It’s a known issue with the darkvoice You have to burn in the tube sometimes to get rid of the buzzings
I think only doing the Fitz mode actually fix this. I have tubes with over 100 hours of burn-in on them. They still buzz. The Dark Voice was made for the Chinese market and wasn’t probably changed to work with US power outlets. I have already read through all of the tube rolling for DV on head fi. Burn in will not solve all your issues with the DV, but the mod will fix most of them.
I had one tube (Foton) that needed 250 hours of burn in. Modding the Darkvoice will get rid of this process. I have the LED mod on my unit and haven’t had any hum issues since that mod.
The LED mod probably changes the sound the least when compared to the Fitz Mod, the latter of which will jack up the gain of the amp using the oft-recommended caps for that mod.
Some tubes are more stubborn than others and may require more burn-in time, but yeah the LED mod and the cap-bypass mod (“Fitz mod”) helps solve the humming issue. Both mods are pretty easy to do. I did the Fitz mod because I couldn’t be arsed to wait a few days to try out any new 6SN7’s and 6F8G’s that I ordered.
I was able to get the Sylvania 6SN7GT two hole tall boy to work without buzzing after burning-in the tube for about two days. The 6SN7GT is amazing and makes the DV sound like a different and overall better amp than with the Westinghouse 6SN7GTB. The Sylvania is wider, more detailed, and has more of a holographic effect compared to the Westinghouse. I did notice that while using a RCA6080 , that it was a bit noisy after I did the burn-in for the output tube. I had another power tube, the Magnavox 6080WA and it is silent but has a bit more gain to it.
Try at least an RCA 6AS7G. I would believe that the 6AS7G would make a better pairing with the Sylvania 6SN7GT than the RCA 6080. I don’t know about the Magnavox 6080WA. But from the 6080’s I’ve tried, they all have smaller soundstages than the 6AS7G.
If I can find one for under 30 bucks, then maybe, but I don’t think that tube is worth it at its current price on ebay. I am sure the Magnavox is a rebrand of something else, but I can’t find out what, so I don’t know what it is outside of it being a 6080WA.
$24 for a '50’s black plate RCA 6AS7G is a good deal. I would get it myself if I didn’t have enough of them already.
I saw that one, it’s missing the guidepin.
Whoops. Anyways, I usually set my limit to $30 for those tubes. Some will invariably show up in at or below that price.
I feel like tube hoarding has inflated their prices, unfortunately. On most sites they are about $50.
I was gonna suggest the same…good call.
Anyone have any opinions or have heard these? Thinking about one of these for the Darkvoice.
Good tubes if you want something clean and neutral imo, although I’ve never tried one in a darkvoice
I want one of these, heard a demo of these (clear version) on a YouTube vid… See if I can find the link for ya…
These are nice for the monies…
I may have just found a great and easy fix for the DV most common problems without the need for the Fitz mod. I will link an ifi adapter that’s actually for IEMs but it eliminates any buzz or hiss for almost all tubes, even ones that are not burned-in and lets you use more of the volume pot. It’s also just 20 bucks!
This is interesting and possibly a good solution for some. I did the Fitz mod and that worked .
For attenuation purposes I just tend to mate it with a DAC that has volume control and that has worked perfectly fine for me. That gives me about 75% of the volume knob as useable.
This is a good inexpensive amplifier which provides some fun sound signatures to enjoy with many tube rolling combinations to keep you occupied for hundreds of hours if you choose to be, for under $500 including a bunch of good tubes. I consider this a top fun value piece, especially for folks who are still relatively new to tube based electronics.
Every time i think of selling mine off i throw it on with some Senn HD600’s to remind myslef why i keep holding on to it and then promptly set it back in its shelf, it is fun value added to any collection IMHO. Happy listening and please let us know how using the attenuation piece works out for you