![]() All prices contained on this web site are exclusive of VAT. All output tubes valves are priced individually. Therefore Watford Valves can offer one stop shopping to satisfy the most demanding of needs of the professional market, the collector or the enthusiast. Watford Valves keeps a huge inventory of new old stock tubes valves as well as current production items. These factories such as Mullard, G.E.C, Telefunken, Siemens, Philips, General Electric and R.C.A produced some of the best valves ever made which is why these items have become very sought after in the music industry. The term 'new old stock' refers to tubes or valves which are new but are from factories which have long closed down. I've found diyAudio is a great seller, and you should definitely spend your money here.Watford Valves have been using valve equipment since 1976 and has been selecting and supplying valve to the professional market for over 20 years. Still, if you're into this hobby, it's money very well spent. This won't change your life, just slightly reorder the priorities of your system's DAC. As with all op-amps you will need a very resolving system to appreciate the change. ![]() If your tastes run more towards 70s rock, recent pop/dance, or you're just a sucker for that last bit of top end detail, then you might try the v6 Vivid, or the Sparkos. This op-amp loves that cool, dry, '80s production from your favorite British rock/pop/metal records, as well as Mingus/Coltrane era jazz. If your tastes run towards anything from ~1979-1989 (think Pink Floyd's The Wall, Peter Gabriel's So, Iron Maiden's Somewhere in Time, New Order's Technique), you have to try these. Not fatiguing, just too much information up there. I had a little too much heat right around 9-10k hz, right on top of cymbal strikes. Running this in my Aune x8 -> Outlaw 2160 mk2 -> Dali Opticon 2 mk2. Not necessarily better, just better for my room, gear, tastes. In my system, the v6 Classic is exactly what I needed. ( I haven't heard the v6 Vivid, so I can't compare.) This will give you well-defined, textured bass, without sacrificing too much clarity elsewhere. The Sparkos is clear and open where the Burson V6 Classic is warm and rich. This is an excellent side-grade from the Sparkos SS3602. This s an exceptional sounding preamp.Įxactly as advertised. In my experience, there are a number of exceptional sounding DIY and commercial amps, but it is really hard to find an exceptional sounding preamps. It sounds great with all the genres of music that I like to listen to (jazz, jazz, jazz, classical, electronic, pop, rock and jazz). Stereo width and depth is equal to the best I've heard in my system, if not better. It is warm but the midrange and treble shine through beautifully. ![]() The music is detailed but never synthetic. It is hard to describe how good this preamp is. I used thin gauge solid silver coated copper wire between the boards and the inputs and outputs.įrom a build perspective, I love how easy it is to implement both balanced and single ended inputs and outputs in this design.įrom a sound perspective, I am incredibly happy. I have no noise when I stick my ear up to the driver at full volume. I didn't use any extensions to bring the volume controls back to the board inputs (mainly because my chassis didn't have adequate layout to do so), so thought it best to use shielded cable. I used a shielded quad microphone cable between the volume controls and the boards. They sound great, but the volume steps are a tad too large at the louder end of the range (around 3 dB), so at some point I will try a balanced chip based control. I used two EIZZ 10K stereo attenuators. I used two Antek AN-0218 transformers, and covered them with the Antek CA-002 steel covers. I was going to take a picture of the inside, but didn't want to pull it out of the system to do so. I would guess that it's just synergy with the Papa amps I've built, but it sounds amazing with my non-Papa amps as well. ![]() However, I wonder if I will listen to them again. I've built a lot of really good sounding preamps over the years - tube, solid state and buffers. I built the balanced version of the Iron Pre and finished it a month or so ago.
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