what are the best tubes to get for the xduoo ta-66 to get the most euphonic syrupy warm tube sound?

[Jerrod]

from what i understand they use tubes that are pretty uncommon, what tubes would give them the most euphonic syrupy warm tube sound?

 

[Edward Ng]

For the preamp stage, I had great experiences with Voskhod Rocket tubes in the past with a tube preamp, and they make a 6N2P-EV, so I ordered one of them. The Chinese 6N5P power tube is compatible with Russian 6H13C or American 6AS7G, and in doing some research on these tubes, there’s a company called Atma-Sphere that builds over $100,000 tube speaker amps using 6AS7G tubes, so I bought the one they use in their MS3 amplifier, the SED winged-C 6AS7G.

-Ed

 

[Cantrell]

For the preamp stage, I had great experiences with Voskhod Rocket tubes in the past with a tube preamp, and they make a 6N2P-EV, so I ordered one of them. The Chinese 6N5P power tube is compatible with Russian 6H13C or American 6AS7G, and in doing some research on these tubes, there’s a company called Atma-Sphere that builds over $100,000 tube speaker amps using 6AS7G tubes, so I bought the one they use in their MS3 amplifier, the SED winged-C 6AS7G.

-Ed

Good starting point info. I have a similar but slightly different question/sound desired from ? Tubed in a ta-66. I generally preferred nos tubes in my guitar amps, kinda wanting to lean same direction for tubes with ta-66. Generally prefer nos tubes because I found them to almost always be richer, warmer in a good way, more musical, 3D sounding, harmonically rich/lush, exexcellent depth to notes, complex sounding, but defined & refined, chime/sparkle, organic/natural, balanced in right , ,inda amounts & ways, never harsh, brittle, thin, stale/flat. My favorite preamp tubes fir guitar amps were 1970s East German TFT in V1 usuallythe input for both channelsif had a separateclean & OD channel, in cathoe followersin cascading gain for od/distortion channel, V2/V3 cryo treated Sovtek LPS non NOS, if had separate tube for clean channel V4 or or was mainly a clean amp, in V1-V2/V3 depending on amp design, JAN GE 12AXWAs or ZrRCA black or Gray long plate RCAs. Non nos for thr tube buffered Series Effects Loop, Penta Labs brand versions of 12AX7 Chinese made tubes that could regularly handle pretty high voltages & A of high gain amps, non nos. Tessted to be matched & balanced, etc, for phase inverter, Sovtek 12AX7WA. Depending on the amp & desiredsound/musicI was playing, i occasionally would opt for the expensive & very desired 1960s original brand Mullard 12ax7 or Fpeven harder to find French Mazda long grey pklate 12AX7 high gain tubes. All tubes except where noted were NOS/new old stock 12AX7 variety. Also had an affinity for Vox AC30 hand wired amps with a EF83 preamp tube, non nos, never owned 1 to tube roll nor try nos in. For the highrt-high gain amps, I preferred most the original! 970s Tesla ( not JJ TeslaL brown base NO EL34s power tubes. In the 1 guitar amp i ever owned that wasn't EL34 powered, I liked having a matched quad of nos Dutch? Bugle Boy EL84 power tubes. Guitar amps I owned usually came with modern JJ Tesla EL34LS for high plate voltages or in the 1 amp, modern JJ Tesla EL84 power tubes. I would occasionally do do some guitar & amp work for local bands, producers & guitar players. some had 6L6 amps, they usually opted for modern TAD 6L6 variants for thier amps as they were more budget minded then me with tubes, I was too kinda with how much 2-4× power tubes cost per set 1-2× a year.

So with that info outta the way, I would like suggestions on what tubes for the TA66 might/would give me the most 3D holographic sound, best stereo imaging, deepest, widest, tallest in that order of priority, soundstage, best separation, bit sweeter mid/audible bass-upper treble, good+ mids, that are bit warmer, great for all stringed instruments like guitar, pianos, violins, cellos, basses. Also synths. Audible bass that us warm, velvety, punchy, fat/solidly thick but not bloated, doesn't bleed over much if any, defined, has crisp leading note edge, notes are super deep, audible bass through, lower mids similarly. Treble that is sweeter, solid amount of warmth, doesn't get harsh, sibilant, is silky not, grainy, nor gets too hot, but extends pretty well, solid amount of sparkle & chime/swirl, very solid+ amount of air/space, very solid+/good amount of detail, is smoother. Subsonic bass that extends well, is very solidly+ defined, well controlled, fairly punchy, rumbles& & explodes very solidly when called upon & hits you in the intestins/guts,, is deep. Overall is warmer, buttery, lush/rich, organic/natural, harmonically rich & complex, very/pretty solid + dynamics, as 3D/holographic as possible, very musical, smoother, larger soundstage, deep note depth, solidly+ defined, right amount of presence, very solid+/good+ layering/cohesiveness, transition & balance between frequencies, brass/snares, cymbals/high hats, occasionally some female vocals are smooth & don't get harsh, sibilant, etc. I'm very sensitive to that around 3khz. Guitars, etc have the right/natural amount of bite & presence still though, guitars don't really bother me nearly as nuch if at all around 3khz. Good+ at female vocals, solid+ at male vocals., solid+ clarity, focus & presentation.. things that should ring like a good bell, very natural decay, etc. Is bith powerful yet soft/delicate as called upon/needed.high sound quality. I'll be using TA-66 alot, prib more so as a headphones amp fed by a Hifiman EF400 R2R Himalaya dac which I'll be feeding music via my Tablet streaming Tidal premium via a solid quality usb c to usbc cable, will eventually probably build a new usb c cable using some more exotic metal combos, same for rca cables from dac to headphones amp/preamp, headphones & iem cables, metals like silver gold alloy, gold plated silver, palladium plated silver, Dulund silver foil in silk/cotton in oil, gold plated Copper, Amtrans silver then gold plated copper naked wire in Silk or cotton tubing, Mono/Single Crystal OCC 4n+ copper, for headphones/iem cables at least some cyro treated pure silver conductors in a more suitable more pvc like jacketing as Dulund & Amtrans won't be ver suitable fir that. So also will have some double helix fusion diy wire on tha way to use. Ideas for conductorsmetalt type combos cone fromnPro Audio Sounds cable descriptions, of silver + gold alloy, T metal, etc as well as Eletechs Raphael & Illiad, etc models. But I'll also add shielding and have some wires in cotton or silk. I can't afford those nor can justify spending like $60,00 usd on cables. I'll also be taking some of Older Morrow Audio like MA2-4 series wires and adding to the mix for ICs and speaker stuff. Probably around 25%-333% of the time will be using the TA-66 as a preamp. R2r dac to TA-66 to a like 35-45 watts RMS per channel EL34 powered power amp for home stereo hifi use.

So what would you all suggest for tge 2× tubes in the TA-66 (6N2P? &the other wierd type if tube) for my desired characteristics &sound signature? Thanks.

 

[Edward Ng]

Good starting point info. I have a similar but slightly different question/sound desired from ? Tubed in a ta-66. I generally preferred nos tubes in my guitar amps, kinda wanting to lean same direction for tubes with ta-66. Generally prefer nos tubes because I found them to almost always be richer, warmer in a good way, more musical, 3D sounding, harmonically rich/lush, exexcellent depth to notes, complex sounding, but defined & refined, chime/sparkle, organic/natural, balanced in right , ,inda amounts & ways, never harsh, brittle, thin, stale/flat. My favorite preamp tubes fir guitar amps were 1970s East German TFT in V1 usuallythe input for both channelsif had a separateclean & OD channel, in cathoe followersin cascading gain for od/distortion channel, V2/V3 cryo treated Sovtek LPS non NOS, if had separate tube for clean channel V4 or or was mainly a clean amp, in V1-V2/V3 depending on amp design, JAN GE 12AXWAs or ZrRCA black or Gray long plate RCAs. Non nos for thr tube buffered Series Effects Loop, Penta Labs brand versions of 12AX7 Chinese made tubes that could regularly handle pretty high voltages & A of high gain amps, non nos. Tessted to be matched & balanced, etc, for phase inverter, Sovtek 12AX7WA. Depending on the amp & desiredsound/musicI was playing, i occasionally would opt for the expensive & very desired 1960s original brand Mullard 12ax7 or Fpeven harder to find French Mazda long grey pklate 12AX7 high gain tubes. All tubes except where noted were NOS/new old stock 12AX7 variety. Also had an affinity for Vox AC30 hand wired amps with a EF83 preamp tube, non nos, never owned 1 to tube roll nor try nos in. For the highrt-high gain amps, I preferred most the original! 970s Tesla ( not JJ TeslaL brown base NO EL34s power tubes. In the 1 guitar amp i ever owned that wasn't EL34 powered, I liked having a matched quad of nos Dutch? Bugle Boy EL84 power tubes. Guitar amps I owned usually came with modern JJ Tesla EL34LS for high plate voltages or in the 1 amp, modern JJ Tesla EL84 power tubes. I would occasionally do do some guitar & amp work for local bands, producers & guitar players. some had 6L6 amps, they usually opted for modern TAD 6L6 variants for thier amps as they were more budget minded then me with tubes, I was too kinda with how much 2-4× power tubes cost per set 1-2× a year.

So with that info outta the way, I would like suggestions on what tubes for the TA66 might/would give me the most 3D holographic sound, best stereo imaging, deepest, widest, tallest in that order of priority, soundstage, best separation, bit sweeter mid/audible bass-upper treble, good+ mids, that are bit warmer, great for all stringed instruments like guitar, pianos, violins, cellos, basses. Also synths. Audible bass that us warm, velvety, punchy, fat/solidly thick but not bloated, doesn't bleed over much if any, defined, has crisp leading note edge, notes are super deep, audible bass through, lower mids similarly. Treble that is sweeter, solid amount of warmth, doesn't get harsh, sibilant, is silky not, grainy, nor gets too hot, but extends pretty well, solid amount of sparkle & chime/swirl, very solid+ amount of air/space, very solid+/good amount of detail, is smoother. Subsonic bass that extends well, is very solidly+ defined, well controlled, fairly punchy, rumbles& & explodes very solidly when called upon & hits you in the intestins/guts,, is deep. Overall is warmer, buttery, lush/rich, organic/natural, harmonically rich & complex, very/pretty solid + dynamics, as 3D/holographic as possible, very musical, smoother, larger soundstage, deep note depth, solidly+ defined, right amount of presence, very solid+/good+ layering/cohesiveness, transition & balance between frequencies, brass/snares, cymbals/high hats, occasionally some female vocals are smooth & don't get harsh, sibilant, etc. I'm very sensitive to that around 3khz. Guitars, etc have the right/natural amount of bite & presence still though, guitars don't really bother me nearly as nuch if at all around 3khz. Good+ at female vocals, solid+ at male vocals., solid+ clarity, focus & presentation.. things that should ring like a good bell, very natural decay, etc. Is bith powerful yet soft/delicate as called upon/needed.high sound quality. I'll be using TA-66 alot, prib more so as a headphones amp fed by a Hifiman EF400 R2R Himalaya dac which I'll be feeding music via my Tablet streaming Tidal premium via a solid quality usb c to usbc cable, will eventually probably build a new usb c cable using some more exotic metal combos, same for rca cables from dac to headphones amp/preamp, headphones & iem cables, metals like silver gold alloy, gold plated silver, palladium plated silver, Dulund silver foil in silk/cotton in oil, gold plated Copper, Amtrans silver then gold plated copper naked wire in Silk or cotton tubing, Mono/Single Crystal OCC 4n+ copper, for headphones/iem cables at least some cyro treated pure silver conductors in a more suitable more pvc like jacketing as Dulund & Amtrans won't be ver suitable fir that. So also will have some double helix fusion diy wire on tha way to use. Ideas for conductorsmetalt type combos cone fromnPro Audio Sounds cable descriptions, of silver + gold alloy, T metal, etc as well as Eletechs Raphael & Illiad, etc models. But I'll also add shielding and have some wires in cotton or silk. I can't afford those nor can justify spending like $60,00 usd on cables. I'll also be taking some of Older Morrow Audio like MA2-4 series wires and adding to the mix for ICs and speaker stuff. Probably around 25%-333% of the time will be using the TA-66 as a preamp. R2r dac to TA-66 to a like 35-45 watts RMS per channel EL34 powered power amp for home stereo hifi use.

So what would you all suggest for tge 2× tubes in the TA-66 (6N2P? &the other wierd type if tube) for my desired characteristics &sound signature? Thanks.

Hopefully someone else can chime in. I’ve no real experience with tubes older than I am (42), apologies.

-Ed