Modwright sony xa5400 vs Modwright Oppo 95

I really like the Sylvania's in the Oppo 95. The 6SN7 Sylvania GTB chrome top are very reasonable easy to find and sound great. I have also tried the Sylvania Army Navy 6SN7GT VT-231 with silver near the bottom of the base. These were made earlier than the other Sylvania's and are harder to find. They avg. about 200.00 a pair. These sound sound clear, but still have a very natural midrange and tight bass. I just ordered some Sylvania BAD Boys which have three holes in the middle instead of two. I also like the Tungsol black plate which are very hard to find.

Wig, I tried Sylvania bad boys and it was too sweet for my taste. At the time I was using a Mullard GZ32 so probably too much of a good thing.

I found the Transporter is also very sensitive to rectifier tube. It took a while and $$ to find the right combination but well worth it. I like the BT and TS combination so getting off the bus for now.

JWM and I did some tube rolling with his MW Oppo 95 a few days ago and at the end of the night, we agreed, the clear winner was the 1940s Tungsol black glass. Unfortunately, with prices reaching $500 pair, they're a bit of a luxury for most people.

Our next favorite was another oldie, the Sylvania VT-231, which gave up a little of the magic, but was still a great sounding tube.

After that and in order of preference, we enjoyed some brown base Sylvania 5692's, (probably made by RCA), some vintage Raytheon GT's, Sylvania Chrome top GTB's and finally, early RCA GT's.

Frankly, I'd take almost any NOS over the current offerings, mostly Chinese, though I do hear good things about the "Black Treasure" stuff. I've heard them in a few systems at CES but never in any A/B comparisons with NOS.

Guys,

Thanks for the info!

I'll make this simple...the Denon DCD A100 is one of the finest SACD/CD players I have ever owned. It cost me $1499 new from Music Direct on closeout special (msrp $2500). It is the equal of just about anything available build wise as well...dead quiet and glitch free, plus 32lbs:O)

My previous players were:

Levinson No. 39, 390s and 37/360s combo

Wadia 560SE

Krell SACD Std, Evo 505

Sony SCD-1, XA5400ES (stock) and Modwrighted

ARC CD 3

NAD C565BEE

Assorted other budget class players.

All aspects of playback are near state of the art...think $5K to $8K range. It even uses the latest 32 bit AK DAC's that have been embraced by the likes of Esoteric in their K series of players and same identical AK DAC's as in their O5 player. It has a 5yr warranty to boot!

Overall sound leans to the warm side with oodles of unforced detail along with killer dynamics and exceptional soundstaging. Very clean sounding and textural with great body and presence given to the music.
dave_b