Lab12 Melto 2 - tube rolling

@lewm ​​​​@billstevenson 

There’s definitely a difference. And it isn’t small.

With the Siemens 6922 the sound is bigger and warmer without the sibilance (albeit very minor) I noticed on female vocals with the EH tubes. 
Dire Straits “Calling Elvis” from On Every Street album sounded bigger than ever with the drums and the bass laying a massive foundation. The drums hitting harder and weightier. 
Took several hours for the tubes to settle. At first they were a bit tipped up in treble. Once warmed up…Biggest delta in bass, overall warmth of the presentation and size and weight of instruments. Vocals are honey. No noise. Dead silent by the way, just like the EH. 

Next up is the NOS Russian 6H23P EB. 

 

Very interesting.  I am learning all the time and appreciate the update.  @lalitk thank you for your comments as well.  I almost makes me want to tube roll on my ART Phono...nah.

@audphile1 

Drop the stylus on “You and Your Friend” from the same album and get ready to be blown away by the inner detail. When the electronics are properly dialed in, you start uncovering just how much nuance musicians and recording engineers have packed into those familiar tracks.

@billstevenson 

Haha, the temptation to start tube rolling on the ART Phono is real but I completely understand…just enjoy the music. CJ does an exceptional job with carefully selecting and matching their tubes. I’ve always wanted to own CJ phono, just never got around to it. I got my eyes on Phasemation EA-1500…let’s see what audio gods have in store. 

Audi, that quoted response from Melto is useless.

@lalitk for almost a year I had possession of a friend’s CH Precision P1 and had ample opportunity to AB the two.  The P1 at that time was the undisputed king of solid state and I believe the ART Phono is still the top tube phono preamp available.  I have not heard the new P10.  Anyway, neither one is perfect.  Either is wonderful.  They do sound different, but not as different as I presupposed they would.  Both are neutral, both are noise free.  I came to the conclusion that the ART was better (a weeny, teeny, to me, bit) on the low gain (47 k-ohm) input, the CH was better by a margin on the high gain input.  But with either I tended in the end to use my Consolidated 10:1 transformer, which meant in the end the ART was my preferred preamp.   If you get a chance to hear either take it.