Hello Bart,

One thing I have noticed is that I heard the differences between my interconnects more clearly as a result of the interaction with the tubes. With the same Mullards installed the Kimber Hero comes across as having more bottom than the AQ King Cobra. Hero's reputation includes a good bottom end, but I'm not sure I noticed it before using my previous AR solid-state LS3 preamp; in fact I thought the reverse was true. But I also didn't notice the Hero having a bright top end so much either. Audio Research preamps have a darker sound than Macs, in my experience, so that may account for this. But that extra brightness with the Hero/Mullard combo was missing with the KC/Mullard combo; it sounded smoother on top.

And I still haven't tried the Gold Lions I bought. That would be my next step if the JJs turn out to not be a good match. If these JJs I just put in are the one unused pair I had, they'll need 30 hours or so to break in and I'll have to try them on other sources.

Three things have happened since the last post, and I am struck by how tubes and interconnects can go together. I removed the Mullards from the 2300 and re-installed the JJ ECC803s tubes I had in there before. They are a bit warmer than the Mullards and tamed that hard upper edge the Hero had. But, having run experiments with the one pair of Transparent MusicLink Plus ICs (now called simply "Plus" in the Gen 5 series), I bought a pair of Transparent Audio Plus ICs and put them on my BD player. Their smoother sound over the Kimber Hero led me to put a pair on my SACD player also.

The Transparents are a bit stiffer than the Kimbers, probably due to the solid-core conductors. They may have a heavier gauge too, though I'm not sure. But there is the perception that low-level information is a bit more present with them, and that's a plus (no pun intended). The JJs also have this reputation, at least in the Tube Depot's website description:

For Audiophiles - Combining a noise canceling spiral wound filament with oversized plates and rugged construction, this tube provides a forward sounding, full-bodied low end response with a weighty, dynamic midrange easily compared to the Telefunken ECC803s. Its high end response is controlled yet warm with a very pleasant depth of field that extends the full sonic landscape. This tube is perfect as the first gain stage in most HiFi audio equipment. Especially useful for taming brittle digital sources such as MP3, CD and DVD players.

Devoid of harshness, this tube is easily the most listenable preamp tube in production. And with hand selected quality and solid, proven performance, it is a wonderfully refreshing addition to the 12AX7 family of tubes. Your equipment will take on new character across the entire audio spectrum once you install this tube. This tube gets our vote as one of the best new tubes in production today.

My listening experience suggests this description is accurate. Some recordings are just bright/hard and that's it, but I think they'd be even less listenable with the previous Kimber/Mullard combo. The Essential Heart CD set is a case in point. I had to turn the volume down to make "Magic Man" more enjoyable; without doing that I was distracted from the song by the sound. So I'll need to play material besides my "test" stuff I use for evaluations. And It's time to play LPs; I haven't in a while.

I haven't done a lot of tube rolling other than from suggestions by the manufacturer/designer of my tube equipment (Absolares).

Without a doubt, the tube rolling experience is entertaining and there are some tubes that are simply magical.

But for a given set of components, I have found that the biggest impact to the sound quality in my system, bigger than tube rolling, has been eliminating the noise in the computer music server from various sources, including the operating system, storage media, and just as importantly, if not more importantly, the quality of the power supply to the SSDs and sound card.

Adding a quality linear power supply produced an improvement that was not subtle in the least: It was an order of magnitude increase in the sound quality.

Musical selections that previously had a slight harshness to it, that required as you have noted, a reduction in volume, are now enjoyable at even higher volumes. Reducing the noise in the power supply improved all of the typical audiophile indicators (e.g., soundstage, transparency, dynamics etc) and resulted in a very relaxed, natural, musical and engaging sound.

The effect of reducing noise from the power supply has been an eye opening realization.

We tend to use cables and tubes as a way to tame or redirect the noise present in our systems; but it appears that keeping it from getting into the system in the first place produces an even greater improvement.

Of course YMMV. My apologies in advance if this reply is off topic.

Actually, my iMac computer shares the same line as my system, though not connected to it. My computer setup is plugged into a Tripplite unit, even as the system is plugged into Furman conditioners. I don't hear anything I could identify as line noise when listening/viewing; things are pretty quiet.The Heart CD mentioned before is a compilation, and "Magic Man" is a mid-70s song. It's just a bright recording, no line noise as the culprit on that.

I'm not a tube roller at heart; too much hassle. I like the sound I have now, and the only reason I can see to open the 2300 again is if I need to replace a tube or curiosity overwhelms and I decide to try the Gold Lions.

I played that Heart CD again, and "Magic Man" didn't sound as bright this time. That may be due to the new power cord on the 2300, a WW Electra. In limited use with the new cord, it looks as if I may have found my setup's sweet spot. Perhaps I'll want to avoid silver in my setup, at least on components.

After several weeks, I think the JJs I'm using are indeed my sweet spot. Despite the presence of Gold Lions, I still have no urge to replace the JJs. If anyone's ever done a comparison between GL B759 and JJ ECC803s tubes, what are your impressions? For now, the synergy of the JJs, Transparent Plus ICs, and WW Electra PC on the preamp have me in a happy place. Though I have yet to play anything on a non-Transparent IC source (laserdisc, LP, tuner) I'm sure the sound will be comparable.

The Gold Lions would seem to be the natural alternative to the JJ tubes as they have similar sound characteristics in general (based upon my understanding of the descriptions I've read of each), but I'm not putting them in my 2300 on a lark or just because they cost more. They may well be next up if I move on from the JJs for any reason, though.

Ok, I'll ask. Just what is it about Gold Lion tubes that has almost everyone so high on them? I'm thinking about giving them a try in my 2300, believe it or not.

Do it, they are very affordable, wait about 100 hrs and make the decision.

:thumbsup:

I have decided to put the Gold Lions into the 2300 and see what happens. I plan to do this at the next best opportunity, possibly this weekend. It's not because I don't like the JJs in there now (very musical) or Mullards, but I did some research and decided to go for this. I'm hoping they'll be as smooth as the JJs and give me the bottom end I like. The GLs will be somewhat more open than the JJs I suspect, not quite as warm, so that may play well for the overall sound. We'll see what happens.

As usual, I want to give them at least a month before any big decisions are made, and will stop counting hours after I hit 30.

Alright. The famous Gold Lion tubes went in this afternoon. They will get at least the minimum one month in there; I may just leave them in. I don't think I'll be doing anything more in the way of tubes, except perhaps to get some el cheap ones for the MM and MC inputs when the stock tubes give out. For the line section, it's up to those I have.

After only 2:37 on them, the GLs are crisper than the JJs, and not as warm. I do hope they smooth out as things move forward, though.