Has anyone had the 'privilege' of replacing the sockets in their ZP3? Mine are worn out, loose and noisy. What is the best 9 pin PCB socket available?

I've already taken the sockets out. Even with a solder remover I managed to lift some of the traces off the circuit board. I only want to have to replace these sockets once

-buzz

Thanks Steve! You are way beyond super fantastic !  

As far as the Ei goldpins... uh ya I ordered a bunch to try, in fact 3 each of 12AU7, 12AT7 and 12AX7 and I felt your original JJ tubes were at least as good if not better in some ways. Eli D. then informed me that Ei was having some QC issues around the time I ordered them (over a year ago) so I may have gotten a bad batch.

That experience led me to try a whole host of other tubes with different pin arrangements, including the 6112 subminature and the 6n2p-ev that I love so much in position #1 of the ZP3.

It is too bad that there is not more tubes to roll with the 6n2p pin arrangement. That would give end users the control over sonic signature like the many brands of 12AX7 that are available.

I really feel that at this level of fidelity, any fresh tube really sounds exceptional. Having used over a dozen different types of tubes in the input position has shown that the ZP3 has amazing flexibility. The end user can tune to exactly the sound he desires... lush, dynamic, euphoric or even 'tubey' simply by keeping a few spares around.

Now you know why my sockets are worn out.

-buzz

I wouldn't doubt that for a second, thanks for the info. I wish I had heard that the pins where larger before I even bought them. What a headache.  

-buzz