Seamaster
Active Member
Hello brothers and sisters in Audio,
My journey for audio nirvana has now comes to a stop. I have tried quite few gears through out the years, tube, solid state, and some McIntosh as well. I came to a conclusion from experiences and experiments that I want a tube preamp and solid-state power amp combo. My taste of music is very wide from rock, pop, classical to even dub-step that pose a real challenge to tube amps in general: relative soft and lose bass. I also settle on the sonic signature of 6SN7 family as well as their flexibility for tube rolling. So, the search was on. My budget was under $4000.
One day I have came across a few very positive reviews of Dehavilland Ultraverve, and I also asked the few community members that own the UV. The feedbacks were very positive; no one has said one negative thing about this preamp. Just like other people said, Kara is very nice and knowledgeable. After some discussion, I ordered a remote version with Mundorf silver gold in oil caps in place of the stock Auricap to address the “the UV dose not have the ultimate transparency like other top of the line preamps.” said in either by Dagogo or Positive Feedback reviews I forgot which one. Originally I was going for Duelund caps but they are too big and unable to fit in the case; also, they have too low of voltage rating. The stock caps are rated at 1000vdc; therefore, the Mundorf were 2nd on the list.
When my UV is done, I drove 2.5 hours to Kara’s house for pick-up and also took the opportunity to listen to her reference set-up and her KE-50A KT88 mono blocks. The 1st floor of her house is covered or I can say, “packed” with amp parts, prototypes, and workstation. I can see she sleeps, eats, and breathes with this stuffs and her passion.
A quick listen to my finished UV 3, I was very happy with the tonal balance (stock tubes), the bass was articulate but weak. I knew the Mundorf might take sometimes to settle-in. After her house, I enjoyed at Joe’s Crab Shack with some yummy Cajun snow crab with my family, it was the bomb, much better than the Crab Pot in Seattle.
I have two children that means I really can’t run my amp for 300 hours to settle-in. So I hook the UV 3 with a Hagerman Technology FryKleaner; took the bottom plate off to vent the heat; and left it on for 13.95 days straight. That is 335 hours!
My setup:
MacBook Pro Retina 2013
IFI Audio micro IDSD as digital converter (My turntable is currently out of commission)
Anti-cable Reference 4 or 5 (don’t recall)
Sony TA-N77ES Power Amp
Nanotec Golden Strada #79 Limited Edition speaker cables
Oyaide Tunami GPX power cables
Tannoy Turberry speakers
Test Music:
Sting - All this time
The White Stripes – Get Behind Me Satan (many tube amps struggle with this album due to the bass line)
The Piano Guys
Sony Master Series CD - Beethoven – No.5, Fur Elise, and Moonlight
Genji Video Game Soundtrack (the ultimate test for PRaT and bass and I have not seen a tube amp does not suffer from this CD set yet!)
http://downloads.khinsider.com/game-soundtracks/album/genji-dawn-of-the-samurai-original-game-audio
Three female vocalists:
http://www.amazon.cn/降央卓玛-金色的呼唤/dp/B001PO5SQG
http://www.amazon.cn/苏曼的夜晚/dp/B0011...&ie=UTF8&qid=1431902251&sr=1-1&keywords=苏曼的夜晚
And Norah Jones.
So far the amp has passed my listening checklist with flying color:
• Charming female vocal with correct male vocal tone at same time (A)
• Big 6SN7 tone as all online reviews claimed, check (A)
• Transparency, check. The Mundorf must worked (A)
• Effortlessness (A+)
• PRaT compare to tube amps (A+), compare to my friend’s Passlab (A-)
• Respond well to tube rolling (A+)
• Bass performance compare to a solid state pre with best bass: speed (A-), impact/attack (A- with Brimar CV1988, A with KenRad VT-231), decay (A+, and lovely)
• HF extension (A to A+ depends on tube), HF fatigue (A+, or none)
• Fit and finish: inside (A), front plate (A), case (B+)
• Customer service (A+)
The reason I rate B+ on the case is the bottom plate is not perfectly flat. I found that out when I tried to replaced the four factory rubber feet with four spikes (glue-on). The spikes would not touch the rack surface at same time. I am pretty sure Kara will take care of me on this minor issue.
Overall, the UV 3 is a lovely sounding piece of gear that is reasonably priced. The performance to price ratio is unbelievably good. Honorably mention its bass performance (which was my worry before) with upgraded caps is on a pair with solid-state preamp on speed and attack, and it is even better than SS on bass decay. The tonal balanced of the UV 3 is correct to a music lover with all right tube magic retained while also being dynamic, transparent, and effortless. This not a hi-fish sounding gear with emphases on HF to sound expensive, the UV 3 is focused on music flow; and again, tonal balance. The sound is very engaging and I often forgot to analyze the music.
My journey for audio nirvana has now comes to a stop. I have tried quite few gears through out the years, tube, solid state, and some McIntosh as well. I came to a conclusion from experiences and experiments that I want a tube preamp and solid-state power amp combo. My taste of music is very wide from rock, pop, classical to even dub-step that pose a real challenge to tube amps in general: relative soft and lose bass. I also settle on the sonic signature of 6SN7 family as well as their flexibility for tube rolling. So, the search was on. My budget was under $4000.
One day I have came across a few very positive reviews of Dehavilland Ultraverve, and I also asked the few community members that own the UV. The feedbacks were very positive; no one has said one negative thing about this preamp. Just like other people said, Kara is very nice and knowledgeable. After some discussion, I ordered a remote version with Mundorf silver gold in oil caps in place of the stock Auricap to address the “the UV dose not have the ultimate transparency like other top of the line preamps.” said in either by Dagogo or Positive Feedback reviews I forgot which one. Originally I was going for Duelund caps but they are too big and unable to fit in the case; also, they have too low of voltage rating. The stock caps are rated at 1000vdc; therefore, the Mundorf were 2nd on the list.
When my UV is done, I drove 2.5 hours to Kara’s house for pick-up and also took the opportunity to listen to her reference set-up and her KE-50A KT88 mono blocks. The 1st floor of her house is covered or I can say, “packed” with amp parts, prototypes, and workstation. I can see she sleeps, eats, and breathes with this stuffs and her passion.
A quick listen to my finished UV 3, I was very happy with the tonal balance (stock tubes), the bass was articulate but weak. I knew the Mundorf might take sometimes to settle-in. After her house, I enjoyed at Joe’s Crab Shack with some yummy Cajun snow crab with my family, it was the bomb, much better than the Crab Pot in Seattle.
I have two children that means I really can’t run my amp for 300 hours to settle-in. So I hook the UV 3 with a Hagerman Technology FryKleaner; took the bottom plate off to vent the heat; and left it on for 13.95 days straight. That is 335 hours!
My setup:
MacBook Pro Retina 2013
IFI Audio micro IDSD as digital converter (My turntable is currently out of commission)
Anti-cable Reference 4 or 5 (don’t recall)
Sony TA-N77ES Power Amp
Nanotec Golden Strada #79 Limited Edition speaker cables
Oyaide Tunami GPX power cables
Tannoy Turberry speakers
Test Music:
Sting - All this time
The White Stripes – Get Behind Me Satan (many tube amps struggle with this album due to the bass line)
The Piano Guys
Sony Master Series CD - Beethoven – No.5, Fur Elise, and Moonlight
Genji Video Game Soundtrack (the ultimate test for PRaT and bass and I have not seen a tube amp does not suffer from this CD set yet!)
http://downloads.khinsider.com/game-soundtracks/album/genji-dawn-of-the-samurai-original-game-audio
Three female vocalists:
http://www.amazon.cn/降央卓玛-金色的呼唤/dp/B001PO5SQG
http://www.amazon.cn/苏曼的夜晚/dp/B0011...&ie=UTF8&qid=1431902251&sr=1-1&keywords=苏曼的夜晚
And Norah Jones.
So far the amp has passed my listening checklist with flying color:
• Charming female vocal with correct male vocal tone at same time (A)
• Big 6SN7 tone as all online reviews claimed, check (A)
• Transparency, check. The Mundorf must worked (A)
• Effortlessness (A+)
• PRaT compare to tube amps (A+), compare to my friend’s Passlab (A-)
• Respond well to tube rolling (A+)
• Bass performance compare to a solid state pre with best bass: speed (A-), impact/attack (A- with Brimar CV1988, A with KenRad VT-231), decay (A+, and lovely)
• HF extension (A to A+ depends on tube), HF fatigue (A+, or none)
• Fit and finish: inside (A), front plate (A), case (B+)
• Customer service (A+)
The reason I rate B+ on the case is the bottom plate is not perfectly flat. I found that out when I tried to replaced the four factory rubber feet with four spikes (glue-on). The spikes would not touch the rack surface at same time. I am pretty sure Kara will take care of me on this minor issue.
Overall, the UV 3 is a lovely sounding piece of gear that is reasonably priced. The performance to price ratio is unbelievably good. Honorably mention its bass performance (which was my worry before) with upgraded caps is on a pair with solid-state preamp on speed and attack, and it is even better than SS on bass decay. The tonal balanced of the UV 3 is correct to a music lover with all right tube magic retained while also being dynamic, transparent, and effortless. This not a hi-fish sounding gear with emphases on HF to sound expensive, the UV 3 is focused on music flow; and again, tonal balance. The sound is very engaging and I often forgot to analyze the music.
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