[Bosk]

I know some of you have been looking forward to images of the new Darkvoice for some time so I figured I'd be kind and get to work posting them ASAP.

Enjoy!

Hey it's a box from China! But I don't know anyone in China! Who could have sent it??

I think there's something made of wood inside!

It's a wooden crate! I always wanted one of these... should I open it?

There's more padding and something else inside the crate!

It's a cardboard box with DARKVOICE and funny Chinese writing on it. What could be in it?

More foamy stuff, a few pieces of paper, a power cord and there's something else at the bottom....

It's a Darkvoice headphone amplifier and it's shiny and black!!!

The Darkvoice with stock tubes, ready to be powered up. My precioussss......

The Darkvoice innards. What's a circuit board doing in here??

 

[afbug]

Nice pictures! Wooden crate! Thats new. How you open it? Pry it open with a thin piece of rod? How do you like the Darkvoice?

 

[Bosk]

The Darkvoice sounds BRILLIANT. Awesome soundstage, PRAT and not a bit fatiguing. It does everything as well as any amp I've yet heard and for US$300 is a bargain IMO.

The crate was actually easier to open than you might think since the wood isn't especially thick. I used my trusty pocket knife.

 

[MrFaust]

Before someone asks if it hasn't been posted yet...


Difference between the 336 and 336i:

1. The Outlook of 336i is improved:
-Painting is replaced by a better brand in best quality.
-The label is replaced by stainless steel which is more stable.
-The hand work is improved so that the tiny gap is invisible. The
appearance is therefore more elegant and finer.
2. Inside packing is harder and stronger:
-To better protect the important part, i.e. the electric output part,
double strong hard material is used to ensure a safer transport, which also
increases the cost.

Old version has stopped.

Thank you for posting pictures of it.
I can't wait to get mine.

 

[aznsensazian]

The circuit board is definately different. Thats not in the old tha336. Though, it looks like its been added to handle more tube variants and addresses issues with hum on some tubes?

 

[swt61]

The outside looks identical to mine. Same paint and name plate on top. The circuit board threw me for a loop though. No doubt that they've done some renovations inside. Bosk do you have many tubes to try out yet?

 

[Fitz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aznsensazian The circuit board is definately different. Thats not in the old tha336. Though, it looks like its been added to handle more tube variants and addresses issues with hum on some tubes?

It looks like they used the circuitboard to give a stable place to mount the huge output caps rather than gluing them down, as well as give a place to connect the transformer wiring that's probably easier to swap for voltage conversions. I don't see any real design changes though.

 

[darkninja67]

Nice looking amp. I can see myself owning that within a year or so. Maybe as my bedroom tube amp. Good luck with it and please post more impressions.

 

[SonicDawg]

More impression please. Your pictures really make me even more impatient with mine

 

[MrFaust]

Just ordered my Darkvoice 336i. I can't wait!!

When I got to listen to swt61's Darkvoice 336 2 weeks ago I was BLOWN AWAY.

 

[Fitz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrFaust Just ordered my Darkvoice 336i. I can't wait!! When I got to listen to swt61's Darkvoice 336 2 weeks ago I was BLOWN AWAY.

I just listened to my Darkvoice again and I was BLOWN AWAY.

 

[MrFaust]

Fitz: how are connecting your Zhaolu D2C to you PC? USB? I'm planning on using my Darkvoice with my Laptop (Dell e1705) which doesn't have a PCMCIA slot but rather the new and currently useless ExpressCard slot. So I'm looking at other solutions to get from the PC to the Darkvoice. I have considered the Zhaolu D2C, the M-Audio Audiophile USB or the Edirol Roland UA-25. I'm leaning toward the Edirol Roland UA-25 a little more because I also want to be able to record a friend's band from time to time when they are writting new songs during practice.

 

[Fitz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrFaust Fitz: how are connecting your Zhaolu D2C to you PC? USB? I'm planning on using my Darkvoice with my Laptop (Dell e1705) which doesn't have a PCMCIA slot but rather the new and currently useless ExpressCard slot. So I'm looking at other solutions to get from the PC to the Darkvoice. I have considered the Zhaolu D2C, the M-Audio Audiophile USB or the Edirol Roland UA-25. I'm leaning toward the Edirol Roland UA-25 a little more because I also want to be able to record a friend's band from time to time when they are writting new songs during practice.

Optical. The Zhaolu doesn't have USB.

 

[aznsensazian]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fitz It looks like they used the circuitboard to give a stable place to mount the huge output caps rather than gluing them down, as well as give a place to connect the transformer wiring that's probably easier to swap for voltage conversions. I don't see any real design changes though.

cool beans

 

[Bosk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by swt61 The outside looks identical to mine. Same paint and name plate on top. The circuit board threw me for a loop though. No doubt that they've done some renovations inside. Bosk do you have many tubes to try out yet?

I was pretty surprised to see the circuit board in there too!

My tube collection right now is pretty sparse- a pair of RCA 6SN7GTBs and four GE 6SN7GTBs, three of them made by GE for Motorola, Zenith & Capehart.

I've just won an eBay auction for some RCA 6AS7's so we will see how those go, and I plan to buy some more 6SN7 variants later in the week. (some Tung-Sols or Ken-Rads would be nice!)

More listening impressions? Well my main impression is that it sounds damn good! For me the black background really stands out as the most amazing thing. Last light I listened to a bunch of CDs, and it was incredible to listen to the last song on an album, hear it fade out to blackness and only after 10 seconds realise that the CD had finished playing - on other amps there is always a noticable noise floor and you can tell when the album's finished when it suddenly vanishes. Not so with the Darkvoice!