Darkvoice 336se Stock Tubes - Are they any good?? - Sound comparison

[@5PortStudios]

Let me know if I should keep the full 7 minutes of music in the future videos, or if I should just play parts of the tests and keep it shorter. I found the stock tubes to be a bit thin sounding. Like listening on poor quality headphones. They just don't have the same "body" as the audio coming directly from the DAC. It's almost like the stock tubes they take away from it (not much, but just enough). For this test, I enjoyed the TUBE 2 setting on the SMSL Dac OVER the sound of these stock tubes. Time to get something else in those sockets!! Thank you all for stopping by.

[@iknowyounot88]

I think its a solid time frame for comparison!

[@jeglider]

great comparison, very smooth. i do think its significally easier to notice in real life when listening vs from these recordings.

[@5PortStudios]

You are absolutely right. It's really hard to relay the subtle differences over youtube. The audio just gets compressed into crap. I did however start uploading the new videos in 4k. I don't know if it helps, though, since I cannot find anywhere stating what the bitrate for 4k youtube gets compressed to. Thank you for watching and your comment!

[@josephryan4920]

This was an excellent comparison setup; would love to see more. I preferred the clean/standard DAC audio or the Darkvoice listening on admittedly crappy headphones; on my speakers it was harder to notice differences. The tube mode settings felt like they didn't offer the same echo-y tube affect. If you do any other tests maybe try a sample with heavier vocals; although I always appreciate hearing KG&tLW.

[@Kmahomie]

Great video idea ! Unfortunately due to YT horrible compression it’s not able to convey a real difference in the sound clips .

[@5PortStudios]

I totally agree. I should really redo these in 4K like the other later videos.

[@ToysForTheGods]

The Stock tubes had the "warmest" sound to me while tube 1 added a bit more clarity almost sounding solid state instead of tubed. The other tubes "2 & 3" were not much different than tube 1. I have the SMSL SU-8 that I feed to my THX 789 as well as into my xduo mt-602 that I tube rolled with 1980 Voskhod Soviet tubes that really add a bit of "warmth" to the little amp. I am still considering trying the Darkvoice. Though I must say that the little xduo with just $18 worth of tubes is a great entry into the world of tubes. I love this little thing. With the stock tubes it hardly sounded different than the 789 in all honesty, and I am mainly using the Focal Elex, Sennheiser 660s and Beyerdynamic DT 880 600ohm as well as the 1770x. The 880s are hard to drive with the xduo, but modded to be balanced they are great with the 789. This was a great video thank you for the content.

[@petervanderham4725]

I do hear the difference between "No tube" or "Tubes" pretty well. The differences between the tubes, are minor. But I think I like Tube 1 the most and then the stock ones. Great video!

[@3meir]

underrated video, great tests

[@snakechmr5191]

I've owned, and regularly use my DV336 for over two years now. The diffiece between the stock tubes and new production or NOS vintage tubes is significant. It must be said that much depends on the supporting cast and individual ability to discern the differences. Some tubes provide additional gain which is helpful for OTL headphone amps like the DV336 driving planar cans. Other tubes (or combinations of tubes) can affect soundstage, depth, speed, tonality, forward/resessed presentation, etc. Some subtle, some dramatic depending on the headphones, upstream gear, and source music. An example comes to mind.... I have two hi-quality headphones of decidedly different character. One more "technical" (more of a reference headphone) and the other more "dynamic". The dynamic headphone, while engaging, exhibited a very harsh high end akin to the old days when we would turn up the treble to get more detail. This would be accompanied with a "hiss" or dirty background. My "reference" headphone, by comparison, has a black background and displays the music as if on a painting on a new canvas. Tube rolling cleared up 80% of the "hiss" and stabilized the high end and made everything much more listenable. I should note that in an earlier trial, there was a tube combination that sucked the life out of the dynamic headphone. YUK! A rolled combo also brought more energy to the "reference" headphones. The ability to tune your system to your liking, priceless. Thanks for your efforts. I'm unsure if a KZbin video is good enough to produce a useable comparison. Yet, there might not be very much difference between a DV on stock tubes and a SS amp. I contend that tube rolling can take an already very good $200 amp into something much more. Z-reviews and 400+ pages on the Headfi.com forum cover this in detail. HTH.

[@stevofoo]

Thank you so much for the all the experiments with different tube!!! Great channel!!! I wondered if the stock has a lot of noise out of the box? burning in the tube can reduce the noise? Also what is the most warm and analog sounding tube you has tested??? Thank you so much again!!!

[@SanguinariusUmbra]

All I can say is that this was a pretty good comparison. I don't know if it was placebo or not, but for me the DV sounded a bit, just a bit more softer on the guitar notes, as if the note had a tiny bit of reverb on it. There's a bit, just a bit more bass, too. The color presets didn't seem to change the sound at all, though. For me they only changed the volume, but the music was the same whatsoever. Great video man.

[@jammie4u]

Wow....listening to analog over compressed digital medium. You go girl!

[@5PortStudios]

You know it! Best way to listen. 😂🤣

[@timcoulter9252]

I want to believe there’s a difference, but doubt I could tell if blindfolded - will that stop me from tube rolling, probably not! Great video though!

[@Herobox-ju4zd]

I hear some difference but not much Tube 1 seems to bring the upper bass a bit more forward so it syncs with the voice a bit smoother. But I think 2 factors are messing with the ability to hear much difference. 1. KZbin audio compression and more importantly 2. you can't really record the spatial sound tubes usually add, it's like taking a screenshot of a 3D movie; the end result will be a 2D picture which conveys nothing of the original. Do you hear a wider sound stage or more almost echo/reverb when you listen to the tubes compared to your standard solid state amp?

[@lauraedykema2419]

Great video.

[@PGHJR002]

A bit more definition, also slower SPEED, to the music giving a sense of depth to the front to back imaging with the Darkvoice. A subtle, pleasant distortion the tubes create.

[@mikeyankie9594]

All sounded great. I have a DV that I use with a Strymon Iridium for electric guitar... sounds like I'm playing $10K worth vintage tube amps through headphones... Stock tubes...

[@luisnavarrete1602]

What are you using to listen to the tubes? Try using a HD6xx pairs super nice with it. You will hear a difference between that and a solid state

[@5PortStudios]

Currently I'm using my HD6xx's, but have also used my M50x's to hear some differences when using open or closed back cans with different tubes. I've been looking around for another pair to use, not sure if I want open or closed back yet, but I know I want something in the 300ohm or higher to use with my darkvoice.

[@Memehammad]

Listening to this on my DT1990s, I can barely hear a difference. Maybe it's KZbins fault. Is there any chance you could upload the uncompressed recordings somewhere and post them here?

[@5PortStudios]

I had been wondering about the KZbin compression stuff lately. Could you do me a huge favor and check some of the other tube videos that I did in 4K? The ones in 4K should be the last 2 or 3 tubes. Can you see if there’s any difference in what you hear there? I was going to redo this video with new tests on the stock tubes and I think 4K might help with this. Let me know. I’ll have to figure out where to host the comparison .WAV file too.

[@82burban]

Nice video thanks. Question can I hook my android phone to the Dark Voice via rca to type c to my phone?

[@5PortStudios]

Should be able to. I can do that with my iPhone if I went as well. IPhone > lightning cable 3.5mm DAC > 3.5mm to RCA > RCA-in on the Darkvoice. In your case it sounds like the same thing except where my lightning cable DAC is, you’d have the USB C equivalent. Does that sound like what you have?

[@michaelwhitaker1972]

Ever so slightly, maybe lol. I want to think I could, but they are really close. Listening on my HD 650's through the IFI Zen Dac, then listened through an Asgard 2. Since the HD 650's are somewhat narrow for open backs, I was trying to pick up on a change in sound stage, but I gotta tell ya, I just don't know. Maybe if I listened in person, I could tell, who knows.

[@quoostonator]

I’ve tried 5 different preamp tubes and the only one that does not hum I the stock tube. Really disappointed! Did you not find this too?

[@5PortStudios]

I have found I have to burn in every one of my preamp tubes for 48-72 hours before I goes away. I’ve now tried vintage , new-old stock, and new. Even the one I JUST got that was made new had a hum. does the hum persist at the same volume regardless of where the volume knob is? Let me know. I have a process that may be able to help.

[@Evan-iq5xf]

I couldn't hear a difference out of my phone speakers but I suppose I set myself up for failure there

[@5PortStudios]

Some of these differences are so slight, sometimes I wonder if I’m lying to myself that I’ve heard something. 🤣

[@kellyforeman13]

Dark voice for sure!

[@Mannymoe7]

I have the dark voice for a few years now and have better tubes I bought and never put them on still using the stock tubes and they sound pretty darn good so I never changed them

[@SileDevil]

hardly any difference