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In Reply to: RE: EAR 864 & EAR 88PB Phono Stage Comparison & Dilemma posted by DanWKW on November 04, 2009 at 19:34:40
Dan,
I also own an EAR Acute CD player that uses 2 x PCC88 tubes. The default TdP Ei PCC88 tubes are plagued with problems including very bad mismatched sounding triodes and microphony issues. I have tube rolled the PCC88's in the Acute and have found the Mullard DJ0 Blackburn 1970's A-frame types so far to sound the best with a nice sparkle up the top and in the midrange. If I hook up the Acute direct into my power amp, I get a richer, transparent sound from top to bottom but their seems to also be some leanness and dullness in the midrange. In other words there is no midrange bloom and the sound is very neutral from top to bottom. Through the EAR 864's line stage the Acute rectifies these issues sounding very lively and warm with great bass. The 88PB doesn't exhibit the same trait through the 864's line stage and the sound is greatly compromised, most particularly in the bass region. Connected direct into the power amp, the 88PB sounds better, but as I mentioned before it sounds lean and sterile. I suspect the PCC88 tubes are exhibiting this phenomenon, lacking the much needed midrange warmth.
An interesting observation also is that all three EAR units (Acute, 88PB and 864) use output transformers at the final stage of their circuit design topology to step up the voltage. I very much admire this attribute of EAR preamp units, as I believe it helps greatly improve the sound.
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