Anyone else seen these on the Schiit site?
Kind of a neat option for 'tube rolling.' Apparently will drop in where they use 6922/6DJ8s and bias up 'correctly.'
Touted as a way to avoid tube replacement and sold at $50 each though, I'm left scratching my head. $50 buys a good supply of 6922s if you don't go bonkers on NOS. Are the Schiit amps killing tubes that quickly?
Kind of a neat option for 'tube rolling.' Apparently will drop in where they use 6922/6DJ8s and bias up 'correctly.'
Touted as a way to avoid tube replacement and sold at $50 each though, I'm left scratching my head. $50 buys a good supply of 6922s if you don't go bonkers on NOS. Are the Schiit amps killing tubes that quickly?
I don't know what triodization is, but the same NFB that sets the gain right will "make them act like tubes" as well.
Marketing is the key.....
What Shiit Audio puts in the frequently asked questions:
Hey, this is cool! Can I use them anywhere a 6922 is used?
Not necessarily. We designed these tubes specifically for our tube hybrid products—Mjolnir 2, Lyr 2, and Lyr. Those are the only products we guarantee they’ll work in.
But I can try them in other stuff, right?
Again, no guarantees. They might not work. They might get too hot. They might fail. Don’t blame us—we’re being very clear on LISST being for Schiit devices only.
How about Valhalla? Valhalla 2?
Valhalla 2 sure, but why?
How about Lyr?
Sure, but note that these solid-state tubes are actually slightly noisier than real tubes. If you’re already hearing the Lyr noise floor with higher-sensitivity headphones, it will be worse. They’re really best with switchable gains, such as on Lyr 2 and Mjolnir 2, for best flexibility.
What the hell is inside these things, anyway? Magic?
Tiny tube fairies are singing in happy contralto voices to the music you pass by their electrified ears.
No, seriously.
We have compacted tubes using 3 billion pounds of force into a solid-state device.
Come on!
Okay, fine. We see how it is. What’s inside are two depletion-mode MOSFETs, together with minimal support circuitry to protect them against static, and to set the gain necessary for our products. There’s no “triodization” or other tricks applied to make them act like tubes, or have curves like tubes. They’re just good, linear, solid-state devices…in a can. When used in Mjolnir 2, they provide essentially the same topology as the original Mjolnir’s high-voltage JFETs, now simply at a much higher voltage, for even greater linearity.
So, do they sound like tubes?
We aren’t even gonna touch that one. You tell us.
What Shiit Audio puts in the frequently asked questions:
Hey, this is cool! Can I use them anywhere a 6922 is used?
Not necessarily. We designed these tubes specifically for our tube hybrid products—Mjolnir 2, Lyr 2, and Lyr. Those are the only products we guarantee they’ll work in.
But I can try them in other stuff, right?
Again, no guarantees. They might not work. They might get too hot. They might fail. Don’t blame us—we’re being very clear on LISST being for Schiit devices only.
How about Valhalla? Valhalla 2?
Valhalla 2 sure, but why?
How about Lyr?
Sure, but note that these solid-state tubes are actually slightly noisier than real tubes. If you’re already hearing the Lyr noise floor with higher-sensitivity headphones, it will be worse. They’re really best with switchable gains, such as on Lyr 2 and Mjolnir 2, for best flexibility.
What the hell is inside these things, anyway? Magic?
Tiny tube fairies are singing in happy contralto voices to the music you pass by their electrified ears.
No, seriously.
We have compacted tubes using 3 billion pounds of force into a solid-state device.
Come on!
Okay, fine. We see how it is. What’s inside are two depletion-mode MOSFETs, together with minimal support circuitry to protect them against static, and to set the gain necessary for our products. There’s no “triodization” or other tricks applied to make them act like tubes, or have curves like tubes. They’re just good, linear, solid-state devices…in a can. When used in Mjolnir 2, they provide essentially the same topology as the original Mjolnir’s high-voltage JFETs, now simply at a much higher voltage, for even greater linearity.
So, do they sound like tubes?
We aren’t even gonna touch that one. You tell us.
This one is also great (from the Wyrd):
What does this thing really do?
It isolates your USB DAC from the noisy USB power coming from your computer, and provides a stable, precise oscillator to repeat the USB 2.0 packets with a USB hub chip.
Why would I want this?
Because some computers don’t play well with USB DACs, and make weird noises or have glitches. Or you believe this makes your system sound better.
Sonic benefits? That’s a lot of hoo-ha!
You’re right. There’s no reason this should make any system sound better. Although we can measure the difference in USB power supply noise, it really shouldn’t matter if the bits make it through. Despite this, some listeners have said that there are sonic benefits from using Wyrd. Us, we remain Swiss on the matter—we don’t do the hard sell by promising sonic nirvana.
Gimme some technical details on what Wyrd does, please?
Wyrd does two things: it replaces the noisy USB power from your computer with a low-noise linear power supply (no switchers here!) with precision regulators rated at 2.5uV RMS noise. (Or, as Mike Moffat says, “on the 8th day, God called National Semiconductor and told them how to make the best regulator in the world, the LM723."). This is literally 200,000x better than some of the USB ports we’ve measured, which have up to 500mV of high-frequency noise. It also uses a tightly spec’d crystal oscillator on its own filtered power supply for the USB repeater chip, for best possible stability.
Are you saying I need to get this thing if I have a USB DAC?
Nope, not at all. Most USB DACs work just fine when running on computer power, without any hitches, glitches, or strange noises. However, if you have USB power problems, this is a great way to eliminate them. Especially if it’s a USB-powered DAC.
Well, I could just buy a $20 powered hub if I’m having USB port power management problems, right?
Yep you can, and yep, that would solve that problem. You could also buy much more expensive USB decrapifiers, too. That's entirely a personal decision.
Isn’t this just a way to get another $99 out of us?
Not unless you buy it…and keep it.
What does this thing really do?
It isolates your USB DAC from the noisy USB power coming from your computer, and provides a stable, precise oscillator to repeat the USB 2.0 packets with a USB hub chip.
Why would I want this?
Because some computers don’t play well with USB DACs, and make weird noises or have glitches. Or you believe this makes your system sound better.
Sonic benefits? That’s a lot of hoo-ha!
You’re right. There’s no reason this should make any system sound better. Although we can measure the difference in USB power supply noise, it really shouldn’t matter if the bits make it through. Despite this, some listeners have said that there are sonic benefits from using Wyrd. Us, we remain Swiss on the matter—we don’t do the hard sell by promising sonic nirvana.
Gimme some technical details on what Wyrd does, please?
Wyrd does two things: it replaces the noisy USB power from your computer with a low-noise linear power supply (no switchers here!) with precision regulators rated at 2.5uV RMS noise. (Or, as Mike Moffat says, “on the 8th day, God called National Semiconductor and told them how to make the best regulator in the world, the LM723."). This is literally 200,000x better than some of the USB ports we’ve measured, which have up to 500mV of high-frequency noise. It also uses a tightly spec’d crystal oscillator on its own filtered power supply for the USB repeater chip, for best possible stability.
Are you saying I need to get this thing if I have a USB DAC?
Nope, not at all. Most USB DACs work just fine when running on computer power, without any hitches, glitches, or strange noises. However, if you have USB power problems, this is a great way to eliminate them. Especially if it’s a USB-powered DAC.
Well, I could just buy a $20 powered hub if I’m having USB port power management problems, right?
Yep you can, and yep, that would solve that problem. You could also buy much more expensive USB decrapifiers, too. That's entirely a personal decision.
Isn’t this just a way to get another $99 out of us?
Not unless you buy it…and keep it.
So, they designed a depletion mode mosfet stage to fit into their circuit in place of a 6dj8, and packaged it so that it can plug into the circuit.
we already knew that depletion mode fets work a bit like tubes.
we already knew that depletion mode fets work a bit like tubes.
I have found that a pair of LND150's can be stuck right into the tube sockets in many circuits designed for a 12AX7. They work great in many guitar amps for the preamp and phase inverter sections. Just watch the dissipation and maybe add a clip on heat sink......or epoxy them into shiny metal cans.
Interesting product. We've seen discrete op-amps packaged to fit standard op-amp IC footprints, but I don't believe I've before seen solid state devices packaged in an vacuum tube form factor. Like many interesting products, it's existance seems obvious after you are introduced to it. I could see tube afficianados acquiring some just to try rolling them in their tube based gear. If for no other reason than the fun of continuing to 'prove' vacuum tubes are still best.
It gives the customers an alternative and is a trademark of quality, I have their gears (dac and headphone amp) and have positivity to share about them, use it with hd600 and grado RS2
I built 6n6p parallel cathode followers with film cap output and shiit sounds better, better also than only 1 opamp in the signal path
I wish to try their tube gears in a few years but I cant see the interest personally for a transistortube
I built 6n6p parallel cathode followers with film cap output and shiit sounds better, better also than only 1 opamp in the signal path
I wish to try their tube gears in a few years but I cant see the interest personally for a transistortube
well, Pete has his SiTubes products, but they are not intended as plug-in replacements.
Am just a passing reader but:
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/pass-labs/229241-semisouth-boiler-room-53.html
I actually thought that this was going to a Sh*t list of tubes that sounded like SS 🙂
.. And look what happened !!
.. And look what happened !!
Somewhere I have a solid-state version of a TV valve. I think it was a PL508 frame output, called PL508T. It has a power FET on a heatsink, and a wirewound resistor to replace the heater (as it would be used in a 300mA series chain). It all fits within the size of a real PL508, so was intended as a plug in replacement.Ken Newton said:
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