Elephas

You, sir, are the only nice human around here. You may have dibs on the ES-1. I got a multimeter some time ago, after I got an SRM-T1W and Spritzer explained how to bias the tubes. Apparently it's the same way with the BHSE, which also involves sticking the probes into the Stax output jack. I'm not a complete idiot. An incomplete one, sure, probably, especially when it comes to tube amps and I barely know how to use the multimeter. But I was already accustomed to removing the top cover of the Aristaeus to bias its tubes, and the SP ES-1 has convenient receptacles on each side to put the probes into and knobs to adjust. I expected something similar. I looked at the top cover of the BHSE amp section and didn't see the four tiny small gold screws inside the holes next to the tube sockets. I did see the twelve allen hex screws and figured that they're not meant to be unscrewed on a regular basis, unlike the Aristaeus' four simple philips-head screws. So, if the top cover stays put, and I don't see any knobs to turn to adjust bias, I thought there isn't anything I could do. Out of sight, out of mind. And nobody said anything! Anyway, that's my explanation. It took me an hour to think up, so I hope it's convincing. Currently playing: Madonna - Like A Prayer (12" Extended Remix) Oldie but goodie! Don't tell me everyone listens to sophisticated intelligentsia music! Classical and jazz, barf! I'll attend one of your meets secretly as an anonymous newbie and don't let me catch you with Britney, Beyonce, Leona Lewis, Rihanna, or other Top 40 on your playlists!

Do you mean I have to open up the top of the chassis and actually need to use a multimeter?! The Aristaeus only has four philips screws on the amp section's cover, I see twelve allen hex screws on the cover of the BHSE amp section. Twelve! I thought we weren't supposed to touch allen hex screws, that's why SP amps use them? OK, the HE90+Aristaeus may not be better than the O2mk1+BHSE. I lied, I was just trying to annoy the Stax Mafia. I hope it wasn't succesfull.

But nobody told me!! I did try very hard to get matched quads. So I've been listening to crap all this time! Nobody tells me anything! *cry* No wonder the HE90+Aristaeus is better than the O2mk1+BHSE. HeadAmp versus HeadAmp

Er, ahem. No, I don't know how to bias the tubes.

Here's the Siemens Ei EL34, it's kind of ugly Now look at the xf1 with the large dark brown base, so solid-looking

Some good news! This qualified as a really big emergency, so I decided to dig deep into my tube stash. Since some of the well-known old stock tubes aren't working, I tried Siemens-labeled Ei EL34 with slim glass tubes and three round holes on the plates and a tip on the top of the tube. These tubes are damn ugly, but maybe they'll sound good. Hmm, eh, uh, ugh, no good. Then I put in Tesla EL34, clear glass with a narrower and sharper-shaped top. Eh, uhg, still no good. Getting a bit desperate now. I don't want to turn the amp on and off many times a day. About four or five times seems reasonable, with cool-down time in-between? Really, I'm not some kind of mad tube roller. Digging deep inside the box, I catch a glimpse of white boxes labeled Mullard xf1. I stashed them away because these are the only matched quad I have! Oooh, ah, heh, haha, yay! Ah, this is better. Maybe not great, but definitely better than the xf2 00-getter. I didn't expect the xf1 and xf2 to be much different.

Yes, I noticed that in the Aristaeus and ES-1 the preamp tubes (12AX7, 5751, etc.) changed the sound more than the power tubes (ECL86 and EL34). They have more effect on aspects that the power tubes don't affect as much, such as details. With the BHSE so far, I agree that tube changes affect bass quantity, treble extension and quality, and the midrange the most. Given the much lower prices for the JJ tubes that I've seen, some reliability problems are not a problem. My main complaint with the HE90 is the lack of bass quantity and impact. With the Mullard xf2 00-getter, it is almost non-existent! OK, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but not really that much. If this was what Spritzer was hearing with his BH and xf2 tubes, no wonder he didn't like the HE90!

Hahaha, remembering all the tube types and numbers can get confusing, but the Blue Hawaii uses only four of one type! Compare this serene simplicity with the SP ES-1, with eight tubes and the adapters. You don't want to know how many tubes types can be plugged in. For people who haven't heard a BH yet and are wondering about the tubes, yes, the tubes sound different but it isn't a large difference. It's the same with the ES-1, Aristaeus and Zana Deux. Having said that, after one becomes used to the sound, some of the relatively subtle changes are readily apparent. For example, changes in bass quantity and impact are especially obvious. Tube-rolling can be fun or it can become a burdensome expensive obsession (but still fun!).

I've seen some EL34xx that are not exactly the same specs as the EL34, some are by Groove Tubes. I think the E34L and KT77 are also not direct substitutes for EL34. I don't have any of these tubes. They could all work fine in the BHSE, but I'll wait for Justin's OK before I try them. I believe the 6CA7 is basically equivalent to the EL34 and is a direct substitute.

Help? Can somebody help me? I can't get the HE90 to sound right with the BHSE. There are only these four tubes that can be changed, after all. I tried 6CA7 Fat Boys, both GE and Sylvania, and the results were disappointing. Sound lacked body and bass impact was anemic. The GE and Sylvania are different, the GE have a square middle hole while the Sylvania has three round holes on the plates. I've also tried Telefunken 5-crimped plates, Treasure 6CA7, Philips metal base, Mullard xf2 00-getter, and even the stock Mullards. None of those worked. The only one that seems OK so far is the Philips DD-getter, but maybe there are other types that would work better? It's not only the HE90 that I can't get right. The HE60 is also bad. OK, it's not bad, all the usual good qualities are there, decent details, soundstage, air, speed, etc. But they just don't seem to have enough body or bass quantity. Can someone recommend me some tubes, for the HE90 and HE60? As full-bodied and bassy as possible, something with really deep massive bass. And they should also still have great refinement, smoothness, superb midrange, details, separation, sparkly shimmering treble without any harshness and all those other good things. Yes, very true! And even so, it can still be risky.

The stock Mullard made in Russia tubes are not too bad. I think they match better with the O2mk1 and O2mk2, as do other tubes with a thinner and less full-bodied sound and less bass quantity. The O2's already have plenty of bass, so fuller-bodied tubes like the Philips DD-getter might be a bit too much of a good thing and make the sound too warm and thick. The Treasure 6CA7 seem to also do OK with the O2's, and the Mullard xf2 00-getters are excellent. For the HE90 and HE60, fuller-bodied and bassier tubes should match better. I haven't done much listening with these headphones yet. The DD-getter match well, and probably also the metal base. I'm also looking forward to trying GE 6CA7, these Fat Boys are full-bodied and bassy in the ES-1 and matched nicely with the Senns. I also prefer more body and smoothness with the 4070, which can otherwise sound a bit too thin and lean. I think the SR-Omega and maybe Jade are kind of in-between the Senns and the O2's. They'll probably do well with a wide variety of tubes. I've had amazing listening sessions with the SR-Omega using the DD-getter and metal base tubes.

I got the RK50 too. It's very smooth. Zero is 7 o'clock. There's no sound between 7 and 7:30. Sound starts to appear close to 8:00 and it is balanced, none of that left side first and then right side. The knob is large-sized and very nice to use, basically any volume level can be selected with precision. You can just nudge it a bit up or down. In my system and with the O2mk1 or O2mk2, I'm usually between 9:00 and 10:00. Over 12 is super loud and I don't think I'll ever go near there except maybe with a few very quiet recordings. Even with the slight adjustments possible, I would prefer a larger usable range on the knob. With modern loud recordings, it's already loud at 10:30. Yeah, I know, I should develop better taste in music, but I can't help it! Currently playing: Beyonce - Halo (Lost Daze Club Mix) with O2mk2 and Treasure 6CA7... so sexy and wow, the bass!

Sure, I'm enjoying listening to music more than ever. Anyway, thanks for not making fun of my crappy audio rack. The fuses don't seem to make much difference, but I'm not ready to conclude that they're not worth trying yet. I've also tried some other tweaks, many from Acoustic Revive. I've taken home loaner or demo gear, such as their power cords, digital AES cable, that grounding thing and a few other things, and managed to return them without buying, but I've also succumbed. I have Black Diamond Racing mini pits that I tried yesterday under the BHSE power supply. I use them under the Aristaeus which only requires six, so I don't have enough for both amp and power supply. I did think there was a very small difference, but it could easily have been imagination or wishful thinking. So the footers and potentially other isolation devices will take a lot more experimentation. I agree that the point of having a system is to enjoy the music, not just to have a transparent system and be able to hear changes in the system, or tweaks, more easily. Even the tweaks themselves are done for the enjoyment of music. I'm using the Jade with the DD-getter tubes. When I got them and sent them away, the earpads had a chemical-type odor. They still do, but I need to put my nose close to smell it. Before, the smell would rub off on me and I'll have to wash up. Now it doesn't. Thanks, guys! I don't think the Philips DD-getter matches the O2mk2 very well. I did pop in the stock tubes for an hour, and hey, they're not bad! These Mullard-brand made in Russia tubes look like the RFT dimple tops, they have the dimples and the 4-crimped plates. I thought they were fairly clean, but lacked some body and vibrancy and seemed a bit flat. Bass quantity was less than the DD-getter. With the O2mk2, they were quite satisfactory but can't match the smoothness, refinement and dynamics of the old stock tubes.

Hehe, I suspected that Justin doesn't want us messing around with the fuses in the amp, I guess the official message is to leave the stock fuses alone. I admit that the fuses don't seem to make much difference. But I had to try them and hear for myself and they're not expensive. Maybe the difference is subtle and my system isn't transparent enough, maybe the background is too noisy, maybe something else is masking the changes, or my ears/brain aren't identifying the differences. Some people might think I'm being audiophool stupid, that's OK. There really isn't much that I can do to "improve" my system without spending a lot of money. Anything else I might do is going to be expensive, much more expensive than a few fuses. Can't change the amp yet, I just got this one. Change headphones? Well, which ones do you suggest? Change the source? I don't want to think about that now, and the cost is very high to gain potentially incremental improvements. One reason that I want to try the aftermarket fuses in the BHSE is because I think it's more transparent than the Aristaeus or ES-1. I'm still getting used to the sound and learning about the amp's capabilities.

I asked Justin about fuses for the Aristaeus once and I got the impression he thought I was being silly or stupid. I've got a pair of HiFi Tuning in the Aristaeus (100mA) and a Furutech each in the ES-1 (5A), Zana Deux (3.15A or 4A) and Lehmann BCL (3.15A). Why two fuses in the Aristaeus and BHSE? And why such low values? I wanna put Furutech fuses in the BHSE!

I'm just glad I've build up a collection of EL34 already. If I hadn't, there's no way I'd blab all my secrets all over the Internet. I notice that the BHSE power supply has two fuses, both 200mA. Isn't that a bit low? Furutech and Isoclean don't make 200mA fuses. I think HiFi Tuning does, I use two of these 100mA fuses in the Aristaeus.

Er, ahem, $1300 doesn't really seem that bad compared to what I've overpaid for EL34 metal base. Yeah, finding and fighting each other for these old stock tubes really push prices up. Too bad the Treasure 6CA7 doesn't seem to work that great in the BHSE. Yeah, I wouldn't expect most new production to be able to match the RFT dimple tops, though maybe the Treasure could. I don't have any SED Winged C or Svetlana EL34. I only used a set of RFT with the ES-1 a long time ago and I don't remember much about them. There's also Tesla EL34 that might be roughly competitive with the RFT or maybe a bit better. I haven't yet, but I intend to try the GE 6CA7 with the HE90, HE60 and Jade. These seem to be the ones who might match better with the Fat Boys. The dynamics are still here, being ignored. I have the Zana Deux set up with my second source, the Accuphase CDP. I plan to setup the ES-1 and later the Aristaeus in the main system for head-to-head comparisons against the BHSE.

I don't feel like listening to the Jade anymore! Well, at least I got the first strike in, didn't you notice the unidentifiable substance coating the earpads and headband? I've never come across any Genalex Gold Lion KT77, the original old version. The new production ones are not inexpensive. I haven't had good experiences with new production tubes, so I haven't tried the stock Mullard-labeled tubes yet. If the Treasure 6CA7 are indicative of the best that new production tubes can do, I'll stick to old stock. Besides the stock tubes, I also have the RFT dimple top and Mullard xf3, which should be the same as the xf4, so we have plenty of tubes in common for reference.

Oh, so now I'm a "my friend" huh? Just wait until I switch back to the O2mk2, SR-Omega and HE90!

Ah, OK. I was just hoping for more people to talk more EL34 with. That's basically all I want to talk about now. I thought the O2mk1 had good body before, but this is something else. It's not easy to describe, I think it's one of those things you have to hear for yourself. An analogy might be the bass notes of a home theater system, or at a movie theater. With good speakers, the bass is heard and felt. It's almost as if you are sensing the sound waves with your skin and body. With headphones, I've always thought that this kind of experience or feeling is impossible. The sound doesn't travel through much air after all, it just appears a short distance from the ears. Bass that you can feel? No way. I don't think the O2mk1 + BHSE combo is creating sound that you can feel. But the sense is there. It's not only the bass notes either, the midrange and treble range have the same sense of substance to the notes. This body that I'm trying to describe doesn't seem to be there at low volume, it's more apparent at high volumes.

OK, now hopefully there will be more people to talk to about the BHSE. Where's Asr? He just dropped in and spewed some questions and now it appears he's run off to enjoy listening and left us all hanging. I built up some courage today and bumped up the volume knob. I'm at 10:30 with the O2mk1. I was at 11:00 for a while but it became too much and I had to back off. I think it's important for us to be aware of listening volumes and protect our hearing. I usually listen at low volume, low enough to be able to conduct a conversation with someone while the music is playing. But the O2mk1 + BHSE sounds much better at higher volume. There's an incredible sense of body and substance in the sound. It's the closest I've ever experienced with a headphone to feeling that there's an actual person singing in front of me, I only have to reach out and touch her. At this higher volume, I think it's safe to say that the O2mk1 + BHSE provides as close to a visceral experience with the music as is possible with headphones. The BHSE is an amazing amp. The O2mk1 is likewise an amazing headphone, I just didn't know it until now.

Yeah, the metal base tubes look very nice. They're rare for sure, and be careful buying them. But the supposedly NOS set I've been saving that test very strong, the strongest of all my EL34 types, were a disappointment with the O2mk1. Sigh. I'm pretty sure that they are darker than the xf2 00-getter, 1965. I also think they're smoother and more refined, but they just don't seem to sound that great with the O2mk1. The xf2 00-getter version seems to be a better match. I would recommend O2 owners to try them before going after some rarer types.

You can mitigate the effect of different volume levels by listening and comparing several times, switching back and forth at varying volume levels. Compare A at a higher volume versus B and then switch around, B at a higher volume than A. Then try to volume match. Then compare both at low volume, both at high, etc. Yay, Team Blue Hawaii!

These are the EL34 tubes I'm currently using, I've been saving them for the BHSE. Here's a screenshot from the Guide to EL34 PDF by Pasquale Russo that I bought off eBay.

Actually, I had already preferred the Mk1 over the Mk2 using the ES-1 during the past few months. The Mk1 already seemed a bit better balanced and more accurate and neutral, though it could also sometimes seem a bit sleepy. The Mk2 could be more engaging or fun with some music, especially lower quality pop, but its stronger mid-bass could also seem excessive and too dominant. With the BHSE, the difference between the two is magnified. The Mk1 is "woken up" even more, and in comparison the Mk2's more forward midrange and greater mid-bass seems even more out of balance. Still, the Mk2 is far from a horrible headphone. If one thinks so badly of the Mk2 in favor of the Mk1, I wonder how he would think of the SR-Omega, Jade, HE90, HE60 or others such as the K1000, which are even more different from the Mk1 than the Mk2 and have a whole series of other differences and "failings" compared to the Mk1. One of the things I've wondered about the O2 (both versions) is the way Stax sells and markets it with their own amps, the 007t, 007tII, 717 and 727. Sennheiser can get away with just an HD800 launch. But being electrostatic and endowed with a 5-pin plug, Stax obviously has to market amps along with the O2. That's what's in the stores and available for people to demo, a matched set. But to me, the O2 sounds overly dark and laid-back with the 007tII (the one I've had experience with). Assuming that the other Stax amps sound roughly close to each other, this means that it is the sound that Stax is "selling" and promoting. Is that the intended sound? If it is, I don't really like it. It's too dark, sluggish and lacking air, dynamics and vibrancy. Sure, the O2 sounds better, brighter and more dynamic, less sluggish, when driven by the KGSS, Aristaeus, ES-1 or BHSE. But these aren't the official Stax amps that are in the stores. The O2 + 007tII sounds good, sure. Refined and recognizably the O2 sound. But isn't it also undeniably darker-sounding than almost every other headphone, including all other Stax headphones? SR-Omega, SR-404, 4070, etc.? It's not neutral-sounding, is it? So why is Stax selling the O2 with those amps? If that's the intended sound, it's too dark. If it is intended, then their concept of neutral-sounding is darker than almost everyone else's, and why are the SR-404, SR-Omega and 4070 so bright then? I don't even think the O2 + BHSE is neutral-sounding, and it's certainly a brighter combo than the 007tII. With the BHSE, the O2 is lively-sounding, energetic and not really too overly dark. But I think it's slightly to the dark side of neutral.