Eddie Current Zana Deux S

Does anyone in the Orange County area have one of these I can hear?

I would love to compare it to the Mogwai.

It's always been my HD650 amp I've been working toward, but I've been working toward it blindly.

I have no idea what they actually sound like.

 

I have a better idea. Send me your Mogwai, and I'll do a full descriptive writeup of it and the ZDS for you.

 

Hi Luckbad,

@bazelio suggested we have a mini-meet - I'll have a ZDS to share very soon!

-Ron

 

Nice, @RKML0007

Are you in SoCal?

 

Yup!

 

Interested to hear you guys' opinion on Mogwai vs ZDS after this mini-meet.

 

Seconded! The ZDS is my current fave (aspirational) hd650 pairing.

 

Is @velvetx still on the Mogwai list? I call for a mini meet after it arrives!

 

I'm very interested as well. May well wind up purchasing a Mogwai if its on or close to the level of the ZDS but warmer and more musical.

 

Try a Mullard ECC35 in your ZDS, RAZR?

 

I actually have a ZDT so it takes 12AX7s. Slightly different sound as well - Craig told me it has tighter bass, a bit less of a soundstage and a bit less warmth than a ZDS but they're obviously cut from the same cloth so the comparison will still be relevant to me. I've tried some of the 12AX7s that get some talk like the Raytheon Windmill Getter and the Sylvania Gold Brands. If I wound up getting a Mogwai it would be convenient to have a ZDS rather than the T though since they take the same driver tube but I can't complain. 12AX7s are pretty cheap. If I recall correctly the ZDT was a pretty short lived design - price point was around $2800 apparently new as opposed to the ZD (maybe the SE version at the time?) that was a few hundred cheaper. My hunch is that it had a bit of an awkward position in the line in terms of price between the ZD OTL version and Balancing act so people went to either extreme

 

@velvetx

They tend to be overpriced. Paid $79 for my last one, but it had all the printing on the glass rubbed off. Tested new, and that's good enough for me. It was the one @foo_me was listening to at the mini meet.

 

OK, this just in. @songmic made me do it....

 

It's no secret this is my personal favorite tube for ZDS, even more so than the Mullard ECC35 when it comes to driving the HD800(S).

 

Yeah, I loved the Mullard ECC35 with the HD800s at the meet...best sound for me.
@bazelio - so how does the 5691 compare? Worth getting?

 

@foo_me

I think it's worth getting, yes. I'll definitely be using both tubes depending on mood. So far I guess I find the 5691 to be a bit more forward in its presentation and more controlled and precise in the bass region. The ECC35 seems to have an edge in sound staging. I probably still prefer the ECC35 for most live music tracks, where I always want dimensionality.

@songmic was right, although that's nothing new. ;-)

 

Rando no longer!

@Luckbad when do you want to hear the ZDS? I've got some tubes coming in so we can have something other than stock.

 

Probably a few weeks. I'm still crunching for work and don't really have time to do fun stuff.