Distortion in x-can v3

[gurra1980]

Hi everyone.
I bought a pair of reflector tubes by Mike a couple of months ago. The main reason for that was that I heard a strange noise when listening to piano music it was like the highest and most powerful piano notes was cracked, it gave a scratchy distortioned sound. When I got my reflector tubes it was gone and I have been happy. Until maybe two weeks ago when those sounds started to come back.

Now I wonder could there be something wrong with my x-can v3 that destroys the tubes?

Or does anyone have any experience from this?

I ordered a pair of NOS Voskhod ECC88/6922 tubes so I'm going to test if it is the tubes that is broken.

Thanks in advance
/Gurra

[mrarroyo]

Gurra, buying tubes can get expensive very fast. If you are in GB sending your unit to Mike to have it checked out might be worthwhile. Heck, while at it you can purchase the kit from Mike and have him install it.

[gurra1980]

I got the tubes today. All the distortion is gone, sounds like new. Anyone now what the problem could be, do Mike or anyone think there is a risk that the problem may happen again? that there is another problem of some kind?

[mrarroyo]

Send Mike a PM.

[XTRProf]

Wow, seems your unit needs some form of Exorcism!

[gurra1980]

I am discussing with my dealer, since I still have some warranty left. I have come to my senses and I guess it is best to send it away for repare. But it won't be fun being without her for I guess several weeks
To bad my nice reflektor tubes got destroyed, i really liked them, but the voskhods seems nice too.

[gurra1980]

So now I'll put an end to this tragic story. I talked to my dealer, and got a new one just like that, now thats service, kudos to Anders at HiFi-stället. I'm very happy Now to the interesting thing, that should interest some of you tube guys/gals, before I returned the old x-can to the shop I put the stock Ei-tubes in it, and to my surprise, they where a lot and I mean A LOT smoother than both the Reflektor and the voskhod, the voskhod was not burned in though (not so sure about burn in any longer though). Suddenly I had HD-650 sound in my Denons, I actually fell asleep after a while, a very addictive sound. But I'm not sure if I like it more than the tiny bit more detailed and dynamic sound with the reflektor. I did not remember that I heard such a big difference when I changed tubes the first time. Has anyone else heard the EI-tubes.

Now to the (at this community) more controversial thing. There was absolutely no difference at all in the new x-can and the half year old one, sound wise (except for the distortion at certain notes) Not to my ears at least. All those things that I thought had changed in my first x-can since I got it was just my imagination, or maybe headphone burn in. This is by no means scientific but enough for me not to care so much about burn in with electrical components, I can't hear it, but the difference between different tubes are not subtle at all, to my ears.

[mrarroyo]

If I am going to check for change in am amp I use my more sensitive and detailed cans. For example I would use my RS1 or W1000, because they would reveal more. I would also use a better than average source to feed the amps. My point is that it takes a good source and cans to determine if there has been some change w/ an amp.

Otherwise if you use run of the mill source or can you may not be able to hear the evolution of the amp. Of course there may be no change.

But of course the best part is you got a brand new amp.

[gurra1980]

There might very well be tiny changes with burn in, but not as huge so that one can tell them out of memory, I think our ears adjust to the sound, but that has been said before. The thing is my whole experience with headphone listening has changed, the first time I heard the x-can v3 I didn't hear any soundstage at all, but when I had used it for 2-3 months it become bigger and bigger, now I think it is pretty big! The thing is that it was just as big with the new amp that I got from my dealer, from the first minute.

But if I had a really good source and some super detailed headphones and could compare a/b a new amp from a burned in then maybe I could hear some changes.

[XTRProf]

gurra1980 said:

The thing is that it was just as big with the new amp that I got from my dealer, from the first minute.

Hi there,

Are you sure the dealer had not burned in the cans b4 you exchanged for it? Usually, there will be improvement with burn in. This applies to all things new. If you had been to any technical college, you will have known about the inverted bath tub curve for MTBF.

[mrarroyo]

Burn in is a highly controversial issue. I have had the opportunity to test side by side pieces of gear, where one had 0 hours and the other 400 hours and the difference was there in plain sight.

I also realize that the user must know what to look for and have both a good source and a good pair of headphones. For example I would not use a Senn PX100 to judge the evolution of an X-Can V3. Instead I would use a Senn HD600 or an Audio Technical W1000.

Just some food for thought.

[gurra1980]

No he did not burn it in, he don't do that and it had never been out of the package, I just can't believe he could "re pack" it that nice.

There could be small changes. But I didn't hear the amps exactly the same time, it was a couple of hours between and the possible change was so small that I couldn't remember anything sounding different. The thing is that the big changes I had heard with my previous x-can was all imagination, the big soundstage, the detailed sound, it's all there with the new one. I use a Rotel rcd-06 and Denon D2000, the denons are at least as detailed as HD650.

[mrarroyo]

I would love to hear a pair of D2000! One day it will happen.

[PinkFloyd]

I just can't believe he could "re pack" it that nice.

You will often find a Hi-Fi shop that "repacks" an item packs it too bloody neat (ie: a lot better than the packers at the factory) things to look out for are phono sockets with scratches on them or dirt inside the headphone socket (run a cotton wool bud around inside it.... it should come out clean) No reason your dealer should have repacked anything though, it was clearly a faulty amp you had and he simply replaced it with a brand new one and wasn't trying to sell you an ex-dem model passing it over as brand new.

Glad the new one is performing well

[XTRProf]

admin said:

I just can't believe he could "re pack" it that nice.

You will often find a Hi-Fi shop that "repacks" an item packs it too bloody neat (ie: a lot better than the packers at the factory) things to look out for are phono sockets with scratches on them or dirt inside the headphone socket (run a cotton wool bud around inside it.... it should come out clean) No reason your dealer should have repacked anything though, it was clearly a faulty amp you had and he simply replaced it with a brand new one and wasn't trying to sell you an ex-dem model passing it over as brand new.

Glad the new one is performing well

Ya, agreed. Here in Singapore, when some of the items sales are no good, you can literally find yourself buying a demo set but packed up very very nicely. I swear. I can understand the dealers' actions, as they just can't stock up too many as they are just not moving, right? Otherwise, they will go bust.

Anyway, glad you are happy now with the exchanged set.

[gurra1980]

Yes I agree too, but I just don't think that this dealer work this way, he is very serious about his stuff and he also has secondhand stuff that he sell that you can't barely see that it has been used. So if he were smart he would have been selling them as new to. I was also checking the x-can for scratches on the phono sockets before I started using it. And just like the rest of the amp they were like new. I think that it is often bigger companies like Thomann that do this. I bought a pair of dt990 from Thomann and tested them for about 25 days, but they didn't do it for me so I sent them back. I think that they just repacked them and sold them as new again. I can't see how they can have this service otherwise. But how do they get the cables right? They must use a machine of some kind to wrap them, by hand it is almost impossible.

Yes I'm very happy and I really like the sound of those Ei tubes, such a sweet midrange.