Matsushita 6922's in the house. NOS NIB, like all my tubes
At 4 hours of musical break-in:
I'll compare them to Sylvania Gold Pin's, since Mullard, Brimar, Matsushita and Sylvania are the recommendations I see for warmest, tubiest E88CC's.
It's strange. They're more or less equally smooth and warm, but the Matsushita's separate everything better, and they have crisper, clearer treble. The sylvania's seem to have more upper midrange though. Live recordings sound more 'present' on the sylvania's... somehow realer, even though it's less revealing... ? It makes no sense really. The same live recording on a Matsushita sounds too classy to be real. Lacking grit. It's lovely but somehow unreal.
Aside from that quirk, the Matsushita's are overall more linear, more refined and better technically. Better texture and a bit more detail.
These are the first tubes that I've had in the BA3 that I have no reservations about (so far). They're a kind of excellence to my ear.
8 hours:
**** guitars sound gnarly. Everything is cohesive. Nothing bad has happened. If anything it's improved... but that's maybe feeling more than fact.
12 hours:
These trounce every other tube I've tried in the BA3. Unreserved appreciation. It's just like... the music, man. The music.
There are all these attributes that I want to write down, but I'm not sure how much of it is the tubes by themselves, and how much of it is the tubes working in partnership with another piece of the chain. I mean, I could probably piece it out with time. Arrange the relationships. But who wants to when the music is happening?
