Switch box! That is a great idea! Hahaha, so simple, i will look for one.
1 Like
Hey guys, i realized i am using all my cans on the Quicksilver nowadays with the only exception being the HE6 for which i still use the HYPSOS + OOR, so i am thinking of selling the OOR and upgrading to a higher end tube amp, trying to figure out if that will be a good move.
I have found an used Woo22 1st gen for $1300 which is tempting, there are a few good prices on the Woo22 2nd gen as well. What is the difference between 1st and 2nd btw?
Do you guys think that this would be a good upgrade or not worth the trouble?
My cans are the Abyss 1266, ZMF VC and Kennerton Gjallarhorn.
I just love how all of them sound on the Quicksilver, wonder if i can improve on that without breaking the bank.
2 Likes
The Woo WA22 is the old school Woo sound, itâs going to be VERY different to the Quicksilver.
There is a LOT of variation in tube amp sounds, all of Mikes amps are on the cleaner dryer side of tubes, the older Woo amps are on the thick slower side.
Your going to have a hard time finding a tube amp that will drive the HE6 well, until you get to WA33 levels of expenditure, and even there the choices are limited. So to some extent you have to decide if you want to continue down the hard to drive planar, or somewhat easier to drive path, and thatâs going to play heavily into Amp choices.
3 Likes
That is good info, i think i like the âcleaner dryerâ side of tubes, i really love how the Quicksilver sounds, specifically how punchy and controlled the bass is.
As for hard to drive planars, i would be giving up the HE6 with this change. The 1266 is spectacular on the Quicksilver so i am guessing other tube amps would also do the job.
Since the Woo22 has a thicker slower sound it may not be the best upgrade for me. Which amp would you consider a Quicksilver on steroids?
You probably need at least a couple of Watts of power and an output impedance under 4 Ohms for the 1266 to really work, and that rules out a LOT of even higher end tube amps. The Quicksilver is somewhat unique at itâs price point, it has more power than you would expect and a much lower output impedance than almost anything else in the price range.
Iâd want to get other peoples impressions of the 1266 on whatever amp you were considering, I felt my DNA 3W and 3 Ohms output impedance was much less than optimal with the 1266, though it was better with that than the Susvara.
Some of the Amp and Sound stuff would probably work, but Iâm not really a big fan of his amps.
There is sort of a no mans land of tube amps between about 1K and 3K.
The Eddie Current amps are the usual poster child for fast dry tube amps, but they are going to be a lot more $$.
2 Likes
This is going to be a curveball but for the Oor/Hypsos + Quicksilver price, maybe try a used Bakoon 13R? Itâs not tube but it might be exactly what youâre looking for. Will work well with all the headphones you mentioned as well.
1 Like
Yeah, I really like the Quicksilver too. Even after upgrading to a more expensive tube amp (Allnic HPA-3000 GT), I still really like the sound of the Quicksilver. I donât know what the rest of your setup looks like, but you could maybe keep the Quicksilver, sell the Oor/Hypsos, and use the money to push up the other parts of the chain instead (DAC/streamer/etc)?
2 Likes
agreed⌠I enjoy the 1266 Phi TC pairing with QS quite a bit⌠I was thinking initially it wouldnât have enough power but itâs quite fantastic with the right tube pairing.
2 Likes
I have a Leafaudio DDC (900mhz) with a low noise power supply and a Gumby. Do you think there is room for a resonable improvement there without spending tons of money?
I am actually quite happy withy current setup, but i get that âwhat would the next upgrade sound likeâ thing going on, hahaha
Honestly, Iâm not sure! I havenât actually heard all that much stuff, and my upgrade path has been a bit odd. (In fact, when I first got my Mystique V3, I didnât totally love it despite it being an obvious upgrade, and I ended up changing a lot of stuff in my chain around it after buying it.) So itâs kinda hard for me to say, âoh yeah, getting a higher-tier DAC will definitely make things better,â I dunno.
âŚI guess going from âno streamerâ to âstreamerâ is a bit easier to say that it makes things just overall better, but maybe friends in the source gear help thread can give better opinions.
3 Likes
Hey guys, since i use equalizer apo, is it a good idea to lower the preamp gain on the EQ so i can use more volume on the Quicksilver?
Someone suggested a pair of different preamp tubes which would produce less volume so i could use more volume on the amp tubes once, i am thinking the same can be achieved via EQ, but is that a good idea? And what difference in sound can that create?
depends on the DAC, digital volume has a bad rap, done on the computer, itâs just reducing the size of the signal and hence the number of bits fed in the DAC for it to work with.
Itâs certainly going to be an at worst marginal degradation over what the EQ is already doing.
In practice it might be better, if that part of the pot on the quicksilver is âbetterâ, most potâs do have a sweet spot.
If your DAC has volume control, that might be better, but I doubt youâd realistically hear the difference.
Short version, and this applies to anything you can easily try, try it and decide what you hear for yourself.
Despite what a lot of what youâll read with the obsession for âlosslessâ reproduction, there isnât a right or wrong here.
1 Like
You should make sure your EQ isnât causing clipping in the digital space. In some cases with EQ you have to lower the gain in software for it to sound like what you want it to.
2 Likes
Thanks for the input, yep i am giving it a try now.
And yes i got over the lossless purist way long time ago, to my ears the pros of using EQ outweighs the cons by a lot, it is not even close 
Oh yes i am aware, i have been playing with PEQ for years now, honestly i am addicted!
Not the headphone amp, but these special wood quicksilver look kinda cool
10 Likes
The pre has a bit of a vintage AR look but with a wooden face. I like the look.
Sorry for a late response, but for the EC amps there is a hum when the wall wattage isnt exactly what it should be. Some have tested 124v from the wall and it affects the amps. It can also happen at specific times of the day, usually at night. Not sure if the conditioner would have eliminated that issue or not.
1 Like
I really like them, and i am not a usually a fan of walnut. It goes well with the very plain and matte black chassis and black lettering.
Does anybody have experience with the Quicksilver speaker amp line of monos or integrateds? Just curious on how they stack up for performance and value? I love the HP amp just not sure how the rest of their lineup performs.
Mini Monos:
Horn Monos:
Silver Monos:
70 Monos:
120 Monos:
V4 balanced Monos:
Integrated:
Iâve really liked the mid monos and their linestage in the past, want to eventually try their integrated and higher power options. I really enjoyed a demo of the v4 monos but I didnât have enough time with them to comment. But Iâd say the mid monos are absolutely worth it although very demanding on preamp quality
3 Likes