Quote:I've recently added the Denafrips IRIS DDC to my system and it has brought down the noise floor even greater. It has a refinement that was, in retrospect, missing prior to adding the DDC. It has allowed me to verify my previous statements on the synergy between the rectifier and power tube combinations.
I have had a similar experience and wanted to enlarge on this as I have experienced it in my recent changes to my source and cables. In the process I discovered that what I perceived as brightness coming from a tube(s) was in fact not at all coming from the tubes, regardless of the tubes being used.
Not knowing this caused me to roll tubes when I should have been looking elsewhere. The culprit was RF, EMI and power line contamination. As I implemented cables and components that are designed to address these issues the "brightness and any hardness/harshness" was eliminated entirely without rolling off the highs. In fact the improvement in the highs was entirely unexpected.
One example, of a number, is the dual Storm Reference cables between the Chord Hugo M Scaler and the Chord Qutest/Plixir LPS. These are designed to eliminate RF and the difference from the stock dual cables was an... ear opener and an education.
Next what I say, I say at the risk of being misunderstood... Another discovery, although I always knew it but never experienced it fully, was that as my source improved and the speakers could give enough headroom in the mids and lows I no longer needed the ZRock2. I am not suggesting that the ZRock2 is not a good component, I loved it when it was needed and would still recommend it.
This was not an easy decision. But as the system evolved I would flip from pass through to active and the preference was now with the ZRock2 in the pass through. As a result I'm going up one more level in the source.
In some systems the ZRock2 will be a must and I also preferred the CryoTone 12AU7. But don't underestimate the effect that RF, EMI and power line contamination can have. It often comes across as enhanced resolution in the highs along with brightness and hardness. It may not be the tubes.