[Wes S]

I assumed I would get the Pendant SE, but somewhat reluctantly so. I'd rather avoid the tube rolling guessing game, tube price inflation, limited life time of tubes, etc. If a solid state choice is competitive, I'm very interested.

Good tube amps like the Pendant SE, add a uniqueness to the sound that just can't be matched by a SS amp. Buying tubes and rolling can be daunting, but the rewards are worth it when you find that special tube.

 

[Wes S]

Yea I dont quite understand why the OTL tube magic which should match higher impedance HPs (also with Eikons and Auteurs) are to my ears completely not applicable to the VCs. I run my VCs on the FA-12 and sounds awesome, I tried it on Magni Hersey or Whammy, all sound good, but just not my OTL tube amps, which again, I have no idea why.

Perhaps it is the tubes just didn't jive. The VC can sound killer off an OTL in my experience.

 

[Monsterzero]

Yea I dont quite understand why the OTL tube magic which should match higher impedance HPs (also with Eikons and Auteurs) are to my ears completely not applicable to the VCs. I run my VCs on the FA-12 and sounds awesome, I tried it on Magni Hersey or Whammy, all sound good, but just not my OTL tube amps, which again, I have no idea why.

The tubes that sound good to my ears, in my system for the VO do not sound good with the VC. I mentioned this in my review. The VC blew my mind with a very fast, tight tube roll, and unless one has a bunch of tubes at their disposal to do some serious rolling and experimenting, you may end up thinking its the amp that is the issue.

It was kinda fun going on the search, but many of the tubes that were meant to be "holy grail" where Russian, and figuring which the Russian/Ukraine sellers on Ebay were legit was arduous. The ones I ended up liking the best where a matched pair of Hungarian Tungsram E88CCs, which were cheap as chips. That's the thing - with tubes, you basically have to demo yourself until you find something you like. No reviews can help, because it's all dependent on the total system.

+1

Good tube amps like the Pendant SE, add a uniqueness to the sound that just can't be matched by a SS amp. Buying tubes and rolling can be daunting, but the rewards are worth it when you find that special tube.

The trend in solid state amps is to get the THD down to 0.00000000001%
while that is fine on paper, it usually delivers a sterile and lifeless sound. Yes it removes odd order harmonics (bad distortion) but it also removes even order harmonics (ear pleasing distortion) as well.

I recently purchased a new solid state speaker amp and ended up picking an amp that has a 0.1 THD...its not exactly tube sounding, but it comes damn close.

For a more in-depth explanation as to why distortion isnt always a bad thing ,read here.

https://www.tungsol.com/html/faqs14.html

 

[audiowhatfi]

The tubes that sound good to my ears, in my system for the VO do not sound good with the VC. I mentioned this in my review. The VC blew my mind with a very fast, tight tube roll, and unless one has a bunch of tubes at their disposal to do some serious rolling and experimenting, you may end up thinking its the amp that is the issue.

+1

The trend in solid state amps is to get the THD down to 0.00000000001%
while that is fine on paper, it usually delivers a sterile and lifeless sound. Yes it removes odd order harmonics (bad distortion) but it also removes even order harmonics (ear pleasing distortion) as well.

I recently purchased a new solid state speaker amp and ended up picking an amp that has a 0.1 THD...its not exactly tube sounding, but it comes damn close.

For a more in-depth explanation as to why distortion isnt always a bad thing ,read here.

https://www.tungsol.com/html/faqs14.html

I recently received the rebel amp and man that thing sounds soooooo good! It’s a weird combination of warmth and detail. Still getting some first impressions but man she’s made a good showing.

 

[Chill iLL]

Nice! Burn-in is a critical step. On the monkeypod VC I had I think the sweet spot was around 120 hours or so. So plug it in for a week of 24/7 pink noise and get ready for that awesomeness.

Just finished burning in my monkeypod VCs - do you find them shouty at all? I tend to listen to things loud and have some trouble with these.

 

[Barnstormer13]

Just finished burning in my monkeypod VCs - do you find them shouty at all? I tend to listen to things loud and have some trouble with these.

I usually listen at sub 80 dB and mine aren’t monkeypod. That said, when I do turn it up it still sounds good. It might be your pads. The auteur pads didn’t work at all for me and I found them shouty amoungst other negative perceptions. The universe pads sound perfect to me but a lot of owners don’t like them at all.

 

[Chill iLL]

I usually listen at sub 80 dB and mine aren’t monkeypod. That said, when I do turn it up it still sounds good. It might be your pads. The auteur pads didn’t work at all for me and I found them shouty amoungst other negative perceptions. The universe pads sound perfect to me but a lot of owners don’t like them at all.

Switching over to universe is much better for me- also enjoy the bass more. I just used that decibel app and I was going over 80! I think I'll have to keep these a little more tame haha. They are no problem under 80db.

 

[erics75]

Just finished burning in my monkeypod VCs - do you find them shouty at all? I tend to listen to things loud and have some trouble with these.

I do find them somewhat shouty with the stock Auteur pads, and also on some solid state amps. With the universe pads and especially on tubes it’s not shouty to me at all even at high volume.

 

[MatW]

Switching over to universe is much better for me- also enjoy the bass more. I just used that decibel app and I was going over 80! I think I'll have to keep these a little more tame haha. They are no problem under 80db.

Extended periods over 80 db is not a good idea for your ears anyway.

 

[Chill iLL]

Extended periods over 80 db is not a good idea for your ears anyway.

yup, you right! I didn't even realize I had them up that much.

 

[jgwtriode]

A bit of an update. Putting more hours on my Verite Closed. They are warming up nicely and fleshing out and opening up even more. A few of my odd peripheral tweaks on the cable add a bit more body and weight to the overall sound which helps the midrange get closer to the Auteur Blackwoods. I miss the Auteurs less as these break in. After they are fully broken, in that is, I will have to do some direct comparisons. The Verites sound like a combination of the best dynamic and planar loudspeakers I have listened to back in the day when I owned such things and had opportunity to listen to a number of things. With the wyires platinums, both headphone and now digital usb the soundstage is quite large layered and open and much improved over my Mad Sci stuff. I have not done a direct comparison in about 5 or 6 days between the Black Magic
and the Wyires Platinum USB. After just 4 hours of burn in it was clear that the Platinum was better and it has just kept improving. Probably at 120 hours on my Leopardwoods. 100 hours more than that on my Platinum headphone wires and about 40 to 50 on the digital cable. 200 hours is supposed to be optimum, but reading Tara labs page on their burn in track I use, it suggest it's an ongoing thing, continuously offering at least subtle improvements. I listen about every 5 to 10 hours and it just does everything a bit better.

The overall sound is a mind bending improvement over my previous setup. Music is so much more alive and involving. More like being at the venue of the performance. It's also a definite plus that I can crank it late in the evening. Like the Led Zep song, when the day is done. It just all sounds better late at night before bed.

So incredibly satisfying. Looking at a JCAT USB XE in the not to distant future to replace the Femto card w/ firmware update. What really blew my mind is how putting the Platinum USB in has made my modded Swan M3+'s sound like they are a much more expensive speaker.

It's all too much fun,

Happy Listening,

Jgwtriode

 

[whirlwind]

The Osmo polish arrived yesterday, so I gave my cups a nice polishing and condition my pads and headband.
Nothing left to do except listen to the music and enjoy them.

 

[KcMsterpce]

The Osmo polish arrived yesterday, so I gave my cups a nice polishing and condition my pads and headband.
Nothing left to do except listen to the music and enjoy them.

It belongs in a museum!

 

[MatW]

The Osmo polish arrived yesterday, so I gave my cups a nice polishing and condition my pads and headband.
Nothing left to do except listen to the music and enjoy them.

One of the best looking units.

 

[Wes S]

The Osmo polish arrived yesterday, so I gave my cups a nice polishing and condition my pads and headband.
Nothing left to do except listen to the music and enjoy them.

Insane looking pair you got there bro! Not sure which cup I like more, as they both look incredible.