Don Sachs Owners Thread

Interesting outcome. You have a nice collection of newer signal tubes. The fact you were able to reduce noise and improve sound quality is good news. The only tube I have from your bunch is a Philco 6by5GA rectifier. It seems very airy, but light on bass and midrange warmth. All of my rectifier tubes sound different. The Tung-Sol is probably the most balanced. Just acquired an RCA 6by5GA that is close, but a little softer sounding. The Bendix 5x4 is very, very punchy. Hearing all the different personalities of this linestage with different tubes, it would be very to review it properly.

Thanks,

aldnorab

I have a new solid state amp and some new IC's to try as well. This set of tubes is really sweet sounding, but I also have new Lin Lai's that just arrived yesterday.

The Coda 8 amplifier is fantastic, but it is slightly hissier than the Cherry. This amp is probably the best of the 30+ amps I have tried in the last 13 years.

Cables I usually run are Silnote Morpheus 3's in balanced config. In reserve I have a Jade and a Gabriel Gold. New to me I have a Silent Source, Acoustic Zen Silver Reference, and coming soon a Stealth Metacarbon. So far the SS is fantastic. I have high hopes for the Metacarbon.

More updates. Don emailed me about a change to the output caps he had made after the production of my unit. It took 5 weeks to get the caps from Chris as he was away on vacation. They are VH Audio V-Caps ODAM 400VDC 1.5 uf - Matched 1% pairs. These replace the Mundorfs which were fairly meek in their performance compared to the Miflex (Dueland clones) on the other output set.

I installed them yesterday and right from the jump they sound fantastic. As good as the Miflex and with time we'll see how they flesh out.

I also have a set of Stealth Indra's showing tomorrow. I had a pair a year ago and was sorry I let them go. I am not sure if they will recreate the magic they once brought and in the pre to amp slot I will have to see what cables in the DAC to pre slot mate best.  Right now I have the Silent Source there and the MetaCarbons going to the amp. 

I preferred the Gabriel Golds to the Silent Source there but the Meta's were the best of the bunch. I've pushed the Acoustic Zens to the sell pile and may keep the Jade Moontails in the rotation pile. We'll see if a full Stealth chain will be the ticket.

I tend to changes things in 3's and not one at a time. So between the Coda, Cables, and now caps I am headed to higher levels of performance and cause myself more complex thinking by changing multiple items at once.

I constantly think about upgrading my Wilson's to newer designs but every time I make these kinds of changes they keep wringing out more performance from the system. I guess that's  good thing!

I had Don's first preamp and now his latest version, which is fantastic as well.  I recently got the Linlai 6SN7's and they sound fine to my ears, as Don said they would.  My current ss amp in the rack is dead quiet and I sense no noise generated by the preamp at all.  I have dozens of NOS 6SN7 tubes -- not the holy grail variants, but Sylvania, RCA, and Raytheon, which were dramatically better than the crappy Russian tubes Don originally sourced with his first preamp, figuring buyers would be rolling tubes anyway, but Don has been a devotee of recent Chinese tubes and I absolutely agree with his assessment.  Don told me long ago that among the 4 6SN7 tubes, sonically the 2 most important ones are those on the left side of the top of the preamp.  If you have a pair of fabulous NOS tubes, it is best to place them there. 

I have both Don's preamp and KT88 amp and believe that I own legacy audio gear, somewhat rare in quantities produced as well as with respect to their sonic excellence.  Don's own passion for music is reflected in his excellent gear.

@bugredmachine nice cable collection. I always find it beneficial to try multiple wire looms with new components. Some setups just lock in and sound great.

Didn't realize Don provides caps and allows customers to diy install them. Good to know. 

@whitestix  just received my 2nd pair of Linlai E-6SN7. Can't wait to try the complete set. Good to know the left row makes the most difference. After full break in I will compare the Linlai vs antique tubes.

Thanks,

aldnorab