[Aanta]

I got the updated Darkvoice model, the La Figaro 336 'classic'.
I knew from the start that the original tubes were far from adequate, in fact nearly any tube amp is a DIY job to get it right. (With the exception for a few super expensive headphone amps.)

So swapping tubes is a good idea better soon than later.

So here is some quick notes:

~20-30€ Bare bones necessary upgrade.
Replace the smaller 6SN7 tube on day one, the sound from this one is grainy and make no one happy.
The larger 6AS7 tube got a big murky unclear sound, but is actually musical.
So you could leave it in place until some Head-Fi person feel compassion and donate his old tuberolling second best choice for your use.

~60€ Cheap ass upgrade that might make you happy : Military grade NOS General electric 6SN7GTB and GE 6AS7GA
These are long life as they military grade, the price vary wildly but these tubes are still found in numbers so find a good deal.
Suitable for everything. Lack some details, the music do not swing fully.

~100€ Medium upgrade: Matshushita 6SN7GT & NEC 6AS7GA
(You will hear an improvement if you listen to FLAC, physical CD's or high rez PCM.)
The music swings wildly. Allround tubes from classic to jazz and whatever.
Also suitable for Death, symphonic and growl metal - the music lives and will have you headbang in an instant,

For those in USA I can tell that Radio Shack, Realistic 'Lifetime' tubes labelled 'Made in Japan' are Matsushita.
Oddly they do not sound the same as the Japanese one, but they are very musical.
The difference might be from various batches, but the Realistic is 'gold' I don't know exact manufacturing years anyway.
Suitable for Acoustic music, Classic, Electronic, Rave ...whatever.

Alternatives: Sylvania sound ok also, not as good as the Japanese ones but close.
Suitable for Metal, electronic, alternative, pop.

~180 - 240€ Toshiba tubes - super good, analytical, extremely detailed - this choice depend on your music taste.
Suitable for: Acoustic, Classic, Jazz, (I play growl metal with these also - but I am nutz. They're not optimal for that but I love details. And I can now hear when the music have been patched together from recording in different studios, and on extra track where I thought the music had a more open sound.
Urp! It was a faint hiss from an analogue master tape that fooled me.)

~50-100€ RTF, an oddball brand from former East Germany, plenty of stock around.
Buy only trough trusted dealers who test and certify they're good. Don't buy these on auction sites, the quality differ wildly, but the good ones sound airy and marvelous for some kinds of music.
Suitable for: Acoustic music, some Classic symphonies, small groups of acoustic instruments, Spanish guitar etc. When I say classics, not Bach or Prokofiev and such that music need a lot of punch and bottom - se Metal recommendations above.

Warning: Some guys will tell you that Telefunken sound great, but there's a lot of fake ones especially on Amazon.
Many are rebranded Soviet era tubes, sometime rebranded JJ tubes.

Testing a Russian made Tronal tube here - cannot be recommended for any reason, save your money.
The GE tube in the rear described above is ok detailed but lacked a bit of that hard to define musicality.


A Matsushita tube nearest the camera, and the NEC - both described above. These tubes rocked my soxx off.

(The image also show 12AX7 and 12AU7 Toshiba and NEC tubes that were tested in the CD player at right - a glimpse of the open lid seen at left.
For the CD player Toshiba was no 1 again, with NEC on second place, JJ tubes on third and Philips 12AX7/12AU7 on last place - while those latter were linear that was their only good point and in all other respects they were a complete disappointment.

 

[MarkusTubesNow]

What CD player do you have?

 

[Aanta]

What CD player do you have?

I just have an Advance acoustics MCD-203 and a Jolida JD200.
The Advance is a hybrid, while Jolida is one of the few that got all tube output plus a rectifier.
Yes two CD's, I cant part from the Advance - it's not perfect in any way but it's so bloody musical, and it got balanced outputs.
Even though the headphone amp only come with RCA connection, other parts of my messy and illogical combination of 'boxes' got XLR.

During my tube rolling I had a Shanling at home for a while, I think the owner hoped me to tube rolling it with surplus tubes.
But he never gave a budget or instructions so I only used it with the tubes he had installed.
I think the Shanling could perform very well with the right tubes though.

 

[MarkusTubesNow]

What do you think of the jolida? Have you done any tube rolling in it?

 

[Aanta]

The Jolida is a very nice CD player for the price, correctly tuberolled it is lively, musical and a match for quite more expensive players.
I don't have a limitless account for sound gear, so everything I do is a compromise anyway - and the purchase of this CD player certainly was exactly that.

At the time I bought it, I were also was considering Copland CDA 288? a bit uncertain of the model there's two more with similar numbers - anyway it's also is a CD player that overperform on the price tag, the third alternative was Vincent CD-S6 which I would place at third place in this price range.
All are very good, and no one should say good CD players sound the same, and that's the problem they simply cannot be easily compared or be said to be in the same league.
Those 3 got a full listening test at home, even now as of writing I am not entirely certain if not the Copland would have been the best choice.
But the Advance acoustics got the musicality of the Copland, so instead of selling that CD player I kept it instead - as I would have gotten very little for the used one anyway.

It's amazing how different they are, the Vincent have superior dynamics, almost aggressive, very analytical but a tad less musical, the Copland is very tubey and musical and would be perfect for background music since it is a little bit laid back.
I picked the Jolida as a compromise choice as it is a bit more all-round compared to those other two, with the original tubes its relatively musical but not enough, a wide soundstage and good details but lack a bit of life. So I immediately realised it needed to be rolled to reach the full potential.

The tubes I have tested in the Jolida are 12AX7 and 12AU7:
RTF: Airy musical tubes, but lacking in bass and the lower range. Good for acoustic music, where you will be able to hear the room or concert hall. But definitely not for electronic, pop or metal - where they sound weird. (This do not correspond to the description these tubes are given by other reviewers, they were bought from a Chinese gentleman who is an audiophile who recommended them strongly. In short they might be from an unusual batch.)
Philips JAN tubes (military) linear, then gotten 'cryo treatment' by a guy who does such. Ok details, the music plays but do not engage in any way echos and acoustics are muted - but I cannot imagine why these tubes are so dead! No musicality at all *sob*.
JJ-tubes, I actually have two sets of these both are new production, meaning from the last decade. And they do not sound the same at all!
Set no 1: These came from a high end store, and had gotten a second testing and match by a middle man, they were linear and quite musical and alright for the price.
The second set came via Slovakia, they have an extended range less linear but more musical and very interesting characteristics in the higher range that seem to be endlessly open, the room acoustics nearly as good as the RTF and any hit of a cymbal will sound fully until it fades - no dampening at all. In short, the Jolida appear to like those tubes a lot. And the Slovak guy had picked them not from measuring but on musicality. Still not perfect in details though, if only they had rocked a just a bit better they would have been a hard competitor.
NEC: Nice allround tubes, also for Metal, better than JJ by a small margin since they are more musical. These are a bit warmer than Toshiba, but also a tad muted.
Toshiba: Extremely detailed, full range and the winner in my tuberolling. Japanese audiophiles pay a bundle for NOS. On other markets they have a more reasonable price. Raytheon sold rebranded Toshiba tubes.

Matushita: This is another brand where Japanese audiophiles pay well for NOS. While I managed to get my hands on 6SN7GT & 6AS7GA I failed time over time to get my hands on any 12AX7 or 12AU7 in the auctions, every time I got outbid so these appear to be hot. With the very positive result for those tubes in the headphone amp - I can understand why.
I have not done any tube rolling on the rectifier of the Jolida, but I have been lurking in the rectifier thread here with interest and might try one or other in the future.


Edit: Found an image online of the internals of the Jolida, as my own image was not entirely sharp.