I just had “wrong” EQ settings and was like “meh”, and messing with the Tube-03 treble and bass knobs fixed everything.
I don’t know how tubes do that either but they do lol. I think you got the bassy GE tubes, for the classic “tube warmth”. Other than warmth, tubes are all about adding distortion, AFAIK, “even order harmonic distortion”, to “color” the sound. But it’s apparently too subtle with the GE tubes and the Tube-01. So maybe boosting some frequencies with the Loki will make this (desired) distortion more apparent – I just hope so: I got 6J1P-EV tubes, but messing with the EQ did that for me. Good luck!
Do chinese tube buffers worry about “even order” harmonics or do these just throw random distortion and hope it works? That’s another subject lol. I’m curious to “measure” my Tube-03 though – it does great things, I just don’t know how.
This guy over on Reddit gave some useful descriptions of different tubes. I think I may to pick up those Voskhod tubes. Apparently the GE tubes are the most boring lol.
i like my ge tubes. but i have a lot of warmth elsewhere. so they work for me really well. they are also fast tubes. they don’t slow the bass down any.
So I was screwing around with the bass and treble and wow, when you get them just right you can really make some bizarre fun happen lol! And by just right I mean floored for the most part, too fun
Huh, eBay. A seller on eBay Canada (I’m from Canada) and he’s not selling tubes anymore apparently.
(But there’s… millions of 6J1P-EVs still available apparently.)
So after two months of waiting I finally got some Voskhod 6J1P-EV tubes. At the time, there weren’t any good US sellers. So I bought them from a Russian seller.
Even after burning in, the tubes have pretty minimal impact on the sound. So that’s disappointing. I was hoping it would provide something more substantial than the GE tubes. Maybe my model preamp is the issue? Anyway I’ve got extra pairs to sell to you all. Message me if interested.
This is really weird. The difference is enormous with mine (tube-03 + Voskhods). Even with the volume at 2:00 … is the tube-01 this bad? I don’t get it… If possible leave the tubes on for a while for burn-in (…not unattended because chi-fi lol), but yeah… after all that I’d say I’m sorry you don’t even hear a difference and consider buying a little dot mk2 or a darkvoice instead…
I’ll just record the output of my headphone out with and without my tube-03 soon (I got a recording interface) so you all can hear the difference… But heck, I found you can change the opamps in the tube-03 and I’m seriously considering buying v5i opamps for it…! (Yeah, more expensive than the tube-03 and the Voskhods combined, lol).
Now I’m wondering if it’s my tubes. @WaveTheory when yours arrive, be sure to try them. Hopefully I wasn’t sold fake tubes or something. The Ebay seller has only good ratings for them. So I figured they should be fine.
Later I do plan to get a Bottlehead Crack. But it’s good for a limited set of cans.
OK, VERY initial impressions…plugged these in for a bit to warm up and having an initial listen - need more time for definitive thoughts. But compared to JAN 5654Ws…
A little bit more forward and possibly slightly more natural mids. Sweeter, more relaxed treble. Maybe a bit more bass with the Voshkods - my sub seems to be doing more. They don’t give the impression of added warmth despite that apparent bass gain, though. Imaging and staging don’t seem to have changed much at all either.
I’m listening with speakers as that’s the home I’ve found for the tube buffer RN. The buffer feeds an Onkyo AVR in direct mode, the Onkyo goes through a Polk PSW505 sub’s speaker level ins-outs and then to Def Tech SM45 speakers.
I will of course say more after more listening. But with Liq Plat here and HexV2 inbound I have so much stuff to listen to! First world problems, I know.
I would be curious about how the liquid plat would compare with a tube preamp + good solid state amp. It sounds likes you didn’t find the voskhod tubes to be dramatically different. Maybe that’s to be expected. I couldn’t much in the way of comparisons.
@LeDechaine I forgot to ask. Were you doing your comparison with the bass treble knobs at neutral? If you weren’t then it’s no wonder why there’d be a strong effect.
Not sure how much I can help there with my current gear. The LP was initially an $800 amp before sales started. I’ve tried the tube buffer - total $80ish for buffer and GE tubes - with SP200 and Asgard 3. From memory (sold SP200 back in April) the buffer helped the SP200 sound like something getting closer to how music sounds but really did nothing good for the A3. The LP so far seems to be ok a whole 'nother level.
Also, speakers. Tubes appear to make a massive difference to speakers versus headphones. A girl I know who… well, I try my best to prevent her to buy Beats headphones, just said “wow, everything sounds so clear, leave that plugged in!” when I plugged my tube pre to my speakers.
Ordered a FX Audio Tube 3 Bit of an upgrade over the Tube 1 I suppose. Also have some Burson V5i opamps coming. Has anyone upgraded their opamps?
Im just wondering should I use those Bursons for my Little Bear portable or try them with the FX audio
I have the Yaqin SD-CD3 and have rolled several types of tubes in it - TungSol, Psvane, China, NOS Mullards and with each of them I heard a noticeable drop in bass under 70Hz. I can see why these cheaper one have some tone controls too, as you just might need it to re-EQ.
I share my impressions of Fosi Audio T20. Cost me $ 90. This is my first tube amp. Amplifier with tube 2x6J4, so far not changed. Bluetooth and headphone output. I use it both at home and in the office. so far, I’m very happy for the money
… is the tube-01 this bad? I don’t get it… If possible leave the tubes on for a while for burn-in (…not unattended because chi-fi lol), but yeah… after all that I’d say I’m sorry you don’t even hear a difference and consider buying a little dot mk2 or a darkvoice instead…
