Dk Design VS-1 mkII what tubes are you using??


I am hoping to get advice from current owners of the DK Design VS-1 mkII integrated amplifier on which nos tubes are sounding best. I will be purchasing tubes in the next few days and would love to know specific experiences from my audiogon friends. If you let me know who you purchased the tubes from that would be very helpful also. Thanks and can't wait to start tube rolling for the first time.
nicksgem10s

Showing 3 responses by lrsky

I am using the Russian tubes which were used in the MIG fighter craft (6H23N-EB Vacuum Tube).
They holograph noticibly better than the original--and I do not consider soundstage changes for the better, to be ANY form of coloration, so long as it doesn't streeeetch the voices or instruments into larger versions of their normal sound.
The change is one of everything floating within its own acoustic space, in a more definite and interesting way, not phoney, but real sounding.
This DK is the real thing. I too am amazed at its quality. It is a steal at twice the asking price. I am so pleased to see a company (relatively new in this arena) do such a wonderful job.
It does sound, as the reviewer stated in one review, like the Gryphon Callisto, only better. How is it better?
When I owned the Callisto, I asked Fleming Rasmussen (the designer) about using a tube pre amp with his integrated, going through the pass through, hoping that I could achieve what DK has done.
What strikes me as interesting, is how much difference the tube rolling made with this integrated. When some companies talk about integrateds and how the pre stage is relatively unimportant (hence pass through pre amps) I always cringe. This integrated is REALLY open for all kinds of fun experimentation with tube changes.
One can easily 'tune' in the best sense, this piece, to sound perfect with his or her system by spending a few dollars on tubes. It has at least the same effect as changing an entire preamp!
Good listening, and for anyone new to the DK, it is one SERIOUS PIECE OF AUDIO GEAR!!!!
Larry R. Staples
LSA Group
Founder/Designer
As a follow up, last night I was listening to a wide variety of music on the DK unit.
This Integrated,(I almost feel blasphemous calling such a precision piece integrated, as if it somehow diminishes its performance)--makes music fun again.
It does not 'clarify' things...it does not give 'more slam' it does not give any of the prototypical audiophile descriptions of performance, it just works, and better than my list of well knowns, Krell, Mac, Ayre, AR, cj, (sorry Bill and Lew), et. al.
All bets are off. At $3K don't hesitate; it has the power in my thousands of cubic feet room to fill it with sound, and it's music.
Peter Cincotti, Rod Stewart, the movie D'Lovely, are all rendered wonderfully, and in a way I thought had been lost in some ways, with all the techno babble, and advancements, we're back to the basics. It just sounds right.
I am using the Amperex and they are virtually magic tsounding compared to the set which comes with them.
This amp sounds like the best of all that is good about electronics, sweet smooth, musical, without the overstated lushness,which accompany some tube gear.
Buy it and enjoy, as it will play everything from estats, to dynamics, at good volumes, great staging, and phenomenal bass response.