Quote:
Originally Posted by Formerly YB-2
While tube-rolling can get expensive, IC-rolling can get very, very expensive. Even with used ICs.
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And, particularly so if one chooses to buy expensive (new or used) interconnects without demon'ing them first. This approach is a roll of the dice which can become expensive and aggravating if you pick the wrong ones!
After getting burned out on NOS tube rolling (16 pairs for amps and 6 pairs for preamp - with a help of a few friends loaner connections), and finally settling on my NOS tubes - I went back to retry ICs again. Glad I did, made a notable difference. More so than many NOS tubes I tried, which I was not expecting.
Demo-before-buying ICs:
After demoing multiple pairs of ICs, I just resold two pairs of expensive interconnects that I ran for years that matched well with solid state gear, now buying replacement ICs for my tube amps at less than 1/3 the cost that actually sound better, more engaging,compared to higher $ versions. Truly a nice difference and the benefit was realized immediately vs waiting 40, 80, 100+ hours of tube break-in time to realize a difference.
A few higher end well known ICs I have demo'd recently did not sound better, in some cases far worse for my particular system. A few audiophile colleagues reminded me not to overlook lower cost ones and so far that advice has paid off well. The only problem with realizing this now is it makes me want to go back and re-look and retry several lower cost ICs I passed on previously. TheCableCo has a nice loaner program and loaner fee applies to purchase if you buy.