Tubes for Raysonic CD 168

For my 128 (not 168), I first liked the JAN Philips 6922 as replacement for the stock tubes after trying a bunch of others. The "others" included Teles, Tungsrams, Mullards, Toshibas (not bad), and various Amperexes. Then a friend brought over a pair of Amperex "Bugle Boy" EECC88/6DJ8s for me to try (in the balanced outputs) ... and they're still there. Obviously YMMV, but they sure work for me. Good luck, Dave

I forgot one, and I even queried Raysonic about its suitability for use in my 128 (they said yes) since it has slightly different characteristics from others in the 6922/6DJ8 family.

It's the Russian 6N1P, often sold as the even longer-lived 6N1P-EV, available NOS on Ebay from Eastern European sellers on an absolutely dirt-cheap basis. As in, 10 for $16 including shipping from Ukraine. At least that's what I paid, and mine arrived a bunch faster than I can get something from, say, Canada. They're well worth a try. Dave

I'm not good at articulating tube virtues (or their lack). When I stick in a pair or
quad of new tubes my reaction is totally subjective and comparable only to
what I've preferred before. Sure, I listen for the usual stuff -- openness, clarity,
dynamics, bass, balance, etc. -- but more important is "Does it grab me?
" The 6N1P tubes definitely grabbed me for a while but in the space of
several months I was ready to try something else. That said, they're definitely
worth hearing, and so inexpensive it costs practically nothing to do so. But the
Bugle Boy 6DJ8s show me all that good stuff noted above plus the level of
"involvement" (trite, but can't think of a better word) that no others
have delivered over time. To me, in my system (Aesthetix Calypso linestage,
SET monoblocks designed and built by a friend, Gallo Ref 3 speakers and
subwoofer amp, Morrow Audio cabling).