savoy014

Here are some listening notes from experimenting with a variety of 6SN7 tubes in my Cary SLI-80 integrated amp (used as a driver). Tungsol GTB re-issue These tubes are really quite good. After chalking some hours under their belt, these tubes have good handling on both bass and treble extension and have a smooth and liquid midrange. I find the Tungsol to be a wee bit less transparent than the EH, but the Tungsol has the heft and liquidity that could be said to be more musical. Dynamics in particular are superior on the Tungsol. Instruments and voices also tend to have more tonal density and bigger image size compared to the EH. Electroharmonix Visually, the internals of the EH tube are almost identical to the Tungsol re-issue. The plates are of a slightly different colour, and the halo getter is larger and  the bottom part of the ring is attached to  the support rods, compared to the Tungsol where the top part of the ring is attached to the support rods. Sound wise, both tubes...

Telos Audio Design ( http://www.telos-audio.com.tw/ ) was almost unknown in Singapore until recent distribution by local distributor, Audio Basic. Telos has beautiful and well made RCA caps. The interesting thing is the manufacturer's claim of sonic benefits from using these RCA caps to cover unused inputs and outputs. Bear in mind that their caps are of non-shorting design, i.e. there is no shunt of positive to ground. Telos caps are made of copper and then plated in either gold or platinum. Fit and finish is excellent and is as good as jewelry grade. Insulation is teflon. Photos from official website I have had a set of both the gold and platinum caps for some time now but did not quite get around to writing a post on them. Part of the reason is my difficulty in rationalizing why these caps work so well. The manufacturer claims that they protect equipment from stray EMI and RFI. I think the reason is far more complex than suggested. Both caps have a not so subtle effect. Putting ...

Photo Essay Beautiful and classic workmanship. 18 watts of single ended power. Tube complement - 6SL7, 6SN7, 6C33C. 8 Ohm and 4 Ohm speaker taps, 3 inputs and an IEC inlet with user accessible fuse holder. Russian 6C33C double triode. From Soviet era missile and Mig Foxbat service to consumer audio. How the world has changed ! Volume control.  Carved logo on the front panel. Input selector. There are 3 inputs. The first indent is mute. RCA 6SN7 GTB and Sylvania JAN VT-229 tubes Power transformer is inside the chassis. The exposed center "transformer" in the first photo is in fact a power supply choke. Russian K42-Y2 coupling caps. A surprise, quite uncommon in commercial gear. Mini-Review The Almarro A-318B is quite an unusual beast. Single-ended triode and assembled by hand in Japan, the A-318B is affordable, beautiful and powerful - typically these words are not seen together in the same sentence. Being an integrated amplifier, you save quite a bit of useful money. Total up...

Talk about quick shipping ! My order with Audio-Gd has been pending for quite some time now as I wanted some customised inputs done (gave up the USB input to convert to another coaxial input). It was shipped out on Saturday afternoon and arrived in Singapore at my doorstep on Monday evening. The order process was hassle free and the unit was well packed and arrived in good shape. The DAC19 is based on two Burr Brown PCM1704UK DAC chips paired with Audio-Gd's proprietary DSP filter. Audio-Gd's principal, Mr. He Qinghua has made an announcement that he is discontinuing his products based on the PCM1704UK due to difficulties in obtaining supply of the chip. That was enough reason for me to take the plunge. You can refer to http://www.audio-gd.com/Pro/dac/DAC19/DAC19EN.htm  for full technical details. The DAC-19 in finished in a shoe-box sized case that is rather utilitarian. The case is decently finished and will not win any prizes for either fit or finish. Given its asking price...

Oh No ! Not another capacitor comparison test ! Actually, no one likes comparing capacitors. Do we really have nothing better to do in life but to swap capacitors in and out of circuit, burning in numerous capacitors just to find out how they sound ? Right now, the stock Wima MKP10 output coupling caps in my Diva Audio M7 have been taken out and the wires soldered to alligator clips instead, to facilitate ease of swapping the caps in and out. Unlike some testers than undergo thorough and scientific methodology, there was no blind testing, or gruelling 500 hours burn in test. Neither are all caps of identical value because many of these caps just happen to be lying around for trial. But according to my calculations, all of the capacitors tested are large enough in value to not cause any audible degradation to the bass response in my system. I also happened to need to conduct some tests on the power supply, so some of these caps were used as a bypass cap in the last stage of the C-L-C po...

Virtue Audio is the new kid on the block in terms of manufacturers offering ICEpower based products. ICEpower is by now quite established and there are many companies out there offering amplifiers based on their modules such as Bel Canto Design, Wyred4sound etc. I normally do not write detailed reviews but was suitably motivated by the M5001 which avoids being a “me too” product by virtue (no pun intended) of its tube buffer supplied by Dodd Audio. The M5001 is based on the ICEpower ASP500 module, which delivers 250 watts per channel into 8 Ohms and double the power into a 4 Ohm load. The ASP500 module includes a built in switching power supply and accordingly runs cool and efficiently. The stock module input impedance is raised from 8 kohm to 100 kohm due to the tube buffer. This presents a much easier load for preamplifiers to drive, in particular tube based designs. Appearance wise, the M5001 is quite handsome with a well finished case and lovely real wood veneer top. A variety of f...

The Acrolink 6N S-1400II sits about mid-way up in Acrolink's 6N speaker cable range and is a large gauge version of the S-1000II. Full specifications of the S-1400II can be found at   http://www.acrolink.jp/english/products/6n_s1400_2.html (Picture from Acrolink web-site) The S-1400II is a heavy but flexible cable and termination into your plug of choice is not difficult. There isn't much buzz about Acrolink speaker cables compared to their power cords (the 4030 being the most prominent of their line-up) and interconnects to a lesser degree. If you have a look at my previous forays into the Acrolink family, I have come to a personal conclusion that Acrolink has a house sound - a delicate midrange and a high frequency extension and air that is not sonically neutral but artistically beautiful. The S-1400II has the same delicate and refined midrange but a harmonically rich and heavy mid-bass and bass. In a complete Acrolink set-up, the combination works very well to add weight to ...