[Designsfx]

This I am in agreement with. Also important feature with loudspeakers. I find that I listen deeper into the music in a more relaxed way at a lower sound level.

I agree with this as well but have to drive the system to a certain level in order to get the response necessary for it to come to life. This is where tube rolling in my dac comes into play as the type of tubes used will determine the minimum listening level.

 

[OctavianH]

I finally found a good headphone to complement my Final D8000 Pro, which works now powered by a toothpick. No problem, works fine and I still wait for the dealer which asked Final Audio to fix my headphone in warranty. Definitely not fast support, but if they fix it I am happy. In the meantime I added a new headphone to my collection, so I am covered during the departure of this one and the repair process. So, voila, LOL.

Yes, it's another D8000 Pro. Not very inovating from my side, what to say about this, it's the best headphone for me and I do not need to reinvent the wheel. I have to admit the silver version is very beautiful looking. I remember when I got my black version one, which was quite rare in Europe, the dealer first tried to sell me a Silver one and I have refused it since I have ordered the black one. So in the end he made some efforts and later he sent me a black one. Now looking at both, I consider each version very nice built and beautiful.

So, after owning D8000 OG and black version of D8000 Pro I am at the moment owning also the D8000 Pro silver version. This time I went on the 2nd hand market and took it from a fellow headfier. I guess the show will be complete if I'll order also the LE, but I am not very much into LE versions. You know me. Plus LE is the same headphone as Pro with different earpads.

So I am ready for tube rolling, I have headphones.

 

[hpamdr]

I'm personally looking for a Stax i do not care that much if it lacks bass. I will try to see if i can use eternity to power the headphone adding a bias circuit or using a SRD-7 mk2.

 

[OctavianH]

I'm personally looking for a Stax i do not care that much if it lacks bass. I will try to see if i can use eternity to power the headphone adding a bias circuit or using a SRD-7 mk2.

Have you decided for a specific model? I read somewhere recently that they plan to release a cheaper version soon. Cannot remember where.

 

[hpamdr]

I'm in touch with a French EarSpeaker builder and will get more info in a month. if all is OK after audition this will probably be a custom made one OK3D V5.... In the mean time, i will try to get in second hand market a L700mk2 or SR-007 mk2 or a SR-009s. (This is to precise the running chain and try to mod the eternity myself to adapt to electrostatic. )
Unfortunately, in a month this will be a year after Thomas passed. So i cannot ask him to do the update. I do not know currently custom builder in Europe taking care as much as Thomas did for me discussing technical point, arguing a lot, accepting or not my wishes. I feel he was more a friend sharing many audio concern more than a guy i purchased an amp from. Even after the amp was delivered, we discussed about tubes, headphone and probably a new amp. I still have tons of mail about my build and can use those to extract information do the modification if possible without altering current output.
I have a bit more time to spend in audio hobby so let's go for a new trip..

 

[OctavianH]

This is to precise the running chain and try to mod the eternity myself to adapt to electrostatic.

How you plan to do this mod? It will mean you will not be able to use Eternity with "normal" headphones?

 

[hpamdr]

-- Edit: The mod wil not remove anything from my amp, so i will always be able to use it with dynamic headphone.
If i decide to go with pure electrostat amplifier, i will undo the mods on eternity and hide hole for plug and or switches.

Keeping output design as it is today, is not a good as transformer on top of transformer is bad design (even if a lot of SRD-7 users do it with tube amps )


The final goal is to have:

• One mod for the bias voltage 580V adding a new circuit inside the box..
• The other mod is to add side to the current output transformers new ones to fit electrostatic impedance ~150KΩ. I will add a new switch or see if i can reuse my current output switch 3 positions, low,high,none.
• adding a stax pro plug

I will do it step by step: (all must reversible until drilling cabinet)

1. Just use leads to get the output before transformer going under the bottom cover. Finding good cooper lead and breading and insulating.... without adding noise nor radio effect to dynamic phone plug.
2. building a modified SRD-7 MK2 box only keeping bias voltage circuit... and finding good trafo to do the impedance adaptation..
3. Then doing integration: (this is for longer term)
   1. add a switch on top/front
   2. reproduce bias voltage circuit inside the box,
   3. place additional output traffos inside the box
   4. adding stax plug in top/front
   5. sell unmodified SRD-mk2 ot just using the optimized advise found in diy forums.

 

[OctavianH]

-- Edit: The mod wil not remove anything from my amp, so i will always be able to use it with dynamic headphone.
If i decide to go with pure electrostat amplifier, i will undo the mods on eternity and hide hole for plug and or switches.

Sounds very interesting but I wonder if it does not make sense to build a completely new amp for that.

 

[hpamdr]

Sounds very interesting but I wonder if it does not make sense to build a completely new amp for that.

Yes but I'm not Thomas. I can do myself some modification inside the box, i can do some soldering an on air work for tube amps but building it completelly with nice cabinet and measuring is over my equipment and knownledge... Also I do not have many space left on my desk, I like so much eternity than i do not want to make it redundant !

 

[OctavianH]

The fascinating world of digital cables. You know, those ones you never think might make a difference. The Cable Inquisition tells you that bits are bits so you take the cheapest USB cable from Amazon and you are ready to go. Well, in the last days I have played with 3 USB cables I have here and each one sounds different. Like a change in tone, how some are calling the rectifier effect on a tube amp.

So let me show you this small black box called SRC.DX. What does this box? Converts USB -> coax so I can use now 2 inputs on my DAC in parallel and test stuff. But as usual, each input sounds different and you need to pair it with a specific USB cable to sound right. Crazy.

Because I prefer M Scaler to software upscaling solutions like HQ Player I put this converter at M Scaler inputs. And from that one all goes via dual BNC to TT2.

I will not loose anyone's time with a long story, but in short, what I hear is:
- USB input sounds softer and benefits from my silver Kimber Kable USB-AG which adds some sharpness
- coax via this converter sounds an idea sharper and benefits from my copper QED Reference USB which adds some smoothness and bass

I also have a third cable which is somehow in the middle of these, and does not sound as its best with any of the inputs. But, it was the best on my previous DAC which was Qutest.

Again like in tube rolling, you need to make a compromise and pair wisely contrasting signatures. I was never a digital cables believer, actually I was against it and laughed at people when they explained me differences between them. I also hated and still hate the P8A side contact tube socket, it's terrible. Now I pair the inputs of my DAC with specific cables and consider the old Philips european pentodes the best tubes in the world...

Now, do not imagine the differences are night and day, but are audible. After cable pairing, the USB input is for me an idea brighter and sharper while the coax is more relaxed. On the coax input the Adzam EL6 sounds warmer and the bass is more in quantity, nice sound. Switching to the USB input all goes more towards neutral. I cannot say any of these is better, nor very different, but different enough o make sense comparing and switching. At least to complement different records.

Next step? I'll have to try a Supra Excalibur and see why everyone speaks about it. Then I'll return to tubes. I made progress in understanding more about differences between different construction 4654/EL50 and indeed, are not sounding identical, but so close that you need weeks to decypher. After you've done it you will always hear it. But about this later, I need more weeks/months/years to understand.

 

[triod750]

Between my cdp and dac I prefer optical to coaxial. As always it's about synergy and bits and pieces...

 

[OctavianH]

Between my cdp and dac I prefer optical to coaxial. As always it's about synergy and bits and pieces...

This was the purpose of my post, besides the details. Synergy starts at the wall socket and ends in your brain. Tubes are a small part of it and might be perceived differently if the rest of the chain is tuned differently. So in short, what we do here is useless for others, each one has to try.

 

[triod750]

So in short, what we do here is useless for others, each one has to try.

It's more of a guide to experiments worth making. Conclusions from them is up to the individual...

 

[hpamdr]

As you know I'm a cable agnostic. I will not argue but in short i trust in electrical specification and yes some cable have small difference in inductance and resistivity but I was never able to ear any difference between superior grade cables. Also what is true for analogic is not for numeric.
I use my some DAC with a very short USB cable. For the 1541 DAC, i use a rpi hat pi2AES and a pro 50cm aes cable. It seems that on my DAC that the AES/BNC entry a a bit smoother than USB (I tested USB decrapifier and no change with 20cm usb cable ).

// Each time I go to an audition in a hifi lounge, i'm completely upset about seller trying to switch cable and trying different suggestion technique to remarket snake oil cables.

 

[OctavianH]

As you know I'm a cable agnostic.

I am also, but experiments show different results.

I use my some DAC with a very short USB cable. For the 1541 DAC, i use a rpi hat pi2AES and a pro 50cm aes cable. It seems that on my DAC that the AES/BNC entry a a bit smoother than USB (I tested USB decrapifier and no change with 20cm usb cable ).

I cannot do that unfortunately, I need 2m cables. Ideally 3m to guide them to nicer path.

// Each time I go to an audition in a hifi lounge, i'm completely upset about seller trying to switch cable and trying different suggestion technique to remarket snake oil cables.

But you basically confirmed you heard a difference, one being smoother than other and both being digital cables.

In my case, even if the differences are small, they are there and are a kind of "tone" changers which affect the whole presentation. Of course, their impact is smaller than the impact of interconnects or others but they still have a small impact which is hearable and you can make small tuning on this side. In my case I plan to keep USB and coax inputs connected and switch from time to time, both have something which might be useful. If I'd have to choose I'll remain with USB and silver cable.

PS.
Interesting finds related to HQ Player: SRC.DX with copper usb sounded better than the rest. Not better than M Scaler but better that SRC.DX with silver cable. So now I start to understand these guys claiming that HQ Player is a better option than M Scaler. I do not agree with them in my case, but I understand what they are doing.