Yes, that’s exactly what I was afraid of - with a price tag like that, an amplifier should be free of noise, at least up to a certain point.
I have it in the Euforia amp too, depending on what tubes you use, but it’s never annoying.
With the Zmf counterpart I was more of a silent reader and read about certain annoyances.
Could be a reason why Zmf ended the collaboration.
But that’s exactly why I’m still hesitant to pull the trigger.
Because I would be annoyed.
I’ll see if I can find some entries from them in the past.
Thank you very much for the great impression, it shows to keep the ball still flat.
Would agree in some cases, disagree in others, I think the aic can scale farther dac wise where the woo caps sooner from my experience, so I think in terms of potential, there’s more potential for the aic than the woo, but the elite does a great job of giving you a load of technicalities even if the source isn’t absolutely up to snuff whereas the aic tends to be more reserved with what it can do at times depending on what it’s fed
I can totaly see that. The highest end chain I’ve heard both on is Weiss and dave+hms, so not even close to the scaling cieling of either I would imagine
Honestly I think that’s a sweet spot for getting almost the most out of the wa33 and reasonably the most out of the elite, but I think the aic’s sweet spot lies higher imo. Then again it also really depends on the headphone as well since imo the woo tends to shine with a few select cans wheras I can’t say I’ve really been disappointed with any pairing with the aic
To actually contribute to the thread, @Deleeh I think either the mogwai se or kenzie would be a step up over the euforia, I personally like the tonality of the mogwai a bit more, although if they actually make sense price wise to get into europe would really depend
Thanks @Mon for your impression.
Kt 88 or El34 tubes are really great when it fits.
Certainly better than the pairings from the Feliks.
But a bit cost intensive if you don’t use New Stock.
From what I’ve read and also some users report, this microphonics thing seems to be mainly due to the way it’s set up.
Since I don’t have wifi in the media room, it could really fit.
Or the location can still influence the whole thing.
If I went for the Mogwai, the Denon amplifier would be gone and the Mogwai would stand in the corner free of influences.
By the way, is that your impression with the standard caps or Jupiter caps?
It would definitely be available for the Eu if desired.
The only thing that could be a pain is customs if it doesn’t have CE certification.
But as I have heard from Quicksilver, it does not affect private individuals.
It’s really not that simple microphonics was not my noise issue, it was clearly power supply noise (60Hz hum) and only on the high impedance output using very sensitive headphones, even then it was at a VERY low level, but to me annoying when every other tube amp I own does not do it.
I tried absolutely everything short of a regenerator or moving house, to resolve the issue including all of Justin’s suggestions.
Mine also liked to pickup my Wifi Router which is probably tube specific, and was fixable by moving the amp.
It was environmental, because the person who bought mine did not have the issue, but that doesn’t make it fixable in a particular environment.
Just be aware it’s a common problem with A&S amps, and Justin will claim he’s never heard of it and his amps are amongst the quietest tube amps if you ask him directly.
Your experiences inspire me to rethink.
Even though the Mogwai would be a good addition to my system.
I honestly don’t feel like reading the last part of your last Narricht.
Firstly because it would be a Eu version, the other thing would be the customs clearance on which I will probably be stuck as well as the shipping costs, even if he would take the amplifier back.
I would have blown a good $800 in the wind.
However, I was wondering, and I’ve heard this a lot, regardless of the fact that there is also bad house wiring in the States.
Could an Eu version possibly be less susceptible to the hum of an amp.
That might smooth things out a bit but it remains 50/50 where you have to try.
For the rest, I have absolute understanding and I can understand that at some point you get fed up.
When I fitted my Feliks Euforia with adapted 6V6 tubes, the old power strip broke.
I opted for Audioquest Powerquest 3, which surprisingly eliminated most of the hum from the 6v6 tubes.
I had to pay a bit of a price in dynamics.
But sometimes the best things don’t help.
My personal guess is that it could be from the transformers.
Either they are not as good as specified, or they are very susceptible to external influences, so maybe shielding the transformers with a bonnet would help.
Parts of the US grid are certainly less good than most of Europe, But I’m not sure house wiring is any worse.
It is different in most places in the US the feed into the house is actually 240V 2 phase, the two phases are split at the panel to run 120V into the house.
I’m not an electrician, but AFAICS in terms of how stuff is actually run through walls, the basic requirements aren’t any stricter or less strict that in Europe.
Without knowing what the actual cause of the hum in the amp is, there is no way to know if it’s likely to be better in Europe.
My personal viewpoint, I would look for a European tube amp vendor, the A&S stuff, or for that matter probably the DNA/EC stuff (and I’d put them a step above A&S) probably make absolutely no sense to import unless you can try it at a dealer and KNOW they are exactly what you want or you can pick them up used after someone else has already taken the Duty/VAT hit. There have to be European vendors doing something similar, 6L6/KT88/EL34 amps used to be everywhere, and 2A3/300B amps really not very esoteric.
Not sure if you have looked up Elekit amps.
The Elekit 8800 replaced my Kenzie Encore and Auris HA2SF.
Metal enclosure, ability to choose your caps and tons of tube rolling with KT88/77/66 family. Had zero noise issues. Not sure if it’s still being sold though. You can ask Victor from VK music. You’ll need a technician to put it together for you.
Some examples of tube amp operations in Europe from a quick google search, no idea if most of these are any good, but a lot of tube amp design is attention to detail. There aren’t a lot of “new” ideas in the space. Designer does have a LOT of scope in tailoring a sound though even within the same circuit.
Trafomatic I’m familiar with and their stuff is well respected, same for Viva.
There appear to be a LOT of Itallian small tube amp manufacturers, though many of them aren’t headphone specific. Smaller manufacturers can probably be talked into optimizing a headphone stage though.
You don’t know until it’s in the room and you hear/see what it does like most other things in life.
I have considered the DNA Starlett and have asked for delivery next year in the summer unfortunately.
That’s a bit too long for me.
@Archer yes, the Elekit is still available as an R version and I have seen that it is now also fully assembled.
And also with its Lundahltransformer upgrades.
It would be an option for sure and would probably go directly up to the Vcap mod this time with the CuTf.Interesting it is also I don’t want to talk bad.
Another option from Europe would be the Cayin Ha 6A, which uses Kt and El tubes.
That would also be an option if it didn’t have a step volume potentiometer.
I think I will try the CAyin Ha3A, which Zmf recommends for their headphones.
The Decware Csp3 would appeal to me if I understood the bypass mod in terms of cost.
I don’t know if I need it or not.
However, it also has a long waiting time as I have read and support has not responded to my questions unfortunately.
Which doesn’t matter as I know another amp will hit the market soon.
I didn’t get the okay to say it, so I’ll shut up now.
What a damn thing.
They would have appealed to me optically, and maybe something would have been possible with a set circuit with good tube availability.
The price is still really justifiable in part.
Well, figured I would make a short but sweet follow up on my work in progress noise floor-
Main difference in chain is a Core power technologies Equi-Core 1000. Seems to have removed the noise “spikes” as I like to call them. I rarely have any louder/higher amplitude noise from my headphones. I think the other aspect is the entire noise floor feels lower but the best way I can describe it would be veiled or compressed in a way. There is still something in the left channel (where I had most of my issues and it is still constant) except now its lower and more of a rumble…maybe DC in the line or a 60Hz hum but I’m not as familiar with the nuances of those things to tell
The other thing that has been interesting but want to spend more time investigating is the tube choices. It seemed as I increased tube wattage the noise floor got slightly lower. This may just be my in my own head but moving from 6L6GC STR > 6CA7 > KT88 has been an improvement if only smaller.
All in all a good investment to better understand and learn about noise in my system. Might pick up a DC blocker from iFi to test things out from here.
Side note- most of this is from the 300ohm tap with both the HD6xx and VC. Also picking a lower impedance drastically helps noise floor in all scenarios
Plate dissipation isn’t indicative of gain, you need to look at the mu, though it will vary with topology and the amount of feedback for pentodes.
The KT88 has less gain than the 6CS7, it can just handle more power.
Nice, I really like my Equi Core too. Maybe a Deep Core would get rid of the rest of your noise.
Out of interest, have you ever tried your VC on the 100 ohm tap of your Bigger Ben? That should reduce the noise too. I’ve always preferred ZMFs on the 100 tap of my Nautilus.
