Review: JJ ECC83S short plate 12AX7

 

To be honest my expectations for this 12AX7 was low.  I haven't had a JJ tube in any of my gear for well over a decade.  Nothing personal, mind you, but back then I was all about more exotic tubes like the C3m, 5687s, EL156s, and whatnot.  JJ has been around since 1994, built on the ashes of Tesla and Ei.  Their small signal tubes aren't mentioned all that much on the forums I visit, or at least I missed the posts.

This particular version of the 12AX7 looks to be based on the famed Telefunken ECC803S, which also had a Tesla copy.  The architecture has small plates that are very similar to a 6DJ8.  This should translate to low microphonics.

As for the sound, at least as the gain tube for a power amplifier, the JJ ECC83S was better than I expected.  There is an overall darkness, making this a good match for some zingier MC cartridges or digital front ends.  This is a "chocolate" expression of the music, with solid and tuneful bass, warm mids, and a high end (to my older ears) that is even less detailed than a Mullard. 

Inner detail with the JJ is less than the long plate Mullard; a slight smearing of instrument and vocal space along with soundstage depth.  Nonetheless at least the JJ sounds like an vacuum tube unlike some of the inexpensive Russian offerings I've heard.  So, much like the TJ and the Psvane, a solid offering but, and your mileage will vary, not exceeding the better old stock versions of the 12AX7 I've heard.

Review: Psvane 12AX7

 

The Psvane T-12AX7, apparently the base version, is a Chinese design that looks much like a vintage one with gray ribbed plates, quality construction, and steel pins.  The triple-layed mica also looks good.  Bulb size, like so many other new tubes, is slightly larger than my collection of old stock, a mm or two difference in height and circumference..

Break-in was approximately fifty hours as the driver tube in my Frankenstein Eico ST70.  This is basically the classic Mullard 5-20 circuit.  It's been my general experience that the driver tube - before the phase splitter - has a high impact on the overall amplifier sound, more so than the phase-splitter or even the output tubes.

Listening was initially done while reading a book.  There were several times where I had to look up from the pages to truly appreciate what I was hearing.  Like the TJ FullMusic, the Psvane has a great almost vintage tone.  I was hearing little details - an example is Lonnie Liston Smith's Vision of a New World - that I thought weren't apparent to my standard vintage Mullard.  I was beginning to feel some really high hopes for this Psvane.

However some further, more detailed listening, some of it shared with an old audiophile friend with an extensive knowledge of 12AX7s both new and old, began to show some weaknesses.  Though the sound was never muffled, the Psvane, like the TJ, also lacked inner detail and bloom around the instruments.  But wait a minute, you say, where did that extra detail you mentioned go?  It is a strange effect of the Psvane: suppression of reverberation both artificial or natural, pushed some information forward.

Keep in mind this is still the best new production 12AX7 I've heard and I could see use for it in gear or speakers that aren't the most transparent.  The bass was excellent, there was a distinct lack of glare unlike some lesser "solid-state in a bottle" new production tubes.  The midrange was also even as was the treble.  It was just the lack of detail that stopped the Pvane running with the best of the vintage 12AX7s.

Disclaimers: No tube is 100% perfect for all gear.  The only way to be sure how a tube will sound in _your_ system is to hear it.  Also a tube in a phono stage, for example, may have different audio characteristics than say line, input, or phase-splitter use.

 Negative feedback - several dB in this circuit - also reduces the sonic signature of the tube.  An example of this came apparent to me when I built a triode-connected EF86 linestage.  The tube selection - GEC CV4085 and the Mullard "long mesh" were the best - played a big role in the sound quality.  However the EF86 in my Eico HF60 monoblocks were less important, most likely due to the loop negative feedback or perhaps the total number of tubes in play with a more complicated circuit.

 It should also be noted that I am not biased towards vintage tubes.  I really do want a new tube that can compete with the old.

So take this review as a general guideline, not as hard fact.

Review: TJ FullMusic 12AX7

 

 

The TJ Full Music 12AX7 is a box plate Chinese design that looks much like a vintage Mullard M8137 and completely unlike any other current new 12AX7 offering.  The gold pins are a nice touch, and it looks like actual mica (?) was used instead of the whatever the heck is used for the Shuguang small tubes.  Bulb size is slightly larger than my collection of old stock, a few mm difference in height and circumference..

Break-in was approximately fifty hours as the driver tube in my Frankenstein Eico ST70.  This is basically the classic Mullard 5-20 circuit.  It's been my experience that the driver tube - before the phase splitter - has a high impact on the overall amplifier sound, more so than the phase-splitter or even the output tubes.   

Tonally the TJ 12AX7 was one of the better new production tubes I've heard so far.  I was initially hard-pressed to hear any difference between it and a quality old tube like a 1950s Mullard.  Bass definition and instrumental shading of the TJ was particularly good, but, even as the hours piled on, I detected a slight muffled sound.  There was a lack - especially compared to the Mullard - of inner detail or instrumental/vocal bloom.  That is to say the TJ had a flatter and smaller presentation.  I'm reminded of an inexpensive cartridge or CD player; the magic "glow" or shimmer, whatever one prefers to call it, was pulled back on the soundstage.

The old Mullard, in comparison, sounded bigger and had better bloom.  The music was more "filled in" with depth and soundstage width.

Do the TJs need more break-in?  I really didn't hear large differences between hour zero and fifty so I remain skeptical.  Nonetheless I did like the TJ tonally, especially compared to some other new production valves I have heard, but I was ultimately disappointed.  I do want new tubes that can perform in the realm of the best of the old.  At least with this tube I'm not hearing it!

Disclaimers: No tube is 100% perfect for all gear.  The only way to be sure how a tube will sound in _your_ system is to hear it.  Also a tube in a phono stage, for example, may have different audio characteristics than say line, input, or phase-splitter use.

 Negative feedback - several dB in this circuit - also reduces the sonic signature of the tube.  An example of this came apparent to me when I built a triode-connected EF86 linestage.  The tube selection - GEC CV4085 and the Mullard "long mesh" were the best - played a big role in the sound quality.  However the EF86 in my Eico HF60 monoblocks were less important, most likely due to the loop negative feedback or perhaps the total number of tubes in play with a more complicated circuit.

So take this review as a general guideline, not as hard fact.

Review: Denon DCD-600NE CD player

 (image from the Denon website)

I still remember the first time I heard a CD player - this was at some teenage party back in the mid-1980s and I was rather impressed how loud it played.  Hey this was before I knew what being an audiophile was.  It was a year later when my dad bought a Magnavox player for his system.  I spent a mighty chunk of change - $22 - buying a Misfits compilation that, sadly, ended up sounding very bright, thin, and irritating to the point where a headache soon came on.  Later, in college, when I got into tube gear, I owned a Theta Basic DAC.   However I still thought my Thorens TD-166 turntable with a $20 Grado Black cartridge served the soul of music much better.

Years later there was a time that I was into digital.  By then vinyl was getting harder to get a hold of and the CD re-issues were pumping out some excellent compilations of rarer groups.  I started experimenting with several DIY modifications and designs.  For example, the transformer-coupled RAKK DAC was one of the better iterations of digital I have ever heard.  But in the end it was analog that won my heart.  Over the years my CD collection continued to shrink while my passion for vinyl increased and became the focal point of my system.

Time marched on - CDs are now ridiculously cheap.  From a purely music lovers point-of-view, they are an easy way to build a music collection, especially compared to the now high price of vinyl.  I decided once again to buy a CD player, hoping that technology has improved the Red Book standard.

But what to get?  I searched through Ebay and Audiogon, looking at several vintage models.  Ideally I wanted something with a digital out so I could experiment with DACs in the future.  Accessories 4 Less came to the rescue with a refurbished Denon DCD-600NE player that featured a 32 bit DAC and AL32 processing that - to quote their website - "expands audio data to 32 bits and uses a proprietary algorithm to interpolate the data and perform up-conversion and sampling, achieving a playback sound that is close to the original source."  So, as my friend likes to joke, "Perfect Sound Forever just got MORE perfect."

The Denon DCD-600NE is a stripped down player and - shockingly - has a metal enclosure.  If you want to use the full functions - random play, direct mode, track programming, etc, - this is where the rather large remote comes into play.  Digital out is via Optical - not ideal - but this may point to a future Schiit Bifrost 2 DAC upgrade.

So how does this little beast sound?  Initial impressions weren't the best.  There was a forwardness to the sound that was tiring, along with a sense that, compared to even my lowly Dual CS5000 turntable, that 20% of the musical information was just missing.  What I mean are the spatial cues were gone, rendering the voice and instruments as very two-dimensional.  A good reproduction system should have depth along with breadth, transporting the listener to the mind of the producer, or with some classical recordings, to the venue itself.  Instead the Denon reminded me once again why I prefer vinyl for home listening.

After a few days of break-in I decided it was time for some comparisons against two different turntables along with some general impressions.

The forwardness was reduced but there is no other way to say this - this budget Denon still sounds like digital.  Compared to the same LP, the CD is missing reverb cues; either the room or artificial.  An example of this is Willie Nelson's Stardust.  The body of the acoustic guitar is gone, leaving just the top layer of the guitar notes.  The "black background" sounds uncanny but not in a good way.  It's like a black hole of information - nothing is there! - compared to the warmth and fullness of analog which captures the space of the room and the size of the instruments.  It feels as if the music has gone through some kind of horrible clinical ward, stripping off the flesh of the music and leaving only the bones.

Now that does sound like a harsh review.  To be fair some CDs were better than others, like a few Chet Baker albums in my collection that sounded quite good.  Jazz is usually well-recorded but I still preferred my LP versions - even with my second turntable, a budget Dual CS5000.  At least with analog my brain connects to the music and I can relax.  With digital I am still gritting my teeth and feel uncomfortable with the overall presentation.

Maybe a DAC will bring some improvements.  We shall see!

System:

• Audio Research SP8
• modified Eico ST70 with 6AR6 tubes
• Cardas Neutral Reference interconnects
• KEF R500 speakers
• Dual CS5000 turntable with an Ortofon OM20 cart, aftermarket Shibata Stylus
• Thorens TD309 with Ortofon 2M Bronze
  

Review: A Tale of Two Schiits - Mani 1 vs Mani 2 phono preamp

(photo from Schiit)

I've been using the original Schiit Mani 1 phono preamplifier for some time.  Its sole purpose has been to provide the needed amplification and equalization for my second turntable, the Dual CS5000.  It has done well plugged into the line section of the Audio Research SP8, which has a phono section that is used for the primary turntable, a Thorens TD309.

To be fair, the Mani is a budget phono stage so I could put up with the slight graininess, mid-fi resolution, and the general lower fidelity.  For all the Mani 1's faults, it is still better than a lot of stock phono sections found in budget receivers, preamps, and integrateds.  And given the mostly background music it was used for I had no complaints.

A recent visit to the Schiit Audio site and I saw that a second version of the Mani has been released, this one using a different op-amp and it was also direct-coupled.  The case looks exactly the same but the dip switches on the bottom have changed, allowing more settings for MM and MC cartridges.

To cut to the chase, compared to the old version, the new Mani 2 is more detailed, faster, has better resolution, deeper bass, and higher overall fidelity.  It also images, left-to-right in a fashion that will be most pleasing.  It isn't perfect - nothing is! - but it does swing at a higher than the $149 (black face model) price point suggests.

Where the Mani 2 ultimately fails - compared to the Audio Research SP8 or the Classe Five - is inner detail and that certain "you are there" magic that I've heard with these more expensive units.  The soundstage of the former is also flatter without that depth I've come to expect.   However, to be fair. the Mani 2 does strike awfully close to better preamps making my budget Dual CS5000 sound a lot closer to the combination of Thorens TD309 and the ARC SP8 phono stage.  Depending on your front end, amps, and speakers, this difference may not matter at all.

 As always your mileage may vary depending on your front end, setup, and preferred listening habits.

System:

• Dual CS5000 with Ortofon OM20 and an aftermarket Shibata stylus
• Thorens TD309 with Ortofon 2M Bronze
• Audio Research SP8 with vintage Mullard 12AX7s 
• Eico ST70 "Frankenstein" amplifier with 6AR6 output tubes
• KEF R500 speakers
• MIT interconnects
• Cardas Twinlink speaker cables