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Replacement of 6N30P driver tubes with 6N6P tubes in my Ayon Crossfire III

Posted by morricab on October 17, 2016 at 02:19:43:
I recently purchased a very nice Ayon Crossfire III integrated amp. This amp is using the Ayon made 62B triode, which is like a supercharged 300B supposedly (I think it actually bears little resemblance to a 300B at this iteration). The input tubes are these metal canned 6SJ7 pentodes wired as triodes (interstingly, I saw that the top Audio Note Kits 300B monos are using a similar 6SH7 tube...what do you guys know about this series of tubes??) and the driver tube for each channel is a 6N30P Russian "supertube".

Well, the amp sounded very good stock but slightly bright and a bit glassy at times but very open and transparent otherwise. Still, I was not completely satisfied with its tonality and there seemed to be a bit too much "connective tissue" between performers on the virtual stage. That slight brightness was hindering the full tonal palette and flattening the images and soundstage slightly.

Swapping out the rectifier tube from a cheap Electroharmonix 5U4G to a nice NOS Svetlana (winged C) 5U4G, brought a small but noticeable improvement in smoothness but the tonality did not change so much.

I had been reading that the 6N6P is a much better sounding tube overall in many forums and from Lampizator's old site. So, I got a mathced pair and dropped them into where the 6N30Ps go and fired up the system. The result?? Brightness is gone, glare is gone, 3d increase substantial, tonality balanced and natural, soundstage depth improved and dynamic contrasts more obvious because it seems like now that there was a bit of a "noise" burst with dynamics with the 6N30s that is not there with the 6N6 and therefore the dynamic contrasts seem wider.

This is a stunning change for the better in sound from an amp that already sounded quite good (I exaggerate the impact on the sound somewhat because it was already a good sounding amp but now it is VERY good sounding). I was not expecting it to literally wipe away the bit of grittiness and brightness that was there before. Resolution, bass impact and especially bass texture, which was about the best I have heard from any amp, was not affected by this change of tube.

I recommend this change to all Ayon owners because they are commonly using the 6N30 tube in their designs as well as owners of BAT and recent Audio Research designs (I heard the latest last weekend and they don't sound terribly natural...could this tube be why??). Now, BAT I think once claimed that it was the NOS Russian 6N30 that is the "supertube". I have no way to verify this because the ones in my Ayon were new Electroharmonix gold pins and not NOS Russians. The 6N6P is only available as NOS Russian or new Chinese. Maybe the NOS 6N30 really is a "supertube" but based on my tests the new made ones are not even close to the NOS 6N6.

I was not sure that this would bring about much of a change but it brought highly significant improvement across the board. It is not the first time I have heard a dramatic effect from tube rolling but rarely was it so significant. Usually, it is slight and/or debatable that an improvement was had...often I heard a "parallel" move...you gain one thing but lose another. Not this time.

I have other rectifier tubes I will also try (GZ34 and NOS Sylvania 5U4GB) but the sound is really excellent now without reservations I had before.