[Earspeakers]

You don't have to. ...

 

So I had a match quad and now left with two match pairs. Of course, mulveling survived my assault and lives on to tell the tale

 
A bit off topic perhaps, but can you characterize how they sound better? What characteristics are you enjoying in the older tubes?
 
Oftentimes people like a more relaxing, mellow kind of sound which they get from older tubes and designs. My ears prefer detail, some punch without harshness, which is obviously personal and subjective. For example, many like the 007mk1 but I find it too mellow, smooth and relaxing. Likewise many dislike the Lambdas, but (awful truth be told) I'm preferring a modern Lambda to any Omega, except the 009 which is reigning as King for me. I've heard 404's described as aggressive, but I find the 404 Signature and 404LE (practically the same) as a kind of more refined and more detailed Lambda. The Lambda Nova is nice, but goes in the warm Omega direction, with more fuzz however. 
 
Would I be a good candidate for NOS or new production, any thoughts? 

 

[purk]

   
 
A bit off topic perhaps, but can you characterize how they sound better? What characteristics are you enjoying in the older tubes?
 
Oftentimes people like a more relaxing, mellow kind of sound which they get from older tubes and designs. My ears prefer detail, some punch without harshness, which is obviously personal and subjective. For example, many like the 007mk1 but I find it too mellow, smooth and relaxing. Likewise many dislike the Lambdas, but (awful truth be told) I'm preferring a modern Lambda to any Omega, except the 009 which is reigning as King for me. I've heard 404's described as aggressive, but I find the 404 Signature and 404LE (practically the same) as a kind of more refined and more detailed Lambda. The Lambda Nova is nice, but goes in the warm Omega direction, with more fuzz however. 
 
Would I be a good candidate for NOS or new production, any thoughts? 

My amp was shipped with the Shuguang Black Treasure tubes from Justin.  He considered them as an upgrade from the new production Mullards especially for the SR009.  He told me that the new production Mullard is a better match to the SR007 MKI.  Anyway, I later upgraded to the NOS Holland EL34 matched quad and it offers the following benefits over the the Shuguang tubes.  
 
-Bass is tighter with better definition.
-More details with even quieter background
-Deeper and wider soundstage as well as better imaging
 
I have not gone back to the Treasure tubes since.  According to Spritzer, these NOS tubes are much more robust and has much better life span.  His NOS Mullard is still going strong despite having over 5000+ hours of use.  BTW, one of my treasure tube went dead after about 3 months or so. 
 
Thanks Frank for your recommendation.

 

[preproman]

Purk,
 
Do you agree with Justin that the new production Mullard is a better match to the SR007 MKI than any other tubes?  I will be looking to wake the up / add some punch to the sound..

 

[purk]

  Purk,
 
Do you agree with Justin that the new production Mullard is a better match to the SR007 MKI than any other tubes?  I will be looking to wake the up / add some punch to the sound..

Not any other tubes, but according to him better match than the Shuguang treasure tube that he offers for the BHSE and SR007 MKI setup.  I think the NOS EL34s either Mullard or my Holland does offer better sound than any current production tubes, IMO, of course.  I tried Psvane as well and think my NOS Mullard & Holland EL34s are better sounding.

 

[TheAttorney]

  I think the NOS EL34s either Mullard or my Holland does offer better sound than any current production tubes, IMO, of course.  I tried Psvane as well and think my NOS Mullard & Holland EL34s are better sounding.

+1
 
This discussion really should be moved to the BHSE thread, but I can resist no longer )
 
In the BHSE thread, I posted a ranking and subjective scoring of the different tubes I had tried with the BHSE. The ranking order was exactly the same for 007 Mk1 and 009 - because the different tubes fundamentally change the sound (focus, clarity, etc) that applies to all headphones. There are tonal differences too, but IMO these are not as significant as the fundamental changes (at least in the ones I tried).
 
At the time, the top tube in my list was the vintage Mullard xf2 OO. That has since been overtaken by the vintage Holland xf4 DD.
What surprises me is that more BHSE owners haven't tried the new production Mesa Boogies. 2 out of 2 people (me and Golfnutz) thought that the Mesa Boogies were slightly better than the Psvanes. Considering the MBs cost a fraction of the price and also don't have any known reliability issues, I'd have expected more people to have tried them by now.

 

[FrankCooter]

You probably know this, but Mesa does not make tubes.  No knock on the tubes, but they are most likely rebranded Sovteks.
 
The best places to learn about EL34's are guitar amp forums. On average,  these guys have way more knowledge about  types and brands of tubes than the audio crowd.

 

[Earspeakers]

  You probably know this, but Mesa does not make tubes.  No knock on the tubes, but they are most likely rebranded Sovteks.
 
The best places to learn about EL34's are guitar amp forums. On average,  these guys have way more knowledge about  types and brands of tubes than the audio crowd.

True, except their experience is based on getting the best sound when driving them into compression, a little different from our application 

 

[Takeanidea]

Evidence from the experts over the last few days suggest the end game is a head to head between the SR009 and the HE-1000 although the phones are not yet in production and may yet be changed before it retails.
Has any endgamer had the chance to evaluate the HE-1000 over their SR009?
Is the Taket not a possible contender against the SR009 has anyone compared them who is in the know?
Is the Abyss not a possible contender against the HE-1000 and can anyone lend their experience against these 2?

 

[Golfnutz]

  You probably know this, but Mesa does not make tubes.  No knock on the tubes, but they are most likely rebranded Sovteks.
 
The best places to learn about EL34's are guitar amp forums. On average,  these guys have way more knowledge about  types and brands of tubes than the audio crowd.

Frank you're absolutely correct, and we've already had the discussion about what the Mesa Boogies really are. However, for what ever reason, and considering the price they're not a bad option for anyone who wants to try rolling tubes. They're supposed to be better in the bass region. Has to be the BLUE ones. 
 
I've had 2 quads of the RFT (still have a quad), and I wouldn't recommend them for the BHSE, the improvement isn't worth the money IMO.
 
Both quads of my Psvane are in the garbage now. First quad lasted a year (2500 hours), Second quad lasted about 4 months and all 4 tubes went bad at the same time. I'm done with those. They are an improvement over the stock Mullards, but not reliable.
 
Any of the NOS (or good used) are really the best for the BHSE. The very best I've heard are the Holland XF4 DD (or same variations, as long as they are DD getters). I cannot speak for anyone else, but to me they are the closest sounding to vinyl I've heard from a digital source.

 

[preproman]

Evidence from the experts over the last few days suggest the end game is a head to head between the SR009 and the HE-1000 although the phones are not yet in production and may yet be changed before it retails.
Has any endgamer had the chance to evaluate the HE-1000 over their SR009?
Is the Taket not a possible contender against the SR009 has anyone compared them who is in the know?
Is the Abyss not a possible contender against the HE-1000 and can anyone lend their experience against these 2?

 
What's the Taket?

 

[SoAmusing777]

Evidence from the experts over the last few days suggest the end game is a head to head between the SR009 and the HE-1000 although the phones are not yet in production and may yet be changed before it retails.
Has any endgamer had the chance to evaluate the HE-1000 over their SR009?
Is the Taket not a possible contender against the SR009 has anyone compared them who is in the know?
Is the Abyss not a possible contender against the HE-1000 and can anyone lend their experience against these 2?

This is a great question. I love to know myself. I'd like to see this evidence from experts though. The SR009 is arguably the best headphone in existence, so to say it's head to head is pretty huge. Still curious on the price.

 

[SoAmusing777]

  Headphone Only.....

Do you have any evidence supporting the HE1000 is going to be $3000 for the headphone alone? Everywhere I see it's not been confirmed. I really hope HiFiMan doesn't price this $3000 just to have people compare it to the SR009 due to price alone. I'd much rather them price it at $1000-2000. It can still be compared to whatever. No need to jack up the price.

 

[longbowbbs]

 

  Headphone Only.....

Do you have any evidence supporting the HE1000 is going to be $3000 for the headphone alone? Everywhere I see it's not been confirmed. I really hope HiFiMan doesn't price this $3000 just to have people compare it to the SR009 due to price alone. I'd much rather them price it at $1000-2000. It can still be compared to whatever. No need to jack up the price.

Well....I did speak with the HiFiman folks at their booth at CanJam.

 

[Takeanidea]

I'd like to see this evidence from experts though.

 


By experts I meant the true experts; those who have the SR009 , who have bought this headphone and have owned it for long enough to be classed as endgamers. These people are the true experts because they have lived with a headphone for 100s if not 1000s of hours

 

[jibzilla]

   
What's the Taket?

It's some crazy high ohm headphone. Like 5 figures high. It can only be driven, that I know of, by taket's special headphone amp which is a big ass 50lb. hunk of metal. They show up on ebay time to time. I believe Jude said it was the best bass out of any headphone that he had heard but that he eq'd it. Last I saw the headphone was around $1500 and the amp around $2500 but I have not checked it out for a while. The amp pretty much made it a no go in my setup. I'm still waiting for a ribbon headphone. I love my adam speaks, that would be badass if they came out with something. Lots of talk about ribbon but very little action so far.