CAL Alpha and an Equalizer

FWIW, I have both the Alpha (original, not the 24/96 version) and Sigma II and driven by the Delta there is not a huge difference in sound. I think the Alpha is more detailed and may have a tad more extension in the bass and highs but its subtle and on causual listening its hard to distinguish them. What does seem to make a difference though is using a different transport with the Alpha (than the Delta) and not running them thru seperate filters on a power conditioner. Especially the latter. I'm not sure it's relevant but my Delta has a high output much like the Alpha, both of which are well over the nominal 2v of my other CDP's.

perhaps the problem is the transport. i too have a cal alpha and am not thrilled with it. iwas surprised, because the seller described the dac as warm. i changed the tubes several times.

it is possible that the "right" line cord can help.

beware of opinions oregarding warm dacs and cd players. there are very few of them around. i have listened to quite a few. most of them are any thing but warm.

you will have to spend big bucks to get a warm dac. maybe an older sonic frontier will do.

Hi again all,
No, I think the transport is fine, has always worked just fine. Sure, I'll agree, and won't debate there's probably 100's of transports out there that will easily best the CAL Delta I have.

Running a search through the archives on the CAL Alpha, and various Tubes, I did come across a post from Zinfan (Tom) who remarked that the Mullard CV-4004 Tube in his own CAL Alpha DAC was "un-involving", or something similar to this effect, and I believe I'm noticing perhaps the same thing, as these may be the exact same Tubes Tom was referring to. He, in fact "gave me free!" a set of the Mullard CV-4004 to try, and I'm betting that these are the exact same pair he tried, and didn't personally care for.

As others have mentioned in older threads about the Alpha, these particular Units seemed to be a bit more sensitive to Tube Rolling, and as Tom has found, the Sylvania 5751 3-Mica Black Plates were the very best choice he found.

I don't doubt him on this, but truthfully, it can start getting awful expensive with experimentation with Tubes, even these small signal Tubes, and I sure wish I could find a relatively inexpensive alternative to try, without blowing a virtual week's pay for a pair of tubes! :-)

I was honestly thinking of trying again, the el cheapo Sovtek 12AX7AWPS just for the heck of it, but in truth, I read some mixed comments about these, both good, and some not so good.

At least with the JAN-Phillips 5751's that were in it before, dynamics, involvement, and Bass seemed a bit better at the expense of highs that seemed to be a bit too glassy, and "screechy". Mark

I believe the Alpha's output voltage by default is 4V, and is adjustable by replacing resistors. Sometimes there are benefits to having a high-output CD player, as I found out using a low-powered integrated.

If you want to try different tubes on the cheap, I would recommend the JJ's. They're very inexpensive. The downside is that JJ's are known for a more "lean and detailed" presentation; this seems to be what you're trying to avoid. Maybe EH instead? I tried Sovtek's and wasn't thrilled with them. But nothing compares to the Sylvania 5751's in my experience thus far.

Good luck. I think the Alpha is a great DAC for the used prices we're seeing now, and it's been in my system for over 5 years now; nothing else in my rig has had that kind of staying power.

Michael