[hodgjy]

Was it Alex who came through for you?
 
Quote:

....then got a mail from a recommended company I e-mailed yesterday saying he has a matched pair if I want them.

 

[SpudHarris]

No unfortunately all the recommendations struck out, bar a late one last night from MusicMan for vacuumtubes.net and I hooked their last pair.
 
Thanks to all who threw the rec's over though, it was appreciated. Although I struck out on those specific tubes I picked up some valueable contacts for possible future purchases so it was cool.

 

[hodgjy]

Those guys do have a mountain of tubes, that's for sure.
 
Quote:

vacuumtubes.net

 

[iRRegular]

Hello guys, I apologize in advance for my possible ignorance, but I tried to research on my own as much as I could. But I still desperately need your opinion. The thing is that I'm buying a headphone amp for my Beyer DT880 and I think Woo amps are a very solid choice for me. I am currently thinking about WA6 or even WA6 SE / WA2. It may seem a bit of an overkill for a DT880s, but I'd like to get a good amp, which will be able to drive some HD 800s or Beyer T1s in future upgrades of my system. The thing is that I'm capable of buying WA6 SE / WA2 with my budget, but I won't have much money left for any possible upgrades or modifications for amp, such as Premium Parts upgrade (I really need advice on this one, is it worth it?) or more expensive tube replacements. I also noticed that WA6 SE and WA2 are priced exactly the same, so any explanation of which is better would be mostly appreciated. So I'm in need of suggestions / opinions about my described problems with deciding, I greatly appreciate your opinion, as I lack any kind of experience with tube amps. Thanks in advance!

 

[TheWuss]

a new head-fier.  and your first post is in the woo forum?
welcome, my friend.
man, you're off to a good start.  if i must say so myself.  

 
i wish i could help you with the amp selection.  but, i only have heard the WA6.
 
i will say this, though.  all your potential cans are high impedance.
so maybe the OTL WA2 is a good option.  even if you can't upgrade caps, etc., it's still supposed to be a stellar amp.

 

[jc9394]

I will recommend WA6SE instead of WA2, just incase you want to try out some low impedance phones in the future.

 

[balderon]

I am becoming a little discouraged with the Shuguang CV181-Z Treasures. I am close to 25 hours and the sound is not what I hoped for. There has been dramatic improvements since first powered but the mid-range and highs are suppressed as compared to the 6FD7 fat bottles. I know more time is needed to settle in and have not completely given up but I must confess I have my eyes on a pair of TungSol black, round plates.

 

[OutdoorXplorer]

Quote:

I am becoming a little discouraged with the Shuguang CV181-Z Treasures. I am close to 25 hours and the sound is not what I hoped for. There has been dramatic improvements since first powered but the mid-range and highs are suppressed as compared to the 6FD7 fat bottles. I know more time is needed to settle in and have not completely given up but I must confess I have my eyes on a pair of TungSol black, round plates.

 
That is not encouraging, my CV181-Z is schedule to be delivered on or before next Tuesday. I read somewhere that is requires approx 300 hours to mature the tubes. Guess that 25 hours ain't enough, do report once it reaches 50 hours. Keen to know the outcome while waiting for mine.
 

 

[SpudHarris]

Don't panic guys, I have about 45-55 hours on mine and I think they are just superb in my WA6 and a world away from when they first got here. I have other tubes including some nice Sylvania Chrome Top 6SN7's and the Fat Bottle 6FD7's mentioned and neither come close. I have swapped them out a few times but always find there is something missing with other tubes, they are magical. That might change once the TS Black Glass Round Plate 6F8G's get here......

 

[hodgjy]

I've had tubes that have taken more than 50 hours to really open up and mature into their sound.  Give your Treasures some more time before making your final assessment.  They might just need a lot of time to burn in, especially since their glass is lined with carbon, which may also need some seasoning, too.

 

[Skylab]

Quote:

I am becoming a little discouraged with the Shuguang CV181-Z Treasures. I am close to 25 hours and the sound is not what I hoped for. There has been dramatic improvements since first powered but the mid-range and highs are suppressed as compared to the 6FD7 fat bottles. I know more time is needed to settle in and have not completely given up but I must confess I have my eyes on a pair of TungSol black, round plates.

I'm afraid I never really liked them as much as I wanted/needed to, either.  They are good enough sounding, but I preferred almost all of my NOS tubes, even some of the pretty inexpensive ones.  And these are nothing at all like real CV181's, I can assure you.

 

[jax]

Folks using the CV181-Z Black Treasures in their Modwright Transporters have reported pretty dramatic fluctuations in performance in the break-in period of the first few hundred hours.  It remains a favored tube in that application overall, but there have been those who've become disenchanted and moved on/back to NOS.  Obviously the MWTP is is a different application...so, FWIW.  I've yet to try my black treasures in my WA6SE. 

 

[balderon]

 
Quote:

 
I'm afraid I never really liked them as much as I wanted/needed to, either.  They are good enough sounding, but I preferred almost all of my NOS tubes, even some of the pretty inexpensive ones.  And these are nothing at all like real CV181's, I can assure you.

Maybe one of these days I'll get a pair of Mullards to try out... They are certainly a bit pricey.

 

[takezo]

for those of you still searching for roundplate tungsols or national union 6f8g tubes, try dale
at vacuumtubes.net. they still have about 4 or 5 pairs of roundplates rebranded. i believe they
are all rebranded tungsol roundplate types. the national union roundplates are differenct in structure
and seem to be rare.
 
best news is that they are about $20 each. the regular flat blackplates are $10 each NOS.
better prices and more reliable than epay, imo.
 
( i have no affiliation nor vested interest in the company. just trying to help fellow head-fiers find good tubes at reasonable prices)

 

[balderon]

Quote:

Don't panic guys, I have about 45-55 hours on mine and I think they are just superb in my WA6 and a world away from when they first got here. I have other tubes including some nice Sylvania Chrome Top 6SN7's and the Fat Bottle 6FD7's mentioned and neither come close. I have swapped them out a few times but always find there is something missing with other tubes, they are magical. That might change once the TS Black Glass Round Plate 6F8G's get here......

Quote:

I've had tubes that have taken more than 50 hours to really open up and mature into their sound.  Give your Treasures some more time before making your final assessment.  They might just need a lot of time to burn in, especially since their glass is lined with carbon, which may also need some seasoning, too.

Quote:

Folks using the CV181-Z Black Treasures in their Modwright Transporters have reported pretty dramatic fluctuations in performance in the break-in period of the first few hundred hours.  It remains a favored tube in that application overall, but there have been those who've become disenchanted and moved on/back to NOS.  Obviously the MWTP is is a different application...so, FWIW.  I've yet to try my black treasures in my WA6SE. 

 
Thanks all for the feedback. I am continuing the burn-in and I am looking forward to hear more forthcoming improvements before the the recommended 300+ hours.