[mwindham08]

  New (NOS) signal tubes.  They're beautiful.  I took a quick listen before I set them off to burn in, and was impressed right out of the box.
 

 
Telefunken E8CC/6922

 
I bet you paid a pretty penny for those, they look great! 
You will have to give us some impressions when you get the chance.
 
Did you get them for the CSP3?

 

[OPR8R]

   
I bet you paid a pretty penny for those, they look great! 
You will have to give us some impressions when you get the chance.
 
Did you get them for the CSP3?

Not yet for the output position.  Just for the signal spot in the Taboo and CSP3.
 
I think they're a pretty good buy for NOS at Upscaleaudio.  Relatively, anyway.  I get a little tired of trying to find good used tubes that are exactly what I expect.

 

[mwindham08]

  Not yet for the output position.  Just for the signal spot in the Taboo and CSP3.
 
I think they're a pretty good buy for NOS at Upscaleaudio.  Relatively, anyway.  I get a little tired of trying to find good used tubes that are exactly what I expect.

 
For the quality you get upscale's price isn't that bad, alot better than the auctions I saw on ebay. 
 
I just got some Mullard and siemens EL84's that I'm really enjoying so far. 
Alot more bass presence than the Amperex/Philips brand. .
Might be a bit too much though for my tastes, haven't made up my mind yet.

 

[OPR8R]

   
For the quality you get upscale's price isn't that bad, alot better than the auctions I saw on ebay. 
 
I just got some Mullard and siemens EL84's that I'm really enjoying so far. 
Alot more bass presence than the Amperex/Philips brand. .
Might be a bit too much though for my tastes, haven't made up my mind yet.

Hmmm...  Mullards, huh?  I haven't tried anything but the Philips because I've been so happy with them.

 

[mwindham08]

Yeah they are Valvo rebrands. I have some seimens as well but haven't spent as much time with them yet.

 

[thegrobe]

Well folks, I'll be without the Taboo for a couple weeks or so- I sent it in to have the mysterious background hum I've posted about earlier checked out.

After receiving the CSP3, I could compare the two. The CSP is quiet, the Taboo unusually noisy in comparison. So at least I know I'm not overly sensitive to hum. It's an actual problem with the Taboo that needs to be checked out.

Wish me luck with "withdrawals"

 

[OPR8R]

Well folks, I'll be without the Taboo for a couple weeks or so- I sent it in to have the mysterious background hum I've posted about earlier checked out.

After receiving the CSP3, I could compare the two. The CSP is quiet, the Taboo unusually noisy in comparison. So at least I know I'm not overly sensitive to hum. It's an actual problem with the Taboo that needs to be checked out.

Wish me luck with "withdrawals"

 

 
Good to get that cleared up.
 
 

 

[OPR8R]

So after some more signal tube rolling in the Taboo/CSP3 combo, I think I've settled on the following.  When the Taboo and CSP3 are paired, rolling the signal tube in the Taboo makes the biggest difference.  After all the tubes I've tried, I like the stock configuration on the CSP3 feeding into an Amperex Orange Globe (with the halo getter) on the Taboo.  That combo gives me the best bass (good slam, extension, and detail), smooth highs, and mids that are slightly out front.  I had tried some other Orange Globes that had a different internals, but those didn't sound like the one I have.
 
Telefunken E88CC's are nice tubes, and though they are somewhat rare, can be found NOS.  Mids are a bit back, and highs are just shy of being smooth.  My personal opinion is that the Amprerex 6DJ8 Orange Globes (with the halo getter) sound a little better.  I've only ever seen them used, but they are usually less expensive if you can find them. The Amprerex 6922 white labels are supposed to be a little better than the Orange Globes so I might tried those next, but this is getting expensive.  

 

 

[Argo Duck]

^ Good findings.

I'm in the wrong thread here but ... just discovered how much difference a DAC can make. Had my CSP2 and Taboo 2 tuned just right for my previous DACs, especially the Meier Stagedac and Beresford Bushmaster with T1 (CSP2) and LCD2 (Taboo).

Now with the BMC PureDAC - which produces a lot more information and layering especially in the bass and mids - the tuning is all wrong. The PureDAC has more subtle detail and weight as well. My other dacs were thin I guess, as the bass is now a bit relentless. Back to tube-rolling...

 

[OPR8R]

^ Good findings.

I'm in the wrong thread here but ... just discovered how much difference a DAC can make. Had my CSP2 and Taboo 2 tuned just right for my previous DACs, especially the Meier Stagedac and Beresford Bushmaster with T1 (CSP2) and LCD2 (Taboo).

Now with the BMC PureDAC - which produces a lot more information and layering especially in the bass and mids - the tuning is all wrong. The PureDAC has more subtle detail and weight as well. My other dacs were thin I guess, as the bass is now a bit relentless. Back to tube-rolling...

 
Yeah, there's been a lot of talk about how much difference a DAC can make on other threads.  I'm not an expert but it seems to me there's a combination of more music plus more power (preamp) going on, especially with DAC's at or above that price.  But yeah, with the Taboo I imagine you're hearing every bit of the difference between DAC's 

 

[Argo Duck]

You're right OPR8R. At first I kind of blamed the Taboo & CSP. Then I realised they were just revealing how much difference the Dac makes.

Btw (I need to put this on the CSP2 thread) the Siemens gold-pin 6922 tube I bought off Frank - replacing a bugle boy that sounded quite good before the PureDac - seems to be the answer. That didn't take long Now to figure out the Taboo...

 

[koiloco]

Well, my taboo is coming back home next Monday.  No CSP3 for at least a few more weeks depending on how fast Steve moves.    Can't wait to hear that mid again.  Oh lala. 
I am also hoping for no more problem from this new combo.  Reading about some of you having to send your units back to Decware kind of often for such a small user group scares me a bit.

 

[OPR8R]

  Well, my taboo is coming back home next Monday.  No CSP3 for at least a few more weeks depending on how fast Steve moves.    Can't wait to hear that mid again.  Oh lala. 
I am also hoping for no more problem from this new combo.  Reading about some of you having to send your units back to Decware kind of often for such a small user group scares me a bit.

 
If it makes you feel any better, I haven't had any issues with my CSP3.  In the meantime, enjoy your Taboo (when you get it back) 

 

[Argo Duck]

koiloco, I would not worry about the apparent high problem rate in this group. In the context of the large group of owners world-wide (which I presume have not seen the same frequency, or I think we would have heard about it!) I think the rate is small. The rate here is likely to have been chance.

 

[thegrobe]

The CSP3 is 100% trouble free...if that helps at all. Except for it arriving with the incorrect headphone jacks.

But Decware certainly was on the ball taking care of that. They offered to: A) have me ship the unit back at no cost, turn it around in one day and send it back to me. B) Build another unit, which would ship to me from Decware on the same day I shipped my unit back. Or C) (kind of reluctantly) send me the parts to change it myself.

I pushed for the parts sent to me, as I plan on a few modifications and cap rolling, etc so changing the jacks is no problem.

Point is, they offered to immediately rectify the situation as quickly as possible and at no cost to me. Great service.

And as far as the issue that sent the Taboo back..I think there are far more owners who have silent units than otherwise. You just hear the folks with a problem posting because it's something to discuss/figure out. Someone with a silent unit isn't going to post "should my unit be noisy, what's wrong?" LOL.

Maybe they had a bad batch of capacitors or transformers, etc. Who knows?

Again, point here is they are 100% taking care of the issue to my satisfaction which is great considering my unit was bought second hand and they aren't charging anything for repairs. Again, great service.