In the end the nicest combination of tubes I found was purchased from theTubeDepot in Canada, absolutely wonderful and helpful folks to deal with, excellent customer service and experience for me. I read every thread I could find on tube rolling for my Darkvoice, (much work) and made several purchases to try the past few months. Unless you only like solid state sound, I think every Sennheiser I’ve heard sounds better running off a tube amp. You should especially like the combo with the Sennheisers, as I am eyeing HD800s to pair with the La Figaro when I wouldn’t have had interest in those headphones otherwise.

While I’ve seen several $1000 + tube amps, I think the Darkvoice, and especially La Figaro should be all you need. More than the fact that I just flat out think tubes are cool, I love the idea that different combos make the amp seem like a completely different product. With that I am looking at an approximately $500-$600 investment above the stock tubes and I think that will be where I stop, although I can’t be certain. If this was my endgame I’d probably invest more, but I am saving that for the La Figaro now. I love the darkvoice because its a cheap way to test the water for a powerful tube amp.

If it persists during playback I don’t hear it. There was a good amount of hum from them which died down after a 72 hour burn in, but there is an audible buzz when I first power it on prior to playing music. I made this choice based on online reviews and went with some of the cheaper options I could find for both to see what I thought.

Darkvoice 336se specs