carlseibert
Head-Fier
- Joined
- Feb 6, 2007
- Posts
- 50
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- 11
Hi,
For ease of searching, I'm posting this in its own thread. There's a lot more about the Sophia 274 here: http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f5/woo...0/#post5750339
and here: http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f5/mod...5/#post3849727
and here: http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f5/rev...5/#post4912901
So I've had my WA6SE long enough now that it's pretty well broken in and I've now put the Sophia 274B rectifier in place. (with the stock 6DE7s)
To cut to the chase, the Sophia is a must-have.
Now, this assumes that you share my ears, my tastes and prejudices and my headphones. But who doesn't?
So, moving right along...
I was kind of shocked at the change the Sophia wrought. I mean, this tube's not in the signal path. How much of a difference could it make? A lot, apparently.
The stock Sovtek imparted what was for me an over-warm presentation, with a downward tipped tonal balance and perhaps an over-ripe bass. The excellent resolution and fabulous midrange that is characteristic of the amp, as well as precise and stable imaging were all resent and accounted for, so you couldn't say the sound was broken, and it might even be exactly your cup of tea. But it was just too tubey and bassy for me. (And I'm kind of into warmth.)
Now I find this bit interesting - the Sovtek's sound signature more or less mirrored my HD 650s' bad habits. So, I would expect my K-701s to be the better match. Nope. Not even close. The Senns sounded pretty good with the Sovtek but the AKGs just couldn't get off the ground. So much for "balancing" your system with components with complimentary flaws.
With the Sophia in place, the 701s soar. They sound better than they ever have for me. Upper mids are open and clear. And faster. The sound is coherent from top to bottom. Bass is tight, deep and tuneful. The 6SE becomes, as Boomana rather eloquently once said about another amp "reminds that the 701s are great headphones, while most amps remind that they suck". The Sennheisers sound fine, too. My friend David, upon hearing the 274-equipped SE6 opined that the Senns were now irrelevant. I'm not quite ready to take that leap. Sometimes I like one, sometimes the other. But the 701s just ratcheted up a notch in my estimation.
There may well be other rectifiers out there that would work in this amp that may sound different or even better. And there may be one that is wonderful without quite as hefty a price tag. I don't know. I've only tried the two.
So assuming that you're a reasonable and sensible person who likes everything I like, and you've got a 6SE, I can't recommend the upgrade to the Princess highly enough.
-Carl
For ease of searching, I'm posting this in its own thread. There's a lot more about the Sophia 274 here: http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f5/woo...0/#post5750339
and here: http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f5/mod...5/#post3849727
and here: http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f5/rev...5/#post4912901
So I've had my WA6SE long enough now that it's pretty well broken in and I've now put the Sophia 274B rectifier in place. (with the stock 6DE7s)
To cut to the chase, the Sophia is a must-have.
Now, this assumes that you share my ears, my tastes and prejudices and my headphones. But who doesn't?
So, moving right along...I was kind of shocked at the change the Sophia wrought. I mean, this tube's not in the signal path. How much of a difference could it make? A lot, apparently.
The stock Sovtek imparted what was for me an over-warm presentation, with a downward tipped tonal balance and perhaps an over-ripe bass. The excellent resolution and fabulous midrange that is characteristic of the amp, as well as precise and stable imaging were all resent and accounted for, so you couldn't say the sound was broken, and it might even be exactly your cup of tea. But it was just too tubey and bassy for me. (And I'm kind of into warmth.)
Now I find this bit interesting - the Sovtek's sound signature more or less mirrored my HD 650s' bad habits. So, I would expect my K-701s to be the better match. Nope. Not even close. The Senns sounded pretty good with the Sovtek but the AKGs just couldn't get off the ground. So much for "balancing" your system with components with complimentary flaws.
With the Sophia in place, the 701s soar. They sound better than they ever have for me. Upper mids are open and clear. And faster. The sound is coherent from top to bottom. Bass is tight, deep and tuneful. The 6SE becomes, as Boomana rather eloquently once said about another amp "reminds that the 701s are great headphones, while most amps remind that they suck". The Sennheisers sound fine, too. My friend David, upon hearing the 274-equipped SE6 opined that the Senns were now irrelevant. I'm not quite ready to take that leap. Sometimes I like one, sometimes the other. But the 701s just ratcheted up a notch in my estimation.
There may well be other rectifiers out there that would work in this amp that may sound different or even better. And there may be one that is wonderful without quite as hefty a price tag. I don't know. I've only tried the two.
So assuming that you're a reasonable and sensible person who likes everything I like, and you've got a 6SE, I can't recommend the upgrade to the Princess highly enough.
-Carl
