Sony SCD XA5400ES tube rolling?

I just read the exceptional (balanced, informative, non-hyped) review in july Positive Feedback. Where is best source to buy mullard and sophia tubes, and for a tube rolling neophyte is there a particular version/flavor/spec of those i should gravitate to or from? Thx in advance.

I enjoyed the review also. You can buy the Sophia tubes directly from Sophia. The NOS Mullards are getting pretty hard to find and pretty expensive. E-bay is an option for those. The listings there now are kind of disappointing.

I bought the NOS Sylvania Chrome Dome Bad Boys. Didn't even make it into my Sony player yet because they took a detour to my VAC 300.1a amp. Holy Toledo! They sound awesome. Added some heft, low end energy, space that wasn't there before. Now I need to find two more for the Sony!

i think, unfortunately, you will need to spend some money or borrow some tubes, try them out and decide for yourself. the age of a tube is important as is is its manufacturer. there are other factors as well.

no one can predict how you will the sound of a tubbe. just experiment.

if you lived near me, i could bring several pairs of 6sn7 to you to try.

Hi Podeschi

I agree with you concerning the Sylvanias, they are also one of my very favorite 6sn7 providing you procure them from a reliable source and they are closely matched. Unfortunately this is not always the case and it can make a significant difference. A tube tester and reliable tube source is mandatory. For that reason I recommend you trying the Sophia Electric premium tubes. They ARE closely matched and will give you pretty much everything you can ask for in a tube, top to bottom extension, dynamics, balanced soundstage and image placement, a real big deal once they break in. The top end was a bit agressive for the first 100 hrs or so but not now. Do yourself a favor and try them. They aren't exactly cheap at 200.00 a pair but I can't say enough good things about this tube in my Supratek pre-amp and I've tried pretty much all of them except the Tung Sol's. I would expect you will hear these aspects of its performance characteristics in the Sony as well. It is often about the electrical parameters and how closely they match that is going to dictate the performance in a given component and these tubes are seriously matched with greater mutual conductance than any I've measured.

It is clear to me why Dan Wright recommends this tube.