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Tube Rolling the Jolida/Black Ice dsd Dac

So I recently purchased the Jolida/Black Ice dsd dac and and a pair of Psvane 12ax7’s.  Played thru about 50 hours and while the soundstage opened up some, in my system detail seemed a little rounded off.  They probably need more hours, and  I recognize these are highly subjective impressions and system dependent, but then a friend gave me a pair of Fisher-era Telefunken’s to play with and I have tons of inner detail, imaging and a wide soundstage.  What I do find, however, is I have turn the volume up further on my passive pre-amp.  I have a pair of 50’s era RCA grey plates coming next week.  Pretty easy to go down the rabbit hole playing with tubes, but that’s half the fun of it.  Curious as to what other tubes Jolida dac owners are using. My system: NuForce STA-200 amp, Luminous Audio pre-amp with Walker mod, Bluesound Node2, and DIY LeCleach horn speakers. Mix of Cullen and Transparent Cables.
renisnceman
jonstine
15 posts
 
Ok, put me in the “even fuses can make an audible difference” camp. I ordered SR orange fuses for both my Black Ice FX DSD DAC and my Sugden ANV-50. They have both been burning in for only about 20 hrs.

Already, the soundstage is so much wider, the highs have just gone to another level in quality, female voices and acoustic guitars are so much more realistic and unconstrained sounding. I’d call it the “texture” of everything, it just got significantly better.

And I haven’t even tried flipping them to see if they make a difference in direction. Sounds so good already that I’ll let them go through at least 100 hrs before I try to flip them.

Its funny, lots of hate out there on other forums for “snake oil” fuse replacements. I have to wonder if they had the right fuse, and if they actually listened to it before dismissing it. I’m blown away. Not sure if it’s the amp, the DAC, or the synergy of the two, but I feel like my system just went up
another level in fidelity.

Thank you for the mention about the SR Orange, I’m excited to see what the next couple hundred hours on them might do.
mr_bill
347 posts
 
Any updates on the Tube upgrade?
I’m looking at getting some new tubes for the fx dsd. 
plaw
89 posts
 
I just purchased the Black Ice DAC - so far pretty let down.  The bass got really boomy.  Can't make the WIFI connect.  A/B'ed with my OPPO 105 - the internal Oppo DAC sounds much tighter in the bass.  Of course, no returns at Underwood HiFi.  Maybe I will try some new tubes.  I was thinking about the Denafrips too.
jjss49's avatar
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jjss49
6,612 posts
 
@plaw

sorry you don’t like it

i have one, enjoy it quite alot... i have tried some 20-25 dacs in the last 6 months since the shelter in place started, i feel the jolida black ice unit is quite a good one

suggestions - let it break in, replace the 12ax7’s with old stock ones, like philips ecg green labels - good sounding, affordable still, and use a good power cable

also check your linestage input impedance make sure you don't have a mismatch

i would say, this dac, despite having a tube output stage, is one of the ’clearer’ ones i have tried, with excellent frequency extension and imaging, not a smoothed over, warmed up, fattened sound that many other dacs strive for, to sound ’more analog’

good luck
plaw
89 posts
 
@jjss49  

Thank you for the advice.  I am going to try some tube rolling and I just ordered a new cable - I can see how this dac would sound great with speakers like Focal / Magico / Elac - speakers that may be more analytical - but thus far it does not fit the best with Wilsons.  In all fairness, I have not given enough time for it to break in.  When you listened to the various DACs - did you listen to the Quitest, Denafrips, Yiggy, Linn or PS Audio?  What are your impressions please?  Thanks.
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