TubeDAC-11 Tube Rolling

Hey Wolfbane,

Not sure if your home or not, any further input on that tungsol 6dj8? Hope I'm not nagging. lol

I have really been wanting to try one myself but they are just out of my price range unless I happenn to find a used one at a great price.
I have been using a '63 Amperex Hooland BB for the last 9 months or so and have been happy with it. A couple weeks ago I found a great deal on some Voshod 6N23P Rocket '79 Silver Sheild tubes which have also been on my list to try. Wasn't overly confident on ordering from Russia, especially during these times but figuredI'd give it a try. I got them about a week ago and rolled one in. Immeditaely it was more detailed than the Amperex but seemed a bit grainy. However, after about 10-15 hrs, it has really come aorund. It produces a much larger soundstage (especially more width) with better imaging than the Amperex. The tone is great and bass is clean and tight. I even put the Amperex BB back in to make sure it wasn't just my ears adjusting but I definitely prefer the Rocket.
As the spreadsheet states, it is a a real sleeper tube and a bargain IMHO (as long as it holds up , time will tell)

-jay
 
Hi all,

I got myself a Tube-Dac 11 and been listening to the stock tube for about 2 weeks now. I am quite impressed and happy with it.

I don't feel like I am missing anything but I am curious about different tubes.

I have read through this thread and have been looking at the tube rolling results that brother love compiled. (Quite helpful and much appreciated by me.)

As a tube noob, I have some questions I hope somebody could answer.

Have you liked a tube with the supplied power cord but disliked it with a power cord upgrade?

Have you liked a tube with speakers but disliked it with headphones?

About how much would different tubes affect the sound? In other words, are the differences between the stock tube and maybe the Philips-Mullard pinched waist immediately apparent or subtle? Could you give a rough quantification?

I have been looking at Voskhod tubes, as they seem to be moderately priced and readily available from Eastern Europe. If the tube is marked with the rocket (I am aware sometimes the markings get worn away) is that a better tube than a Voskhod without the rocket?

Some have the star in a hexagon and others do not. Is that an indication of anything useful?

Is the 6N23P/ 6H23N (I know the Cyrillic alphabet) a much better tube than the 6N1P?

Lastly, I see some of the feet(?) look corroded. Is that a cause of concern?

Thanks for your thoughts!
 
My Eastern Electric Minimax Tube DAC recently died and on a whim I decided to buy a Tube DAC 11 from Grant Fidelity. the stock Chinese tube sounded OK but after a week I contacted a Canadian friend who had recently purchased a quad of Voskhod rocket logo 6N23P and asked if he would be willing to sell me a single tube. for ten bucks he sent me a very nice sounding rocket logo tube circa 1978 with a grey plate and a silver shield. next I tried a Gold Lion 6922 but I felt that it sounded very similar to a garden variety Reflector 6N23P. I recently bought a circa 1964 Amperex USA gold pin USN CEP 6922 and I am very pleased with the sound of this tube. yesterday i won a auction and paid $75.00 for a circa 1957 Amperex ECC88/6DJ8 Holland pinch waist D getter tube that is supposed to be triode matched within 1% and test NOS strong.I will post my impressions of the pinch waist ECC88 after I get it and use it for 50 or so hours. thanks,William
 
My Eastern Electric Minimax Tube DAC recently died and on a whim I decided to buy a Tube DAC 11 from Grant Fidelity. the stock Chinese tube sounded OK but after a week I contacted a Canadian friend who had recently purchased a quad of Voskhod rocket logo 6N23P and asked if he would be willing to sell me a single tube. for ten bucks he sent me a very nice sounding rocket logo tube circa 1978 with a grey plate and a silver shield. next I tried a Gold Lion 6922 but I felt that it sounded very similar to a garden variety Reflector 6N23P. I recently bought a circa 1964 Amperex USA gold pin USN CEP 6922 and I am very pleased with the sound of this tube. yesterday i won a auction and paid $75.00 for a circa 1957 Amperex ECC88/6DJ8 Holland pinch waist D getter tube that is supposed to be triode matched within 1% and test NOS strong.I will post my impressions of the pinch waist ECC88 after I get it and use it for 50 or so hours. thanks,William

Those Amperex Pinched Waist ECC88 are supposed to be the bees knees! Jelous that you got one for such a good price. I'll wait for your impressions.

- Woody
 
I have about 75 hours on the 1957 Amperex Holland ECC88 d- getter pinched waist. this tube has tighter better defined bass than a 6DJ8/ECC88 d- getter Bugle Boy, the midrange is very good, it is not quite as warm as a d-getter BB. the top end has a very nice sparkle. I would have to say that this is by far the best sounding 6DJ8/6922/7308 variant that I have ever encountered.
 
Hey all, I found an Amperex PCC88 made in holland. I've read its something like the 7V cousin of the 7dj8? that means almost nothing to me. Could this, and should this be tried in the Tubedac 11? anyone tried it?
 
is this thread really dead? what a drag.
Perhaps not. I was listening to music earlier and noticed distortion. Shortly thereafter one channel cut out. After switching cables around I determined the right tube out had no output. Must be a bad tube. Will open it up over the weekend and swap out. I don't remember what I had in there! I think it's a Mullard but it's been a few years.
 
The pinched waist version of the Made in Holland is a significantly and immediately noticeable improvement over any other tube I've run in my DAC-11 (and I have tried a lot of different tubes in my DAC).

These tubes are not priced so high without good reason.

Wb
 
Hey all, I found an Amperex PCC88 made in holland. I've read its something like the 7V cousin of the 7dj8? that means almost nothing to me. Could this, and should this be tried in the Tubedac 11? anyone tried it?

Could this be tried: yes. It has a 7 volt filament in it, and your unit runs at 6 volts. You'll be good to run it.

I have tried the Zaerix version. Nice tube.

is this thread really dead? what a drag.

No.

Have fun.

George.
 
Perhaps not. I was listening to music earlier and noticed distortion. Shortly thereafter one channel cut out. After switching cables around I determined the right tube out had no output. Must be a bad tube. Will open it up over the weekend and swap out. I don't remember what I had in there! I think it's a Mullard but it's been a few years.
Alas, it was the Mullard that lost one side. Replaced with Amperex bugle boy. Now we're back in operation.
image.jpeg image.jpeg
 
It's been just over a year since the last post, has everyone settled down and stopped rolling?
I've recently dropped in a Siemens ECC85 and it really livens things up quite a bit. I prefer it over a Telefunken ECC85.
 
Hello all,

I have two questions and hope someone out there can answer it. does anyone have this combination. andriod box>>tubedac11 optical in>tubeout >> threshold cas-2 amp>>elac debut b5? do you noticed that the b5 is the hold back in the chain?

anyone has the mullard rca ecc88 that listed in the tube rolling result spread sheet and want to sell it?
 
is this thread pretty much dead? to anyone who had tried the russian rocket and mullard rca. is the mullard has same bass has the russian rocket with better open mid? like vocal?
 
Hey bud. This section has pretty much dried up. With Ian’s passing on, a lot of the passion for Grant Fidelity went with him. That being said there are still an awful lot of GF Tube Dacs In the wild. Post your question in one of the current forums and see if you get more answers with more views.
 
Time to bring some life back to this thread. I've had my TD11 since they first came out, actually have a few of them and a couple TD09s as well. I replaced the stock tube in the TD11 years ago and never gave it much thought after that. Don't remember buying it, been so long ago, but it appears to be a Russian Rocket 6N23P.

Been listening to the DAC more recently since I built a pair of Lii Audio Fast10s in TL cabs. Driving them with a Decware Taboo MKIII. Really love the sound of setup. I've rolled tubes in the amp recently, but didn't pay much attention to the DAC so I googled and found this thread.

Saw lots of good comments regarding the Amperex pinch waisted 6DJ8 and went to look at my tube stash. Lo and behold I have a dozen Amperex Made in Holland 6DJ8s that I salvaged from an old Tektronix tube scope. Alas, none of them were pinch waisted, they are orange world globe. But I decided to try one out anyways. Immediately noticed an improvement over the Russian tube. The biggest difference was the highs. Piano on Tori Amos Horses sounds brilliant. Bass seems to be the same. Going to listen to this one for a while to get more impressions. I have a few other 6DJ8s. A couple GE and one that has lost its label and only shows Made in Germany. Might try those later too.
 
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