Tube Rolling the Jolida/Black Ice dsd Dac

Which SR Orange fuse rating did you select? The writing on mine appears to be 500mA @ 250V, so I assume you went with the 500mA option, but wanted to check.

I bought the Black Ice Audio FX DSD WiFi DAC a few weeks back. I ordered a pair of NOS JAN GE 12AX7WA tubes at the same time, and I swapped them for the stock tubes before I powered it up. So my reference is with the JAN GE tubes in place, having never heard the stock ones yet. Probably have 200-ish hours on the unit.

Observations: Liquid, analog, extended detailed highs, very tight bass. Good imaging, but not blown away. Guitar, percussion, vocals, jazz, acoustic music, they all sound amazing.
I’m very happy with the current sound, but in the never ending search for "better", I stumbled across your thread. I’m looking at possibly trying out the NOS Mullard CV4004/12AX7 tubes, but at almost $200/ea they’re twice the price I paid for the JAN GE tubes so I’m doing the research to see what others have done.

How did the RCA gray plates sound in the DAC? Any feedback on their sound character?
My system for reference:NUC10i7 w/ SBooster 19V LPS --> Roon ROCK (combo of local NAS and streaming services) --> Audioquest Jitterbug --> Audioquest Carbon USB cable --> Black Ice Audio FX DSD WiFi DAC --> Signal Cable Silver Resolution w/KLEI Silver bullets RCA --> Sugden ANV-50 --> Core Diamond Speaker cables --> LSA-10 Statement Monitors

Ok, 3 months later, and following up on my post above.

I went ahead and splurged on the NOS Millard CV4004 tubes from Upscale Audio. I selected the “Kevin’s stash” and cryo treatment options. Roughly $200/ea.

I cannot overstate this. If you own this DAC, you are doing a disservice to your ears if you are not using these NOS Mullards. Oh. My. God.

It’s like I have an entirely new front end. Warm, clean, articulate, extended highs, HOLOGRAPHIC. Absolutely unreal decay and harmonics. Rhythm and timing is off the charts, and there’s just... more of everything... like MORE of everything there. I’ve heard new little background bits on music I’m intimately familiar with and have been listening to for decades across multiple platforms and formats.

Music just sounds correct. Effortless, spacious, correct timbre, correct timing, liquid, analog, warm, detailed. I’m listening to all my old favorites with my jaw on the floor.

Granted, the $400 tube upgrade is significant for a roughly $800 DAC, but I’m telling you, you will not be disappointed. I believe my DAC journey is over for a while. Time to turn attention to my vinyl front end, I could happily and easily live with this DAC and the NOS Mullards for the rest of my life. 

More notes...

My wife and I listen to music a lot together. Over the years, I’ve realized that she has a really good ear, and can usually articulate changes in equipment very well, often without being told changes have been made. She’s often my unwitting “blind” test for snake oil vs actual improvements.

Accordingly, she was unaware that I swapped the NOS Mullard tubes in a few days ago, and last night was our first chance to really sit down and listen to music together.

After about an hour, she turned to me out of the blue and said “I think your tubes may be finally... how do I describe it, warmed up!? It sounds like everything is just warm and ready to play music. Did you turn them on longer than normal? There’s more fullness and everything is blended together perfectly, even when there’s chaos in the mix.”

I told her about the new tubes, and we listened for a couple more hours, each taking turns pointing out how some part of some song sounded somehow new, and realizing that there’s a lot more detail and music and drive that’s just been unlocked. Nice to see that she has once again confirmed not only her ability to listen intently, but also the validity of the changes I was hearing as well.

I probably have 40-ish hours on the new tubes, so they may continue to settle in this week. Can’t say it enough, if you have this DAC, these are the tubes you want.

For roughly $1000 total (I got a deal on the Black Ice), I have a DAC that I would feel confident putting head to head with anything else out there. Absolutely fantastic!

@renisnceman, yes those are the ones. I selected Kevin’s stash level and added cryo option (what the hell).

Now I need to go research the fuse replacement! Thanks for the heads up on that.

Ok, put me in the “even fuses can make an audible difference” camp. I ordered SR orange fuses for both my Black Ice FX DSD DAC and my Sugden ANV-50. They have both been burning in for only about 20 hrs.

Already, the soundstage is so much wider, the highs have just gone to another level in quality, female voices and acoustic guitars are so much more realistic and unconstrained sounding. I’d call it the “texture” of everything, it just got significantly better.

And I haven’t even tried flipping them to see if they make a difference in direction. Sounds so good already that I’ll let them go through at least 100 hrs before I try to flip them.

Its funny, lots of hate out there on other forums for “snake oil” fuse replacements. I have to wonder if they had the right fuse, and if they actually listened to it before dismissing it. I’m blown away. Not sure if it’s the amp, the DAC, or the synergy of the two, but I feel like my system just went up
another level in fidelity.

Thank you for the mention about the SR Orange, I’m excited to see what the next couple hundred hours on them might do.