise… I will get around to listening to them soon.
Thanks for reading.
