Donald North Audio — Owners Thread

I have found that the EML "Big Boy" rectifier works very nice with the Acmes. Also, Grant Fidelity sells "Select" Acme pairs if you are picky as me. You can ignore my experience with these tubes if you want because I am a mere Stratus owner.

 

I've spent significant time with the following DACs feeding Stellaris, and several months with the first three in parallel so I could switch between them with the turn of a knob:

ADI 2-Pro
Dangerous Music Convert 2
Holo Audio Spring Level 3 KTE
Sonic Frontiers SFD2-MkII
Yggdrasil
Yggdrasil A2

Holo Spring Level 3 in NOS mode is the clear winner for me. Just a fabulous combo, the others didn't make the amp sound bad or anything but for pure relaxing enjoyment I kept going back to it. One or two other people around here who listened to the combo were in agreement.

 

Super helpful. What's your preferred tube set with the holo spring?

 

RT 6N1P, WE 422a, EML mesh plates.

The 422a is the key to this set up for me, I've not found another rectifier to match the holographic sound of it yet.

I could switch out the EMLs without complaint. I just ordered the ACMEs based on this and other threads, no doubt they'll go in and stay in. I'll also admit a fondness for the Shuguang Nature Sound 2A3C-Ts. They're just a little bit syrupy but very enjoyably so. I haven't heard them mentioned around here for years though.

 

Will need to get my hands on the 422a once I can travel to the US again.

The ACME are nice.

 

Be aware of the following quote from @Donald North re the 422A and the Stratus, which also applies to the Stellaris I believe:

"
The Stratus was designed to use directly heated rectifiers and takes the high voltage from a center tap of the 5V filament winding for lower noise/hum. The 422A is an indirectly heated rectifier with cathode tied to pin 2 of the heater. This tube will work in the Stratus, but to work optimally the socket needs to be rewired specifically for this tube.
"
I never re-wired the socket and thus probably voided the warranty long ago

 

BUT, after all that warning, Don't the 422A sound damn good!!!

 

I'm also interested in DAC recommendations. I recently added a Freya S to my chain and my Gungnir MB A2 has gone from a bit boring to a bit fatiguing now that I'm not using the gimped SE outputs. "A bit fatiguing" also matches my impression of the Yggdrasil from the various times I've tried it. Considering the cost and hassle (amp rewiring), I'm not planning on getting the 422a rectifier.

Full chain: CD Rips/Qobuz -> Pi2AES (moode) -> Gungnir -> Freya S -> Stratus
Tubes: RCA 5R4GY or EML Mesh rectifier (prefer the RCA, EML a little too airy), ACME 2a3, Brimar 6BQ7A
Headphones: Atticus, Auteur, HD800 (SDR), HD6XX, ESP/95X
Dacs I like: Modi MB, Airist RDAC, ifi iDSD BL

I was happy to see the HD800 come more alive with the xlr out from the Gungnir but even then it was also fatiguing.

Top end of the budget will probably be around $5K, depending on how long I want to take to save up the money.

 

So far on my Starlett I'm happy with the Bifrost 2. If the higher end stuff is still have a similar sound to the Starlett, I may not want to put a brighter DAC in the chain.

 

Definitely looking forward to your Starlett impressions...top of the list of potential upgrades for me.

 

My 2¢, don'y try to make the Stellaris aggressive, it just won't do it and I've really tried.
I find the Stellaris is beautifully tuned to be relaxed, punchy, detailed with yummy tone and suits jazz and vocals in an paralleled way I've heard so far. The 2A3 valve is particularly suited to this based on my experiments with various 2A3s including AVVT and 6A3(6B4G) in the modded Woo WA5.
I've only had the A1/2 Yggdrasil and L2 Pavane with it and neither will be aggressive regardless of tube choices even going off spec. A 300B amp will do happily do aggressive as it's more treble happy with larger soundstage yet less microdetail.

Since Jazz vocals and the likes are not my preferred tracks I've been kept somewhat wanting and why I got into DIY.

 

Welcome to the club.

Plan on trying a Rockna Wavelight and Bricasti M3 next but who knows when that will actually happen with no local dealers. May also revisit the Holo Spring 3.

@saint.panda - What m17 is saying above - do not try to make Stellaris aggressive. I also tried this at first and it didn't work which is why I ended up buying an EC Af as a secondary amp (not an aggressive amp per se, but more so than Stellaris).

 

Wanted to share my joy with this system:



The tubes are the AVVT 2A3 solid plate, WE 422A and Sovtek 6N1P.

Not pictured is the Pi2AES (with linear power supply) running RoPieeeXL and outputting via AES to the Yggdrasil A2. Within Roon, I upsample to either 24/176.4 or 24/192 using a precise, linear phase sample rate conversion filter, and I apply the following digital parametric EQ settings:




This is the only setup that has tempted me to totally consolidate my headphone chain down to one headphone, one amp and one DAC. The sublime richness, detail and musicality that I have been enjoying as of late are the absolute pinnacle of what I have experienced in this hobby.

I wonder how this system would sound if I eventually swap out the Yggdrasil A2 and Pi2AES for a Rockna Wavelight DAC and Server stack...

 

Stratus and Stellaris owners, there is a new 2A3 variant available. A new tube factory and company has been born. Its called Linlai. Some of Psvane's engineers left them and started the company. Check out Grant Fidelity website. I went there this morning to buy a spare pair of Acme Supreme 2A3s and ended up also ordering a pair of Linlai Elites too.

 

Both Linlai Elite and Psvane ACME Supreme have dead quiet noise floors and exhibit great
3D sound with rich resonance on the DNA Stratus.

Both the Psvane and the Linlai have similar dynamics. The mids are smooth and the
upper frequencies are light and well controlled. Lindsey Stirling's 'Electric Daisy Violin'
and 'Zi Zi's Journey' has pounding bass that gives you a feel for the dynamics and
control at the high end when the violin strings are plucked. They both bring out the bass
that many people find lacking when listening with Utopia headphones.

I don't often listen to music that focus on brass instruments but with both tubes, Wynton Marsalis'
Trumpet in the 'Rondeau from Abdelazar' is clear, boisterous and is very enjoyable listening.
High notes are pleasing and controlled.

Details are a real treat with both tubes. Listening to Alison Krauss singing 'Dimming of the Day'
you can hear her parting her lips as she first sings "...come the night you could be my confidant".
Similar detail is heard on Eric Bibb's "Rocking Chair" when his lips part just before he sings
"Don't say a word ... baby ... just rock". These details added intimacy to the recording.

Listening to 'Brothers in Arms' by Club for Five, The bass notes sung are slightly less granular
on the Linlai tubes and the music as a whole is slightly warmer than the Psvanes but if I weren't
swapping tubes to listen for it I don't think I would have noticed the difference especially given
the details noted above.

 

Acoustic Taser, I also have Yiggy A2- DNA Stratus- Focal Utopia system. My source is a PS Audio CD transport. I have another system for digital. What is your source ?
Thanks for the tube review. The Acme and the Linlai also look similar. The Linlai guys must have copied the Acme with some small improvements. Their tube is a touch cheaper too.

 

ogodei, I found a decent vendor for the "Treasures". That tube is a player in the other forums Stratus thread. $219.95 each ain't too bad. Are they juicer sounding than your EMLs?
https://www.thetubestore.com/shuguang-treasure-2a3-z?quantity=2&custcol2=1

 

Qobuz through a laptop

 

The ones I was referring to are the 'Natural Sounds' series (2A3C-T) versus the Treasure series in your link. I haven't heard the Treasure series ones.

Between the Natural Sounds and the EMLs, the Natural Sounds are 'softer': slightly less forward treble; slightly more relaxed & less dynamic, slightly slower transients, minutely bloomier midrange \ bass. All this makes them (to me) a perfect match for the Stratus\Stellaris and bright \dynamic headphones like the HD800 and possibly Utopia on some materials. Specifically I used the Natural Sounds with the Stratus and HD800s at shows as I liked to watch people's jaws drop at how good the HD800s sounded on the amp. The mids were expanded just enough to make them magical, top end was sparkling but not edgy.

I vaguely recall @purr1n referring to the Nature Sounds as warmpoo back on changstar but think they have a place with certain headphones.

 

Would you say that they sound more like mono plate NOS RCAs ? More of a romantic sound?
I have spent more than a few bucks tuning my Stratus ie. tube rolling, to get to its present more dynamic sound. I'm not sure I want to go backward. When I want to listen to Patricia Barber, Diana Krall etc, I just switch out to mono plate RCAs and a nice NOS RCA rectifier.