Hi Everyone!
Been a lurker for awhile, and decided to create an account to reach out to some people to start a project. After a some reach pointing to the 8600, I decided to reach out to Victor for some insight into the kit. He might be the best customer service and fastest responses I have every gotten with any product in my life, DIY or not.
So I ended up ordering a 8600S with upgrade Vcap cutf couping caps, and a pair of Psvane Acme 300b + siemen 12au7. The build in it of itself is extremely straight forward, and the minor areas of confusion were explained in detail by Victor. He responds in about 5-10 minutes max. If you have soldered before, honestly it is an extremely straight forward build. Take your time and double check everything. Go back under a light and make sure all your solder is properly flowed, and everything is in the correct place before closing everything up.
She fired right up, and sent off my measurements to Victor for a quick look and everything was within range.
Impressions:
I am using this mainly as a headphone/computer amp. I will probably be doing a DIY speaker build over the next few months to make sure of the speaker outs as well.
The amp was a bit on the bright side and harsh around the edges, but I could already hear the open stage and extension in the upper and lower registers. Remembering that many of the components require significant burn in, I stopped listening after about 10 minutes and let the amp play at low volumes straight.
At around the 2 day mark, the harshness started rounding out and the bottom end started filling in. The stage was about the range of my previous KT88 amp, but the imaging and details were really coming through. The imaging was better, and everything was really coming in nicely.
At the 4-5 day mark I started tube rolling a bit to get the sound to my personal preferences. ATM my favorite setup is the Psvane Acme tubes + telefunken 12au7 smooth plate x2 + telefunken 12ax7 smooth plate/mullard 12ax7 long plate. I really like to rotate between the telefunken and the mullard as they just have such different personalities they let me remember why I love the other tube so much.
I have let the amp run in at this point about 9 days, and now will stop as I have not heard any appreciable changes. This is my 3rd tube amp for my headphones, and they have all been 2k+.
Black background: 8600s this base covered. its completely silent. go 0 complaints. The tubes i have dont pickup any noise. I have had issues with tube noise and general amp noise in the past.
Details: Best of all the amps I have used.
Stage/imaging: Stage matches the better of my previous 2 amps, but with improved imaging. I do need to explore this again, as my current headphones are not wide staging headphones. I will explore this again when my Verite C headphone comes in the next few weeks.
Extension: The lower end bass is filled quite well with authority and not bloomy. Of course this is something that can be adjusted with tubes to your personal preference. But the 8600S naturally seems to have great extension that is just accented in any direction by your tube choice.
The 8600S is quite moldable in the direction of its sound with your tube selection. I really enjoyed the sound with a full telefunken tube setup for the 12a_7 tubes, and mullards add their magic for a warmer, mid focused romantic sound. 5751 windmill getters worked great as well. I have a full set of bugle boys that I need to test that I havent gotten around to yet. RCA clear tops 12au7, with tungsol triple mica D getter 12at7 sounded great as a budget setup as well.
Not really sure what else to say except that, as much as the amp is amazing, the communication with Victor just took it to another level. This is hands down the best I have heard from a tube amp, and the greatest responsiveness from a representative I have ever had. Its honestly just a really enjoyable listen. Romantic, with all the technicalities intact, and non fatiguing. I can listen for hours, and not exactly sure what else I could ask for in a tube amp, but will be having some of my friends come over for a listening session over the next few months and hoping to get them to transition over as well.
Been a lurker for awhile, and decided to create an account to reach out to some people to start a project. After a some reach pointing to the 8600, I decided to reach out to Victor for some insight into the kit. He might be the best customer service and fastest responses I have every gotten with any product in my life, DIY or not.
So I ended up ordering a 8600S with upgrade Vcap cutf couping caps, and a pair of Psvane Acme 300b + siemen 12au7. The build in it of itself is extremely straight forward, and the minor areas of confusion were explained in detail by Victor. He responds in about 5-10 minutes max. If you have soldered before, honestly it is an extremely straight forward build. Take your time and double check everything. Go back under a light and make sure all your solder is properly flowed, and everything is in the correct place before closing everything up.
She fired right up, and sent off my measurements to Victor for a quick look and everything was within range.
Impressions:
I am using this mainly as a headphone/computer amp. I will probably be doing a DIY speaker build over the next few months to make sure of the speaker outs as well.
The amp was a bit on the bright side and harsh around the edges, but I could already hear the open stage and extension in the upper and lower registers. Remembering that many of the components require significant burn in, I stopped listening after about 10 minutes and let the amp play at low volumes straight.
At around the 2 day mark, the harshness started rounding out and the bottom end started filling in. The stage was about the range of my previous KT88 amp, but the imaging and details were really coming through. The imaging was better, and everything was really coming in nicely.
At the 4-5 day mark I started tube rolling a bit to get the sound to my personal preferences. ATM my favorite setup is the Psvane Acme tubes + telefunken 12au7 smooth plate x2 + telefunken 12ax7 smooth plate/mullard 12ax7 long plate. I really like to rotate between the telefunken and the mullard as they just have such different personalities they let me remember why I love the other tube so much.
I have let the amp run in at this point about 9 days, and now will stop as I have not heard any appreciable changes. This is my 3rd tube amp for my headphones, and they have all been 2k+.
Black background: 8600s this base covered. its completely silent. go 0 complaints. The tubes i have dont pickup any noise. I have had issues with tube noise and general amp noise in the past.
Details: Best of all the amps I have used.
Stage/imaging: Stage matches the better of my previous 2 amps, but with improved imaging. I do need to explore this again, as my current headphones are not wide staging headphones. I will explore this again when my Verite C headphone comes in the next few weeks.
Extension: The lower end bass is filled quite well with authority and not bloomy. Of course this is something that can be adjusted with tubes to your personal preference. But the 8600S naturally seems to have great extension that is just accented in any direction by your tube choice.
The 8600S is quite moldable in the direction of its sound with your tube selection. I really enjoyed the sound with a full telefunken tube setup for the 12a_7 tubes, and mullards add their magic for a warmer, mid focused romantic sound. 5751 windmill getters worked great as well. I have a full set of bugle boys that I need to test that I havent gotten around to yet. RCA clear tops 12au7, with tungsol triple mica D getter 12at7 sounded great as a budget setup as well.
Not really sure what else to say except that, as much as the amp is amazing, the communication with Victor just took it to another level. This is hands down the best I have heard from a tube amp, and the greatest responsiveness from a representative I have ever had. Its honestly just a really enjoyable listen. Romantic, with all the technicalities intact, and non fatiguing. I can listen for hours, and not exactly sure what else I could ask for in a tube amp, but will be having some of my friends come over for a listening session over the next few months and hoping to get them to transition over as well.