How did you find the Novem to work with the Sr009 or Sr007? Love the retro look.
I have collected rare tubes over the years and use this amp with Siemens Halske 1959 long plates. As a source i use Abbas Audio Nos DAC with the first 16bit Philips 1540 chip. The chain is fully tube and the Novem is all tube circuit . Through Abbas dac it's better than straight out of Luxman D10X.
When i got the X9K i was rolling different amps with X9K and soon found out that the X9K is extremely source dependent. I mentioned earlier that we get all kinds of reviews with X9K. The X9K is extremely balanced, linear and transparent transducer. With different sources the X9K changes like a chameleon.
I tried X9K with powerfull SS amps and found they push it too much and it loses the relaxness and musicality. When I heard the X9K with my friends DIY tube amp and it was clear to my ears and my friends ears, this sounded best. In comparison 007 behaves quite diffrently with amps. The X9K plays significantly better than any previous phones
wich i have owned.
With this tube chain this combo reminds me of the Original Orpheus, full and meaty but this exceeds Orpheus vastly in transparency soundstage etc.
The Novem and Abbas are a chain and i feed it with my Luxman drive. This is digital pushed to analog as far as possible. I use western electric NOS cables .
So this combo is now tuned to my ears, how it sounds to other ears, i don't know. But i have a very strong feeling that the old school approach with X9K might suit best.
Very good tube amp, not too strong, with analog or like source gives in my opinion best result. Avoid cheap dac sources poor ss amps etc, you are likely to destroy the fine sound of X9K.
The waiting list /time appears to be long for X9K , i guarantee, it's worth to wait every single day.
Mjölnir Audio could build some boutique type amps to match it with X9K