u/Longjumping-Frame795

Not even two months ago I was telling my wife “this is it. This is the system’s final form. We did it!”

Oh, sweet summer child…

Today I bought the Modwright Analog Bridge Tube Buffer. And I’ve already been looking at upgrading my headphone amp.

Is there really an endgame? Is there a light at the end of this tunnel? Do I even want to get there?

Got this wall mount thing from Etsy. It’s so dumb but I love it.

Should I get some lighting for the vibes?

Purchased new from Upscale Audio w/ 72hr burn in and matching services (see test stickers), $1586 retail. Delivered to me May 13 (see order summary screen shot). Installed in my MC1502 for all of three hours until I decided I didn’t like them. Essentially brand new with 75hr of burn in.

Boxes are numbered 1-8 with red sharpie for organization when I installed them.

Let my misadventure be your fortune.

Price is shipped CONUS. International buyers pay shipping.

PayPal FF or buyer adds 3.5% for G&S, or Zelle.

They sound so veiled and have zero depth or detail in the air around instruments. I don’t know what anyone sees in these things honestly…

Upscale Audio is all sales final on tubes. So what do I do with these things now?

72hrs of burn in on them from Upscale, but otherwise basically brand new. Literally delivered yesterday, installed and listened for a couple hours. Immediately went back to the Psvane Horizons.

International buyers add for shipping based on location.

The stock tubes are brand new, as I immediately rolled NOS Siemens (available for + $700) to the unit when I bought it less than a year ago.

This is an incredibly good little phono pre.

Manufacturer details here: https://www.project-audio.com/en/product/tube-box-ds3-b/

I’m also using the Valhalla 3 as a preamp. I’m really liking this so far. It’s great for a desk setup - the feature that shuts off the preamp out when you plug the headphones in makes it really easy to integrate this setup into my workday.

I just rolled a full tube set into my MC1502 this morning. First impressions are they’re just as spacious as the stock tubes, but more textured through the mids with faster less flabby bass. They’re a bit bright for my taste, but I can appreciate the extension and air. They’ve only been running for a few hours, so maybe things will change over the week.

Generally speaking, I like them and I’m curious to try the Horizon series tubes.

I intend to open it up to take photos and share them here with my review of the experience in writing. But I’m not a content guy. I don’t have a channel and I don’t have the real tools to do any actual science in this. I just bought the thing, because I figured why not and you all encouraged me to take the risk.

But my previous thread brought up some good points. There are loads of content creators with loads of gear and tools who wouldn’t take the spend risk, but would be interested in dissecting something like this if someone else sent them one. Well, here I am. I just don’t know who they are…

So I’m asking you. Who should I reach out to? Who do you want to see open this up on camera and maybe do some A/B testing or real measurements?

In Search of - N.E.R.D. + instrumentation by The Neptunes and Spymob.

A front to back classic. I love live band hip-hop. Don’t get me wrong, digital music and samples are also amazing. But as a vinyl collector and audiophile gear addict, live instrumentation just hits different.

Just got the Schiit Buf in the mail and honestly it’s pretty awesome. Even sitting between my solid state preamp and McIntosh MC1502, it does quite a lot of heavy lifting for such a cute little thing.

I ran RCA pre out from my Marantz AV 30 > Schiit Buf RCA > MC1502 unbalanced RCA in, and streamed Spotify over heos. The stock tube was a subtle improvement. You could miss it in a system that isn’t particularly detailed. However, I rolled a JJ 6922 in and holy cow! Immediate improvement to depth, body and air in the soundstage. And so much texture. I’m honestly shocked by how much this little thing brought to the table, even running into my McIntosh.

If you’re looking to dable in tube business, this is an incredible purchase at $99 + a $30 tube upgrade.

Note: only grabbed a photo with the stock tube.

I’m suddenly realizing I’m about to have an organization issue. Tube rolling is fun and all, but I now have six pairs of 6922s (12), three matched sets of eight KT88s (24), two GZ34s (2), three matched sets of four 12AT7 (12) and three matched sets of four 12AX7 (12).

Less the tubes installed at any given time, I have 41 various tubes that need somewhere to live. And that’s just today… I also bought that Chinese MC275 Clone we discussed in my post earlier this week. These things are starting to pile up.

What are your solutions?

And what would you want to see it do if i did? Maybe pop it open and take a look under the hood? Maybe A/B it with someone local who has a real MC275?

I kinda want to do it… Gotta figure I’d be about $2500-2700 into it after customs fees.

How bad could it be?

I've just bought the ModWritght PH 9.0XT and am looking for a way to blind A/B test it in my system (with help from a friend). Not sure how to get it done - I assume some complicated switch/selector setup is needed. But what specifically?

I intend to immediatley swap out the Tube Box for the Modwright PH 9.0XT to let it live in my room for a bunch of burn in hours, but I eventually want to A/B it to see if I actually like it more than the Tube Box (is the $5000 upgrade worthwhile??).

Setup is currently: Pro-Ject xtension 9 with 5pin out to RCA+Ground wire > Tube Box DS3 B > Marantz AV 30 > McIntosh MC1502.

I’m currently using the Pro-Ject Tube Box DS3 B with upgraded NOS 1960s Siemens CCA Grey Shield tubes rolled. It sounds pretty good, but I have an issue and can’t help but wonder if there’s more I can squeeze out of the phono stage. So I ordered this Modwright PH 9.0xt unit.

I also ordered some KT88s, ECC81s, and ECC83s in Gold Lion and Psvane Horizons to try in the MC1502.

I know I’ll be making all these changes slowly to give each proper time to settle into my ears, but I’m not sure in what order to try them? Should I roll tubes to my power amp first, or swap the phono out first? When should I swap the ECC88s into the new phono pre?

What would you do?

I'm considering adding a McIntosh C2700 or C2800 to my system as a tube buffer in the preamp stage. Currently running a Marantz AV 30 > McIntosh MC1502. The AV30 also acts as pre for my center channel that's powered by the Marantz Amp 30 and I like the HEOS ecosystem for streaming, which is just to say that I wouldn't be removing the AV30 from the mix. The McIntosh preamp supports alll my other needs for 12v triggering and such, and the C2800 specifically would allow me to manage input selection via control4.

My proposed setup would be AV30 L/R unbalanced out > MC2700/2800 HT bypass > C2700/2800 xlr speaker out > MC1502, while continuing to run AV30 C xlr speaker out > Amp 30.

I'm pretty sure the setup would work, but I'm wondering if I'd really be getting any more tube character out of this setup than I already do with the MC1502. I know there are some benefits to using an analog tube preamp when it comes to impedance buffering, but I can't imagine that being a $7-10k benefit.

Edit: I'm learning that the HT bypass (Passthru) on the McIntosh Preamps would make this entire setup pointless. So nvm all that, but I suppose the post title question is still interesting.