[shwnwllms]

Oh, it has enough power. I'm running it off Low Z and it's at about 70% power with a comfortable volume level jamming to Incubus. It can easily get too loud. Is the low and high just impedance? For some reason, I thought it was Gain. Also, I managed to get a hold of a used Sonnet Morpheus - much excite! The Schiit Modius is doing a pretty great job though.

High Z - 100 Ohm Tap (ZMF Dynamics)
Low Z - 8 Ohm Tap (Planars)

 

[HiFiWar]

High Z - 100 Ohm Tap (ZMF Dynamics)
Low Z - 8 Ohm Tap (Planars)

Interesting. I get a few extra decibels out of the High Z on the Susvara. Still, everything is working beautifully now. I even have the RME hooked into the chain.

 

[HiFiWar]

Any thoughts on the best EL84s? I grabbed a set of the Preferred Series EL84 Power Vacuum Tube (Matched) from TheTubeStore.com - no clue if they'll be good.

 

[shwnwllms]

Any thoughts on the best EL84s? I grabbed a set of the Preferred Series EL84 Power Vacuum Tube (Matched) from TheTubeStore.com - no clue if they'll be good.

These were my top 3 when I had my Pendant. All Welded Plate, Foil Disc Getters

RFT EL84 Welded Plate Foil Disc Getter
Tungsram EL84 (WPFDG) 58’
Valvo Sittard EL84 (WPFDG) 55’

 

[HiFiWar]

These were my top 3 when I had my Pendant. All Welded Plate, Foil Disc Getters

RFT EL84 Welded Plate Foil Disc Getter
Tungsram EL84 (WPFDG) 58’
Valvo Sittard EL84 (WPFDG) 55’

Thanks for the info!

 

[haasaaroni]

Any thoughts on the best EL84s? I grabbed a set of the Preferred Series EL84 Power Vacuum Tube (Matched) from TheTubeStore.com - no clue if they'll be good.

I haven't heard those!

There are many opinions out there. Some tubes are so incredibly rare and hard to find (welded plate foil getter type stuff) and others are impossibly expensive (like GEC/Osram EL84's), but my tastes right now are resting on Sylvania black plates 6BQ5's. Very affordable, a little noisier than alternatives, but so tasteful and natural.

There's a pair of Tungsram EL84's with welded plates and foil getters on Reverb (and a pair on Ebay too). Those might be the rarest and best sounding EL84's on the market currently.

 

[steve468]

Any thoughts on the best EL84s? I grabbed a set of the Preferred Series EL84 Power Vacuum Tube (Matched) from TheTubeStore.com - no clue if they'll be good.

If those are the Preferred Series 7189, those are some of my favourite tubes in the Pendant. They’re actually Russian tubes from the 80’s that The Tube Store have cleaned up. They’re a great, punchy, clean, detailed tube with some real midrange magic.

I personally tend to like tubes that maintain the punchy, aggressive nature of the Pendant, and for me that’s the above, RFT foil getters, Tungsram foil getters, and Telefunken smooth plates (mine are red-tip medical-selected, which seems to make a difference).

 

[HiFiWar]

If those are the Preferred Series 7189, those are some of my favourite tubes in the Pendant. They’re actually Russian tubes from the 80’s that The Tube Store have cleaned up. They’re a great, punchy, clean, detailed tube with some real midrange magic.

I personally tend to like tubes that maintain the punchy, aggressive nature of the Pendant, and for me that’s the above, RFT foil getters, Tungsram foil getters, and Telefunken smooth plates (mine are red-tip medical-selected, which seems to make a difference).

Perfect. I have a couple on the way to try out. I managed to get a set of new early Tunsgrams in addition to the tube store ones. Should be set for a long time after this.

 

[shwnwllms]

Should be set for a long time after this.

Famous last words

 

[HiFiWar]

Famous last words

Very famous considering the amount of gear I've gone through in the last couple years. I'm cutting back right now though and trying to just focus on the music. The Pendant has this sick gritty crunchy feel to it that I really love. It can drive all my headphones, which is essentially dropping down to 5 anyways, and it's gorgeous and tunable. I'm in the trying to endgame phase. Morpheus on the way. A couple sets of headphones on the way, and then I'm done. No new headphones I want to try. No new amps or anything either. Not quitting, just settling for now .

 

[tholt]

The Pendant has this sick gritty crunchy feel to it that I really love. It can drive all my headphones, which is essentially dropping down to 5 anyways, and it's gorgeous and tunable.

Agreed. The Pendant SE is such a good amp in so many ways. It's crazy how prices have gone down on it and it seems kind of overlooked in the ads. Not sure if people think it's just ZMF-centric? Definitely not (I never owned a ZMF headphone, though I plan to at some point!). It's a crazy good amp, unbeatable for the money IMO.

Briefly compared it to the Mogwai SE Rev 2 I recently picked up and while the Mogwai is the fuller, richer sounding of the two (no surprise due to bigger transformers), the Pendant was no slouch! Could easily be someone's only tube amp for its versatility, ease of use, power output and rock solid reliability.

 

[HiFiWar]

Agreed. The Pendant SE is such a good amp in so many ways. It's crazy how prices have gone down on it and it seems kind of overlooked in the ads. Not sure if people think it's just ZMF-centric? Definitely not (I never owned a ZMF headphone, though I plan to at some point!). It's a crazy good amp, unbeatable for the money IMO.

Briefly compared it to the Mogwai SE Rev 2 I recently picked up and while the Mogwai is the fuller, richer sounding of the two (no surprise due to bigger transformers), the Pendant was no slouch! Could easily be someone's only tube amp for its versatility, ease of use, power output and rock solid reliability.

And that's exactly why I grabbed one. I do wish for a 4-pin balanced output and a balanced input, but the 2-3W of power unbalanced is plenty. For the price, I don't think it can be beat without going to the 3 or 4k price bracket or with 300b.

 

[hikaru12]

The 50’s Amperex EL84’s are great for that relaxed, smooth-but-detailed presentation. The ultimate version of that are the early Phillips EL84’s made in Holland. I have a pair with foil getters, and they’re the most ethereal, holographic, spacious sounding tube in my collection. They add a bit of upper treble, but it enhances their spatial quality.

Have you heard the D getter version of the Philips? Wondering what sonically is different about the two? Having a hard time finding the foil getter variant. Otherwise for regular Amperex which codes should I try to look for? So far I have Amperex 1958 rx3 A8H and A8F and 1955 rx2 X5F.

 

[NenadJ]

Hello yall,
New to the community and wanted to ask a few questions and see if these are the correct consensus on the Pendant SE. I recently purchased a Pendant SE from a local headfier with a few sets of extra tubes. I was wondering if anyone had a clue what the rectifier tube I have is? https://www.head-fi.org/classifieds/zmf-pendant-se-with-extra-tubes.58981/

From what I have gathered the GEC U709 + G73-R are the must have combo. I have particularly been enjoying the sylvania yellow label power tube with the non label rectifier along with the RTF EL84s, This brings out rich punchy warmer sound unlike the blackplates that were a slight bit cleaner.

My previous chain prior to leaving he hobby was an Ares II > Active switch > RCA Hagerman Audio Tube > XLR Monolith Liquid Platinum > ZMF VC Leopardwood >Audeze LCD2 Shedua

Currently The Pendant is being fed by a Chord Mojo at 3v without a hitch. I have put in an order for a Holo Cyan 2 to replace the Mojo. Will the 2.5v from the RCA of the Cyan 2 be just fine? I know later on when i decided to try out HQPlayer up to DSD it will drop to about 1.25v. Only asking if others run the Pendant under 2.5-3v i do not mean to start an HQPlayer side tangent.

 

[HiFiWar]

Just built a project Ember. Haven't tested.it with headphones yet.