Lab12 Melto 2 - tube rolling

@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.   

@lalitk yep I know that track very well and will be playing more of that album later today. Fade to Black is another great listen there. The first track, Elvis, has thunderous drums and man the Siemens tubes had them on display in full glory.
Another great track from the same album is “When It Comes To You”. I’ve heard cymbals on that track sound hard if the system isn’t dialed in. I’ll throw more music at Melto 2 before I swap in the 6H23P EB. Some Black Sabbath, my new favorite Scheherezade from Analog Productions. 
 

I’ll post more thoughts as I get more time with it. 

@billstevenson you never know if it can sound better unless you hear it. Could be worse too. But I doubt it will be the same with different tubes. At least based on my prior and current experience. Man I tried to stay away from tubes and tube rolling by selling my tube pre and amp several years ago…I guess that’s all down the drain…LOL