The Decware TABOO MK 111 Thread

[OPR8R]

   
 
 
I am getting most of my tubes from Jim McShane, try contacting him. He has the Genelex at a fair price, and they are tested thoroughly by somebody reputable and knowledgeable. Good service. 

 
Genalex are pretty easy to find, it seems.  It's the Amperex that I'll have to watch for.  I think I will give the Genalex a shot though.

 

[thegrobe]

Genalex are pretty easy to find, it seems.  It's the Amperex that I'll have to watch for.  I think I will give the Genalex a shot though.

Oh, right. My bad. I read that as you needed to keep watching eBay for the Genelex.

 

[mwindham08]

Hey do any of you know anything about hammonds tubes?
 
I have some EL84's that say hammond on them in like an orangish peach color.
 
I can see people selling amperex hammond rebranded tubes, hammond mullard tubes, and hammond philips tubes.
 
Did hammond rebrand multiple manufacturers tubes or did they make their own?
 
All these supposed rebrands look identical to the tubes I own.
 
It's made it difficult to determine who actually made this tube.
 
 
Edit: They say made in holland on them so that makes me lean more towards Phillips or Amperex

 

[longbowbbs]

  Hey do any of you know anything about hammonds tubes?
 
I have some EL84's that say hammond on them in like an orangish peach color.
 
I can see people selling amperex hammond rebranded tubes, hammond mullard tubes, and hammond philips tubes.
 
Did hammond rebrand multiple manufacturers tubes or did they make their own?
 
All these supposed rebrands look identical to the tubes I own.
 
It's made it difficult to determine who actually made this tube.
 
 
Edit: They say made in holland on them so that makes me lean more towards Phillips or Amperex

 
Hammonds are a brand of Organ that use tube's. They got rebranded at the factory and packaged for use with their organ products.

 

[mwindham08]

That's really interesting, I did a little research and found that the Hammond Organ Company was based out of Chicago.
 
They could have been buying anybody's tubes and rebranding them and from what I've seent they did buy from a variety of manufacturers.
 
They do say made in Holland so I'm still leaning towards amperex/philips 

 

[thegrobe]

Hey do any of you know anything about hammonds tubes?

I have some EL84's that say hammond on them in like an orangish peach color.

I can see people selling amperex hammond rebranded tubes, hammond mullard tubes, and hammond philips tubes.

Did hammond rebrand multiple manufacturers tubes or did they make their own?

All these supposed rebrands look identical to the tubes I own.

It's made it difficult to determine who actually made this tube.


Edit: They say made in holland on them so that makes me lean more towards Phillips or Amperex

If you look at it from the top, are there four lines embossed in the glass, kind of forming an "x" shape? If so, I believe they are Amperex. I have a set as well, sounds nice in the Taboo.

 

[mwindham08]

Yeah they do! I bet that's it thanks a lot guys

 

[Oskari]

The seams are indicative of Philips tooling. The acid-etched code tells the factory.

 

[koiloco]

Hi guys,
 
Unfortunately my technical logic is correct.  It's not the TEAC UD501 DAC causing the loud noise issue with DSD playback.  With the new replacement DAC arrived today from Amazon, the problem is still the same.  As I said before, i did not think it was the DAC because DSD playback sounds perfect on the Emotiva and my cheap Fiio e9K.  The problem only happened on the taboo.  But I listened to Steve and ordered a replacement DAC anyway.  Well, now I have the answer.  Let's see what's going to happen next.  I am waiting for a call from Decware.  For the $, this is turning out to be quite a bit of trouble and time wasted than I would like. But so far, communication from Decware is top notch.  I do hope to resolve this issue because I really like the SQ of the taboo.

 

[OPR8R]

  Hi guys,
 
Unfortunately my technical logic is correct.  It's not the TEAC UD501 DAC causing the loud noise issue with DSD playback.  With the new replacement DAC arrived today from Amazon, the problem is still the same.  As I said before, i did not think it was the DAC because DSD playback sounds perfect on the Emotiva and my cheap Fiio e9K.  The problem only happened on the taboo.  But I listened to Steve and ordered a replacement DAC anyway.  Well, now I have the answer.  Let's see what's going to happen next.  I am waiting for a call from Decware.  For the $, this is turning out to be quite a bit of trouble and time wasted than I would like. But so far, communication from Decware is top notch.  I do hope to resolve this issue because I really like the SQ of the taboo.

What a bummer.  I can't imagine what might be happening there.  Your other non-DSD files are being converted to analog and playing just fine, right?  How is it one type of D to A converted file play and not the other?  So weird.  Anyway, I hope you get it resolved one way or the other.  Sorry you're going through this hassle.

 

[mwindham08]

I know there have been a few recommendations for the philips EL84.
 
Has anyone tried any other EL84's with the Taboo? I've heard the Telefunkens are supposed to be really good but you definitely pay top dollar for them.

 

[longbowbbs]

  I know there have been a few recommendations for the philips EL84.
 
Has anyone tried any other EL84's with the Taboo? I've heard the Telefunkens are supposed to be really good but you definitely pay top dollar for them.

 
Mullards are nice.

 

[koiloco]

  What a bummer.  I can't imagine what might be happening there.  Your other non-DSD files are being converted to analog and playing just fine, right?  How is it one type of D to A converted file play and not the other?  So weird.  Anyway, I hope you get it resolved one way or the other.  Sorry you're going through this hassle.

Yup, Flac, wave, mp3  ... play flawlessly.  This is where my technical understanding reaches its limit regarding audio and I am completely puzzled by this.  On top of that, Steve has the same TEAC DAC that he plays his DSDs from and doesn't have the same problem.  So logically, my taboo is only possible reason left.  Wouldn't you agree?

 

[OPR8R]

  Yup, Flac, wave, mp3  ... play flawlessly.  This is where my technical understanding reaches its limit regarding audio and I am completely puzzled by this.  On top of that, Steve has the same TEAC DAC that he plays his DSDs from and doesn't have the same problem.  So logically, my taboo is only possible reason left.  Wouldn't you agree?

I honestly don't know.  There's one of two things happening.
 
1) Some how the TEAC isn't converting the stream properly, so the Taboo isn't getting an analog signal
 
or
 
2) Somehow your Taboo is incompatible with some analog signals.
 
Neither one makes sense to me based on your description of what's happening, and since I don't know much about how either works, your guess is as good as mine.
 
The only thing similar I can think of is years ago I had an iPod (built-in DAC of course) and could use a iPod dock out to RCA cable to connect it to my Pioneer amp and it worked fine.  But somehow when I upgraded to an iPhone, the stupid thing wouldn't work.  I mean the iPhone had a DAC, what the heck?  I suppose that was an issue with the cable, but why should that have mattered?  As you can see, I'm quite ignorant about these things.

 

[koiloco]

  I honestly don't know.  There's one of two things happening.
 
1) Some how the TEAC isn't converting the stream properly, so the Taboo isn't getting an analog signal
 
or
 
2) Somehow your Taboo is incompatible with some analog signals.
 
Neither one makes sense to me based on your description of what's happening, and since I don't know much about how either works, your guess is as good as mine.
 
The only thing similar I can think of is years ago I had an iPod (built-in DAC of course) and could use a iPod dock out to RCA cable to connect it to my Pioneer amp and it worked fine.  But somehow when I upgraded to an iPhone, the stupid thing wouldn't work.  I mean the iPhone had a DAC, what the heck?  I suppose that was an issue with the cable, but why should that have mattered?  As you can see, I'm quite ignorant about these things.

I thought about this too but it doesn't make sense as why both my Emotiva mini-x and Fiio E9K doesn't have the issue but only the taboo does.  Then, Steve tested his TEAC DAC, playing some DSDs using the same TEAC DSD player as I do, to a sample Taboo he pulled from his production floor and didn't have the same problem.  This was the reason Steve thought my DAC was bad but I honestly didn't agree but went ahead and ordered a replacement DAC from Amazon to verify anyway.
Then, when thinking about your #2, if taboo is incompatible then why Steve's setup worked just fine.  Either scenarios absolutely don't make sense so the only explanation is that my taboo unit is messed up in some way.