Kyle - thanks for the update & very happy to hear you are enjoying your new system now. Makes me want the LCD-X!
I'm sure you will love the Mullards - a very fine tube indeed. As you know i'm a big fan of the JANs too. To put the other tubes you mentioned in context: I find the CBS-Hytron 5814 to be like an upgraded version of the JANs. Whereas the Siemens are like a wider version of the Mullards. Obviously that won't mean anything until you hear the Mullards and you can decide if you'd like a little more separation or are happy with where things are - that will be mostly a matter of taste/headphone synergy since they are both great tubes in their own right.
Grain. I do find the EH 6C45s to be a slightly better separated & cleaner sounding tube so I wouldn't be surprised if you do find that they mop up some of that slight grain you are hearing in the music - I think there is a bit with the Sovteks. The Mullards will probably help with this too since I find they have a very balanced yet smooth sound and the sound quality in general is really superb and an improvement over the JANs. Of course a significant DAC upgrade will get you to the end of the line with the WA7!
Regarding the 2Qute/Hugo, Head-Fi'er Shini44 recently posted some impressions about using the Hugo with the WA7/tp over on the WA7tp impressions thread . One thing's for sure, if the 2Qute is an indication of your DAC budget, you will have a lot of very fine DACs to choose from so hopefully you can have some fun testing out some different options.
I love your dedication to a night-stand aesthetic!
Jeb.
Thought I'd post a quick update to my tube journey with the WA7tp and LCD-Xs. Thanks to Jeb's words I now have a growing nightstand drawer full of tubes lol. I have the JANs, two versions of the Philips ECC82s (Valvo, and just Philips from Holland), Mullards, EH gold pins, and just received the Siemens. Here's a quick rundown of my noob guy impressions..keeping in mind I listen to 90% electronic music and the other 10% is a mix of live rock and female vocal recordings..all of which through Spotify 320kb/s from an iPhone 6 USB to the WA7. Also, these impressions are with the stock 6C45s because I'm not a fan of the EH golds and I'll explain why.
JANs: In love with them. Glorious bass and tubey sound which is simply intoxicating with the right recordings. Songs that don't have intense treble are a dream come true through the JANs and LCD-Xs. It's the kind of tube sound I was looking for. Soundstage is middle ground between wide and intimate. Detail is amazing until you get to the upper mids and higher where things get a little confused but not necessarily offensive. Tracks with intense treble immediately take you out of the liquid trance the JANs put you in by sounding a TINY bit harsh and grainy. Perhaps a smoother copper upgrade cable will fix this, but as long as I listen to laid back house music and future bass stuff like Odesza, Daktyl, and Carl Cox, I'm in a tubey Audeze death grip with the JANs in the WA7tp.
Valvo Phillips: These were the first tubes I tried with the LCD-Xs. They basically had the liquid tubey and extra bassy parts of the JANs, but seemed to take the sound a few more feet "under water" if you will. Like Jeb mentioned NOTHING sounds harsh with these bad boys..I tried. Bassnectar's track "Breathless" is my treble tester song and I've only heard one piece of equipment besides the WA7tp with Valvo's that can tame it and that was the HiFi M8. Although the Valvo's soundstage through the LCD-Xs is very intimate and in your head, not one piercing note came through. It's like the Valvo's know exactly when and where to cut the intense treble off. I liked these tubes for their bass heaviness, but the limited soundstage and super tubey sound made them a little dull to my ears.
Phillips of Holland: Essentially the same sound as the Valvos, but with a little more detail.
Mullards: I've only logged about 2hrs with these. Smoothest treble presentation of all the tubes in my new collection. Jeb's review of them is dead-on accurate. They never do anything wrong. They have a very "by the book" sound that is super clean and neutral. For the $160 I spent on them, and the cool cigar wrappers they came in, I was a little underwhelmed by them with MY type of music. Maybe Jeb's right and I need to spend a little more time with them. Thus far they didn't give me that "I wanna stop listening because it's 1am but I CAN'T." feeling like the JANs did with certain tracks. However, on the songs where the JANs snapped me out of tube heaven, the Mullards cruised through the intensive parts with ease. I could see where if I were a fan of classic rock, acoustic guitar, jazz, or classical music, the Mullards would be the bees knees. But with the atmospheric, bass heavy, trancey, thumping electronic stuff I love, the Mullards just cruise through it textbook style without taking me into a 3D bubble of warm/detailed/bassy sound that I can hardly escape from. Again, the plus side is the super smooth treble, solid tight bass, and really doing nothing wrong. They definitely aren't risk takers. I'm gonna give them another go to get more hours on them and see what happens though.
Siemens: I just got these a few days ago and WHOA. I think they may have inched past the JANs as my favorite tube thus far. The soundstage is a little wider than the JANs, but with so much more detail in every area. They don't have as much of a juicy and liquid tubey sound as the JANs, but they make up for it by having FAR smoother treble and giving you that "Holy crap I hear EVERYTHING and it's all around me!" type of feeling. These and the JANs are the two tube sets that lock me into listening sessions longer into the night than I want to. Bass on these Siemens isn't quite to JAN level but really really close. I love these things. I was just listening to a 1hr Anjunabeets mix on Soundcloud prior to writing this and it was perfection. The kind of sound that is warm, bassy without over-doing it, relaxed, wide, and just swings you along. Perfect. I've only heard the treble get a tad hot on a few high energy tracks with these. All I did was turn down the volume a hair and problem solved. I'm ordering a Moon Audio Black Dragon cable for the LCD-Xs to smooth out the last bit of treble presence and I'm pretty sure I'll be at end-game level after that.
EH gold pins: To be fair, I can immediately notice better seperation and layering of sounds within my electronic music tracks with these. However, they seem to sacrifice all the tubey goodness of the stock Sovteks. And with tubes like the Mullards and Siemens in the power supply, the detail and seperation are right back in the mix but with tube sound glory. I'd say if you want more soul and tube smoothness, don't upgrade to the EH gold pins. They're very clean and clear sounding, but basically turn your tube amp into a more solid state sounding one. Also, it's MUCH harder to tell the difference between the various 12AU7 tubes with the EH golds thrown in. They seem to just clean up all the tubey sounds and leave you with a slightly cleaner and much less bassy/fun presentation. I'm not into it, but certain kinds of music would probably sound awesome with these.
Anyway, that's where I'm at so far. I'll be swapping around between the Siemens, JANs, and Mullards until my CBS Hytrons arrive next week. If those are what Jeb describes as an upgraded JAN, I might be in love. The Siemens could loose the crown idk. What I do know is this tube rolling is super fun!
Oh, and as far as the Chord 2Qute..I'm reading that what money4me247 said is accurate. It would totally fit my nightstand aesthetic and provide some gains in detail, but brighten up the sound a little which is not my cup of tea. Thanks for saving me $1800 on that one! Honestly, I may have just been excited from the SQ gains with these 12AU7 tubes and getting greedy. I'll probably be at end-game status with the Black Dragon cable and the Siemens or Hytrons. The law of diminishing returns and/or junking up my nightstand would hit hard with anything more. Well, cheers to all you guys and your advice! I'm getting REALLY close to exactly what I want. The WA7tp and LCD-X combo is absolutely amazing. I can't wait to see if an upgrade cable can really finish off the last bit of audio nirvana for me.
