Melco 3560
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Deal / Trade to be had here:
Update: DAC can only recognise the phone if it runs through this little doohickey and not directly via a cable and adaptor thingy. Am slightly confuse.
Also had some things distort if the phone volume is all the way up which is a bit surprising.
Very nice
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Ta, it should go well with my Fidelity Research XF-2 L step up.
Still looking for decent examples of 7fz and AGT-5X that arenât very optimistically priced.
Yep, probably snuff it before I find one 
To be fair, Iâve had a few FR SUTs and theyâve all been pretty decent. Currently use one of these
Sounds lovely with my FR-7 or FR-702 cart.
Would like to try an AGT-5X but when they do turn up theyâre usually wildly overpriced.
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This is mine which @browellm has also had a play with.
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Still want.
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Since we last spoke after you borrowed it, how long was that, I havenât seen a single XF-2 anywhere, not even on the Jap/ HK sites etc.
Seen quite a few XF-1s in low impedance format (up to 3 ohm) for <ÂŁ400, but the XF-2 is much less common to see and goes for at least double.
About six months ago, I tried a quad of NOS Brimars in my amp. They never quite hit the spot so I ordered a matched quad of new Electro-Harmonix valves from Watford Valves. They arrived this morning. The Electro-Harmonix are the valves that Luxman originally supplied with the amp.
After my less than satisfactory experience with the Brimars I didnât want to gamble again. Whoâd have thought that Luxman would make a better job of selecting valves for their amp than a clueless twat in a flat in Glasgow?
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Dear Clueless Twat
Donât be too hard on yourself.
When a manufacturer makes a tube amp/pre amp/phono stage whatever, they have to ensure that the valves they use are in production, both to meet their own requirements and their customers.
They will therefore finalise their design using those valves.
Replacement NOS valves may be better in that circuit or they may not.
Valves are part of a circuit which is why it is such nonsense to say that a particular valve has a certain sound or character without reference to the equipment that it is installed in.
Of course the amp or whatever is equally in a system and the speakers for instance will have a huge affect.
How the speakers sound will depend on the room and furnishings.
So loads of reasons why things sound different in different contexts but you should be safe enough with the valves that were originally specified by the manufacturers
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Even back in the day you could buy valves with same designation made by a range of manufacturers. They should all meet the basic spec for, say, the 6L6GC but they could easily differ in their detailed performance. The culture then was that a well-designed piece of equipment should be able to tolerate this component variation without significantly affecting the equipmentâs performance. Sometimes the equipment designers achieved this aim, and sometimes they didnât. But when they didnât it was felt (within reason) to be their fault.
Towards the end of the valve heyday suppliers became more cavalier about their labelling (if there was a demand for KT66s but all you had was 6L6s then, well, letâs just call them KT66s). Now the blame started to shift from the equipment designers to the valve manufacturers and I donât think itâs ever really shifted back.
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Iâd bet they were Russian junk rather than British made old stock, I donât think Brimar ever made a 6L6, if the Brits made one itâd have been a re-labelled KT66 and have a fat bottle shape.
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Thereâs SO much fake crap out there now that this sound potentially highly likely.
Youâre correct. They were made in Russia in the 1990s. They were labelled as Foreign Made.
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Technically âNOSâ I guess in the literal sense, but obvs re-labelled in recent times.
It kind of annoys me that people are sticking respected vintage brands on Chinese and Russian stuff just to make a profit by passing it off as something itâs not. (Yes the tube industry was always doing re-labelling, but it wasnât generally trying to fleece people, more that certain manufacturers made certain types so other companies would stick their own label on to increase their range.)
Caveat Emptor, obvs.
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About as Brimar as my shoe
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