Anyone having experienced a Darkvoice amp?

Frankie's Market

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Took delivery a DarkVoice 336 headphone amplifier on Friday from Massdrop. I set it up with the original tubes and gave it a quick listen. right channel was ok, left channel no music, just a pronounced hum, doesn't change as volume is increased or decreased. A quick google suggested I remove the output tube and let the preamp tube burn in for 48 hours or so. So I just tried it with almost 48 hours of burn in and same results.
Anyone else have experience with this amp? Will the hum really disappear with additional burn in time?
 
Replace both tubes.
My 336SE worked right out of the box but there was hum and the tubes were crappy.
Poorest tubes I've ever seen. They physically rattled and the output had sizzle, hum and pops. New tubes solved all.

I know Massdrop isn't as easy as Amazon when it comes to returns, how are they about defective items?
 
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Replace both tubes.
My 336SE worked right out of the box but there was hum and the tubes were crappy.
Poorest tubes I've ever seen. They physically rattles and the output had sizzle, hum and pops. New tubes solved all.

I agree, just replace the tubes with something decent. IMHO, in a Massdrop, the supplied tubes should be high quality.

jeff
 
6SN7 (front tube) is common, plentiful and inexpensive. VT-231 and 5692 are Military variants.
JAN CRC 6AS7G and CRC 6080WA (rear tube) aren't in great demand so they won't be expensive either.

JAN (Joint Army Navy) tubes are generally more rugged and less microphonic (tap the 336SE to experience microphonic's). Military tubes often have extra support rods and extra mica plates.
They don't rattle.
CRC is a code that means the tube was manufactured by RCA. Other US manufacturer's made excellent tubes too.
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I re-tubed my amp in December with NOS RCA tubes (front and rear) for less than $30.
 
Grrrrr this is so frustrating! Been burning it in since Friday, now it's Monday night. So the hum is gone, but the one channel is dead. I've switched the tubes with spares that I had stored away, tried different cables, headphones. What else should I look for?
 
If you swapped tubes, cables and headphones I'd say you have a bad unit.
Me....I'd open the bottom cover to see if anything looked obvious before returning.
I think Massdrop has a return policy for defective electronics.
 
If you swapped tubes, cables and headphones I'd say you have a bad unit.
Me....I'd open the bottom cover to see if anything looked obvious before returning.
I think Massdrop has a return policy for defective electronics.
Yeah, I took the bottom off it,couldn't see anything obviously wrong or missing. Sent it back and got a refund.
 
Yeah, I took the bottom off it,couldn't see anything obviously wrong or missing. Sent it back and got a refund.
Too bad.
I bought mine from Amazon before Massdrop featured it. I hadn't heard a 336SE before and although it cost a little more I wanted Amazon's return policy for a safety net.
Good Luck!
 
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