Yeah, we got a little off topic. I apologize! It was all very helpful info though. And most of us here own and love a Quicksilver.
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I reached out to Mark over at Quicksilver for one of these, he said heād get in touch in a few weeks. If I end up getting one these Iāll be sure to discuss my experience with it!
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Nice nice, I hear he canāt quite get his hands on some parts at the moment, hopefully you are able to get one fairly quick, will be curious on your thoughts on it if you do get one 
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The reason I wound up buying an old SS amp was that Iād been looking for a better desktop amp and the QS was just not avail. In the end SS was a lot less of a worry especially if I forgot to turn it off and left it on overnight and things like that.
One amp Iād love to listen to long term at some point though.
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I mean, when you leave a tube amp on overnight, like yes itās using up the tube, but nothing bad actually happens. I wouldnāt stress out too much about that kind of thing. The big annoyances compared to solid state for me are mostly RF interference and warm up time (the Quicksilver sounds better to me after itās been turned on for about 20-ish minutes).
Anyway, yeah, excited for another person on the forum to be able to get one!
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I frequently (a couple of times a month) do that with tube amps, just donāt sweat it.
People really overthink the complexity.
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This is why I donāt like tubes. I can (incorrectly) overthink anything. 
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Definitely stoked to potentially get one, looking to get my feet wet a bit with tube amps.
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Iām still enjoying my Quicksilver on a daily basis, and it probably gets 90% of my listening time. Every once in a while I plug in my SW51+ and enjoy the contrast it offers. I could be happy with either, but the Quicksilver, with my preferred tubes, is a notch above the SW51+ in almost every category.
I think @M0Nās article has been generating quite a bit of interest in the amp. Iāve read lots of positive talk about the article on various other forums, so thatās great to see!
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Hello,
The tube combination is also very well chosen and that is already half the battle when the rest of the design and parts selection fits.
Especially with the tubes, you can use them very well from the Nos and New Market.
The El34s are not that expensive and so are the 12Ax7s.
If I ever want something new, it would be this one.
Because there is no tube shortage to be expected, apart from the sound, it is already the first argument for buying.
And both tubes have a very good reputation, of course, with a few exceptions.
In general, it doesnāt matter if the amp runs for a day.
The tube could burn out but doesnāt have to, the other side would be more the temperature that arises.
It wouldnāt be ideal if the heating were also running in the room.
But as a rule, tube amplifiers are more robust than you might think.
It would only be bad for the capacitors if they are made of paper/wax, which dry out anyway, but the process would be quicker.
But you get used to switching it off.
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Joining the Quicksilver club next week! Gotta pretty sweet deal on a used one with upgraded tubes and upgraded capacitors.
Sold: Quicksilver headphone amplifier | Headphone Reviews and Discussion - Head-Fi.org
Hopefully I donāt get any significant noise floor or hum issues but excited to give it a try. My chain is BlueSound Node (2021) ā DDC pending ā Holo Spring KTE ā Burson Soloist 3XP (Pre) ā Quicksilver.
Primary listening will be HD800s, OG Clears, VC, LCD3F, and perhaps 1266 Phi TC (weāll see on power/current delivery).
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congrats! curious why the burson as a pre?
Definitely would like to hear your thought on what sticking the DDC after the BlueSound does for you.
@orrman Iām curious about the Burson as a pre as well but FYI, having had the Conductor 3X myself, I was very impressed with the pre out of that. The DAC, not so much. 
I will be sitting 10 ft away and need a remote for volume control. Plus I have an Auris Tube amp at my desk and a Holo Mammoth KTE amp I use as a preā¦ I prefer the Auris sound much better with the Mammoth as a pre than straight from the schiit BF.
Finally not sure that it will apply to this as I donāt understand the technicalsā¦ But with the Spring dac you want to run it balanced out and not single ended. I can run balanced to Burson and then RCA to Quicksilver. I can try both ways but Iām assuming this will sound better.
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Iāve narrowed it down 2 models for DDC but Iām waiting to get one < 400ā¦ I just donāt want to spend alot on it and Iām not in a hurry.
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Iāve ran the Spring both single ended and balanced and canāt say I felt there were noticeable differences.
@dB_Cooper I had the Soloist and it was too dry to my tastes, replaced at the time with the GS-X miniā¦ canāt speak to its pre but I guess it will be quite transparent to the chain compared to the tubes at the end of itā¦
Hey guys, anybody tried the HD800 with the Quicksilver? A friend of mine is considering this pairing but he is unsure about the synergy.
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Was excellent with the 800s, if you paired it with some warmer tubes and dac I bet it would also be great for the 800
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Iāve got another great headphone pairing with the Quicksilver to report, the Meze Elite. I was a little worried that the low impedance (32 ohm) and high sensitivity (101 dB/mW) of the Elite might result in some noise issues. To my relief, thereās no audible hiss even with the volume turned all the way up.
The sound quality is also excellent. Plenty of oomph in the bass and all the incredible detail one would expect from a TOTL planar. I donāt plan on getting another amp anytime soon to see if I can eek any more performance out of the Elite. The Quicksilver seems perfectly up to the task.
I want to report one strange discovery I made regarding cables. I received a very attractive Meze silver-plated cable with the headphones, but it had a 4.4mm connector. Obviously this wouldnāt work with the Quicksilver without an adapter. Luckily, I have a really nice 10ft ZMF 2K Copper cable that I use with my Auteur, so I swapped it over to the Elite. Things sounded impressive, very detailed and airy. Voices were presented a bit more thinly than on the Auteur, but I knew it would be an adjustment for my brain after so many years with only ZMFs.
I did not like constantly swapping the 2K cable back and forth between the Elite and Auteur though. I read a post a while back about someone liking the ZMF OFC cable with their Elite. I happened to have a 10ft OFC cable packed away somewhere that I used before acquiring the 2K cable.
I was able to find it, and I plugged it into the Elite. Everything sounded fuller and meatier. It was especially noticeable in the vocals. To my utter surprise, I definitely prefer the OFC cable to the much more expensive 2K Copper cable (on the Elite). It just goes to show you that synergy is more important than how expensive a piece of equipment might be.
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Quicksilver arrived todayā¦ the amp seems fine but 2 tubes shattered in shipping.
Iāll have to take an Inventory of tubes tonight.
Does anybody have a diagram on which tube can go into which socket? There is no manual in the box to provide instructions.
Iād like to test the amp asap to ensure it wasnāt damaged in shipping.
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