PrimaLuna Dialogue Preamp = emotionless?

Look you really do not know what you have
You have a  incredible preamp,,
the problem = no life/murky/not happy with resolution/etc etc 
Easy fix, 
Count youtself very lucky,,here is the easy simple fix.
You  have SIX AU plugs. 
Do what i did to mkae my defy7 to come to life, 
add the 
Philips Special Quality E80CC , ~~aka, tall Boys to all 6 AU spots. 
Then report back to us. btw also look at the Siemens tall Boys, look identical to the Philips,,
btw, from hench forth the Philips SQE80CC will be known as PSQE80CC. , as i am telling the world about this tube, and prices are about to sky rocket.  I plan to add the Cayin SC6 which has 4 AU's in the pre
Make sure you posta  report on the PSQ's, as i want confirmation on what i  know to be true, no hype. 
So dump all your NOS, cheap on ebay,  and buy the PSQ. 

Hi All,

First I replaced a Ric Schultz modifed Oppo 103

I did not want to say anything earlier but some of the other posts have emboldened me.

When I started looking at DACs and auditioning them in my system -  Hegel, Rega, Benchmark, Naim, PS Audio - they all sounded more alive. The Oppo, in comparison, was much more tame and bland.

System synergy is everything and maybe the Dialogue Premium and the Oppo just do not get along together.

Thanks for listening,

Dsper

Toss out a problem like this and get a myriad of ideas! Thanks.

I've now done are couple of things. First, I got ahold of a two of pairs of Brimar CV4003 tubes, one pair being the highly regarded 13D5 version, and placed them in the four key 12AU7 locations. That's done wonders in terms of cutting the cool edge and enhancing the quality of sound all around.  

The second thing I did was consider getting another, somewhat better preamp in a similar price range to the used PL. It's something I would have done from the beginning had I been aware of the options. Specifically, I looked most closely at the well-regarded Don Sachs 6SN7 and the Supratek Chardonnay (Australia), which is designed around the same tube. After asking for advice at What's Best forum, doing a lot of reading, exchanging PM's and asking questions of the developers -- both are one man operations -- I decided on the Supratek. Among the reasons that most favored it for me is that it is explicitly advertised as naturally warm, and that it has true balanced outputs, which should solve the noise problem with the Lampi dac (when it comes back). I don't think the Sachs' unbalanced pre would have done that, and he seemed inclined to agree. I should be seeing it in two to three months. In the meantime, the PL has taken a very nice turn. 

@Dsper  The Oppo's analog board was removed, so it's no longer a dac, if that's what you are referring to. Ric improved the digital circuitry, which is almost identical to the 205's, replaced the power supply, better stabilized the disc player and got rid of the optical port, which he said undermined the unit's sound. In addition, between Oppo and dac are a PAD Neptune spdif cable and an iFi spdif iPurifier, the latter powered by a Paul Hynes SR4 LPS with a Zenwave Audio copper (5V) power line. The Oppo also has the advantage of allowing very good audio and video in one unit, which these days is an exception.

After years of running a PS Audio Direcstream dac

Sorry, did not read the first line in your post!

Wow I didn’t realize the PrimaLuna preamp uses such a large heap of 12AU7. I’ve had 3 or 4 amps & preamps that use these tubes, and every time the 12AU7 has ended up seeming like the major bottleneck in system performance. I tried some of the NOS 12AU7 and 5814 to solve the problem, but only got so far - still sounded like the "12AU7 bottleneck". Then I used the 12BH7 sub whenever there was enough heater current overhead available to supply them (they are a drop-in sub otherwise) - and the result was always a much more dynamic, engaging, "alive" sound. 13D5 has been pitched as an excellent sub too, and (I think) has the huge advantage (versus 12BH7) of not drawing extra heater current (which you’ll probably need for your application) though I’ve not personally tried them.

I’d recommend not burning more money chasing NOS 12AU7, and try some of these sub types which are simply superior sounding to 12AU7.

The E80CC recommended above also look cool, and don’t draw extra heater current either. I think anyone who’s spent time looking for 12AU7 alternatives has realized how much the 12AU7 actually sucks.