2. digital
  3. 1214070620

I think my CAL Alpha DAC is broken...

I've owned the 24/96 version for at least a dozen years. Lately, it has become very temperamental about what tubes it will accept. The left channel blows out anything other than a Sovtek 12AX7WB! I've had the following new-out-of-the-box tubes fail within the past year: Sovtek 12AX7LPS (3 of them!), TungSol ECC803 and Sovtek 12AX7LP. Typically, they last only a few hours.

I'm eventually going to take it for repair, but I'd appreciate any thoughts on:

a. why it might be doing this now?

b. why the Sovtek WB seems more robust?

Thanks.
mbailey

Showing 1 response by vegasears

vegasears
1,173 posts
 
I had my Alpha repaired by the guys at approved audio service a few years ago. CAL had long since closed there doors. Approved was the east coast service provider for CAL. The cost of my repairs were worth it to me. Funny after they opened mine up they called me and asked where I got it. It turned out to be kind of special. see the link below to my old thread on the issue. Yes I still have it but do not use it often.

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?ddgtl&1158371576&openmine&zzVegasears&4&5#Vegasears

www.approvedaudioservice.com
More to discover