Well…using the pendant the most right now…I listen to ZMF VC and Aeolus and Senn 800s the most (probably 90% with these three- but I do like my Clears)…using Bifrost 2 with my pendant (using my Gummby with my speakers). I actually like the B2 quite a bit and just want MORE. lol, who doesn’t?
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So if you just want more bifrost 2, if you swapped to a tube amp that could support a balanced input, a schiit yggy a2 makes a whole lotta sense lol. But given the yggys lackluster single ended it doesn’t make sense in this case.
I’d likely really consider that lampizator then imo, that would have pretty good synergy and be a very large step up over the bf2 (and a step above the yggy as well for that matter, although are you kidding me they raised the price of the amber again? it’s still competitive though). Also what analog board do you have in your gumby (a1 or a2) out of curiosity?
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a1…I’m going to look at the lampizator for sure…
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Cool cool
Try to find one used, should be around 2.6k iirc for a good used one. Also they don’t need any tube swapping which is nice
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No tube swapping!! Almost ruins it for me, lol!
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You can tube swap, but it’s really not something you need to do lol, the tubes inside are already very good. If you wanted to get something better for swapping with the lampizators you would be moving up to something like the baltic 3 or atlantic which is pushing price wise I’d assume
Has a 6X5 rectifier, ecc99 input, ecc82 output (12au7 I think)
I would say I’m comfortable up to 3k…then I have to really really like it…lol.
They aren’t the easiest tubes to swap in the Amber 3, but you can swap them.
I never did when I owned mine, so I can’t comment on the effect.
It really doesn’t sound like a “tubey” DAC, I could hear it if I A/B’d with the LaVoce, but the effect is incredibly subtle.
It is an incredibly natural sounding DAC.
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BTW the vendor says the tubes on the Lampi are good for 10 years of service life as they are driven at 25% capacity or something like that if I recall from the manual.
In that case then, a used amber 3 is possibly in budget, the sw1x possibly as well although you seldom find those used. The evo 100 typically sells for around 2k from what I have seen which I think is fair
Yes, in comparison the evo 100 is a much more “tubey” sounding dac. The lampi just sounds very organic
You have all given me a lot to think about. Thanks everyone!
Hello All.
I’m new here but I’m not new to the Evo 100 tube DAC. In fact I’ve owned one since February 2020 so nearly a year an a half.
Unfortunately I can’t compare it to a lot of the other Dacs mentioned here but I’m very happy with mine. It’s been difficult to get out to the brick and mortar stores to audition gear lately if you know what I mean.
I own a Primaluna Dialogue Premium pre amp and fell in love with their products after rolling some NOS 12AU7 tubes into it. To me the sound and build quality of the preamp made the Evo 100 dac choice a no brainer for me.
I fabricated a custom Furutech power cord and interconnects for it. In the future I’ll tube roll a bit but for now the stock tubes are great.
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Yes, I own one. See my comments above. I buy Primaluna gear because it sounds good and is enjoyable to listen to . The key reason I own their products is because of the dual mono design utilizing 2 5AR4 rectifier tubes . Tube rectification is very important to me .
If I had the money I’d tube roll the rectifier tubes but unfortunately that’s out of reach right now… I built a high quality shielded Furutech power cord and interconnects for the EVO dac and it also made it even better… I don’t get caught up into using all the flowery, audio reviewer speak, superlatives to describe equipment sound. I can only classify the Evo 100 Dac as more analog sounding than any others I’ve owned and that was my primary goal when purchasing it… It’s going to be fun to be able to tweak it with different tubes when that time comes in the future…
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Wondering if the Tor Audio Tube dacs are not so much comparible but going for the same idea on this?
I’m not 100% sure on tube dacs but if someone more knowledgable knew as that tube dac offering seems to be between 580 to 700 for the small or big one.
Nice, glad you are enjoying yours 
. For tube swapping in mine I ended up scoring some Phillips miniwatt brown base gz34, amperex holland 12au7 and 12ax7 and it was a pretty great boost to sq, although there’s likely better value options given how high nos tube prices are becoming. Also what dacs have you tried so far?
Damn. Just when I thought I was out…they pull me back in! Thanks Dobbs for the feedback. I guess (like in the pre-Covid days) I need to get out and hear it for myself!
Yes, It’s a good idea to audition any audio product before purchasing but it’s very hard to do these days.
I was a fairly early adopter of the EVO 100 DAC so there wasn’t a lot of information on the internet at the time. I ordered mine from my local B&M store without an audition which is something I’d normally never do but did so because I own a Primaluna pre amp and mobility due to Covid was an issue. I’m quite happy…
There’s lots of quality non tube R2R dacs out there now that are worth a listen to also… Everyone has different tastes and needs…
@MON
Yeah, I’ve looked at those Philips gz34 before I’m sure they’re very nice. I tend to steer clear of anything sold on Ebay with the word “rare” thrown at it by so many resellers…It’s as if that word gives you permission to sell something at incredibly inflated prices. I have some Cifte 1965 NOS 12AU7’s in my Primaluna preamp but only Gold Lion 5AR4’s. I’ve drooled over the Philips 5R4GRY’s NOS from Holland but at $280 US that’s out of range for me especially for a DAC… Maybe for my preamp if I win a lottery… I’m sure $45 GoldLion 5AR4’s are good enough for me in my EVO DAC.
I built my first Assemblage DAC-1.5 kit in 1995. It was an early Burr Brown 1702 R2R chip based DAC c/w a HDCD chip . I still have it and will recap it some day,maybe. The chipset inside is worth more than the DAC nowadays. They’re becoming "rare"
I once had an Arcam IR dac for quite a while , it sounded nice.
Besides the EVO, I currently own Ifi Micro and Nano Black Label Dacs c/w ifi USB 3 reclockers. I also have a KORG DS -DAC-10R strictly used as an ADC to rip vinyl to 128 DSD and 192/24 PCM using Audiogate 4 software.
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It’s a minefield for sure
I have not heard someone mention that DAC in a long time lol
