Comments
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Reviews/ Comments |
Robert Pincus, Cisco Records
"WOW! I am very pleased! To be honest, I haven’t been exactly happy with my system for some weeks. The bass has been thin and the upper-midrange has been a bit aggressive. I’d never say that bass is the strongpoint of the EAR 864, but the middle and top are. However, once I put your product into the line stage and heard the improvements I felt real sorry for anybody who hasn’t done the same. I could never go back to the way my preamp used to sound.
"Hey, all talk aside, I love the improvement and I plan to get some more of your rings for the phono section. However, right now I just want to enjoy my 'new' preamp!"
John Zurek, Positive Feedback Online
"I wasn't expecting this. These little rings tied it all together. COHERENT. Delicacy. Wooliness now absent. Soundstage noticeably more solid all the way across, a depth that wasn't there before, bass more controlled. The attack (what non-musicians call transients) on the Martin guitars was all of a sudden happening, really happening, full of the little cues that make music seem much more alive."
Stephæn Harrell, Reviewer, The Abso!ute Sound, 6Moons
"The effects are positive, the bang-for-buck factor is very high."
Rick Becker, Enjoy the Music.com
"The Damping Instruments are Big League. Operating directly on the tubes, where various shelving and isolation technologies are less effective, they have taken my system to a new high point."
Steve Smith, Los Angeles, California
"Just wanted to say thanks for the tube dampers. I had filament rattle in one of my power tubes in my guitar amp and these solved the problem immediately. And the sound seems to have improved as well. Well done."
Charles Stevens, Jonesboro, Georgia
"I just got the Titanium 70's. Excellent! I already use your dampers on 12ax7's but you can REALLY tell a difference on a big 300B, especially in SET monoblock configuration. Any tweek you do with a good SET amp is instantly noticeable.Thank you for a fine product."
Chris VenHaus, VH Audio
"If you own any tubed audio equipment, Herbie's Audio Lab damping instruments are ESSENTIAL to get the best performance out of your equipment. This is perhaps the most effective tube tweak on the market, and is THE best tube damper on the market."
Kevin Rowley, United Kingdom
"Having now had time to try Damping Instruments I am over the moon with results. They are a must have for any valve amp owner; the improvement in sound quality is more than I was expecting, bass is better defined, mid range is more projected and treble is sweeter. I have tried Dampers in many different positions and found best when about midway down tubes, the last thing I tried was to have the open section of Dampers facing the same way the tubes work ie open section on left channel facing left and right channel facing right, this gives a bigger soundstage in both width and depth, it's something owners should try. Thanks again and I will be back for more soon."
Paul Douma, Chicago, Illinois
"I just received my Ultra Sonic Tube Dampers and their effect is nothing short of amazing. I'm using them on my tube preamp which was so wooly and unfocused that I would bypass it whenever possible. (Even with some hotshot NOS RCA tubes.) Now, each instrument has snapped into focus, the image has expanded, and the bass is just rock solid. These little wonders have got to be considered essential equipment for anyone running tube gear. Thanks for this amazing and affordable product, and also for your consistently excellent service."
Niels Christiansen, Denmark
"We have now tested your UltraSonic 7, 30 and 60 damping rings on all the tubes on our Wavac MD805m amplifiers. The sound improvement that your damping instruments induced on the Wavac's was quite dramatic. Different tube brands can often lead to a significant improvement but often tube rolling just leads to a different sonic signature which is primarely a matter of taste. However, the dampers increased the speed, clarity and inter transient silence without distracting any of the excellent musical qualities of the Wavac's. We made the same observations when placing the damping instruments on the tubes on the excellent Wavac EC-300B amplifier. The most remarkable effect was actually observed when we placed one big UltraSonic 60 ring on each of the huge 805 output tubes."
Sigmund Finman, Pennsylvania
"I recently swapped out the teflon dampers I had been using which were a definite upgrade from the stock dampers that came with my cd player. The new ones are titanium and they're remarkably realistic and glare and grunge free. Even with cryovaced, antique Siemens CCa tubes, I'm hearing a big difference in detail and punch. Everything is clearer, transients are more defined, lows are fuller and more extended, music has more punch and is more visceral and lifelike. A real good deal for $34 which included shipping. Note: they needed an hour or so to break in. After that, just sweet music."
Alan Zoric, Belgium
"You know i'm surprised at the clear difference of the new 'ultra' thingies over the 'old' model. it was clearly audible: more focus, clarity, tightness."
Roger Macklin, Tennessee
"UltraSonic 9 dampers for Bendix 6900 signal tubes; UltraSonic 35 for Philips metal base GZ34/5AR4 rectifier - in Modwright SWL9.0 Signature linestage. Improved clarity/defintion most noticeable in sustain/decay phase."
John Garrett, Battle Ground, Washington
"I received my UltraSonics last week. I'll give you this -- earlier versions wouldn't grip at times on 9 pin signal tubes. These puppies have SERIOUS grip-i-fi-cation! I work with Dan at ModWright. We enthusiastically recommend your damping instruments to our customers!"
Brian Varner, Seattle, Washington
"Received the Ti-9 today and installed it in my preamp which is a hybrid and has only one tube. I heard a difference for the better immediately. Clarity was increased across audio spectrum. Needless to say, I am impressed at what this product can do at such a small cost. Thanks!"
Mark Henshall, Arlington, Virginia
"Installed the dampers in my ARC LS-16 -- Wow! Even after a quick warm up the system sounded more natural with a quieter background. THE most cost effective tweak I have ever heard. Thanks for your prompt shipping and an excellent product."
James Irving, Blue Elephant Audio & Home Video Consulting
"The Damping instruments have worked a treat reducing the overall background hash and letting the musical nuances shine though. I'm hearing multi-tracked recordings as never before with every overdub clearly audible, no need to guess how many girlie backing singers there are, you can hear them all clearly."
Bob Walters, Santa Clara, California
"On the phone with me 10 days ago, you suggested that I might be surprised by the improvement that damping my 845's would make. Right on, big improvement!"
Brian Malzahn, Walled Lake, New York
"I just got my 1st 4 tube dampers today... Dude?! Why didn't you tell me about this stuff sooner!"
Arthur Salvatore, High-End Audio Ltd.
"After further listening and a number of A/B comparisons, alone and with one of my associates, I/we have come to the conclusion that the Herbie Tube Dampers are virtually indispensable for tube electronics, especially in the phono stages of tube preamplifiers. The improvements are easily noticeable once the listener focuses in on the differences. They have joined The Recommended Components-Accessories."
David McCormick, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
"This weekend I received and installed a pair of your dampers on the output tubes of my Jolida CD player. I am very pleased with the results. I have some choral music CD's that exhibit some glare and unnatural blending of voices. The same goes for some classical recordings with a large number of violins. Your tube dampers have alleviated all of these problems.
"To my surprise they also seem to give more bass extension on my rock/alternative CD's. I have to admit, I didn't expect that.
"While the tube dampers you sell are rather simple in design, I'm well aware of how deceptive such appearances can be. I have no doubt that much testing and hard work went into the creation of them. My compliments for a job well done.
Angel Ramirez, Ceiba, Puerto Rico
"I received the UltraSonic 9's; I like them very much. They work best with tubes that are very quiet, that don't seem to be microphonic. Brings out more detail and musicality."
Tiffany Ryan, Long Beach, California
"WOW! These things actually work. I thought it was a bunch of BS and didn't really expect to hear any difference. I put 4 dampers on my SLP98 pre-amp and Norah Jones never sounded sweeter!!"
Rev. Terry Davidson, Baulkham Hills, Australia
"I had trouble with microphonics, with the EF86 pentode tube in my guitar amp no matter how many tubes I tried. So I thought I'd experiment with your tube damping device. I have just slipped it over the tube and what a difference, the microphonics are minimized but surprisingly the sound is more focused and detailed."
Keith Olszewski, Coral Springs, Florida
"They are wonderful! Easy to install, smooth and liquid sound. The black surface on the pads looks cool. Thanks again."
Jagdeep Singh, Singapore
"A very clever and simple design. Definitely a KISS award nominee. My compliments to your brain.
"They brought my unruly 5687's nicely into line. The bass became much more solid and the harshness in the highs vanished, something I've been trying to do for quite a while and not been able to achieve."
Kevin Ledbetter, Fremont, California
"Thanks for getting the damping rings to me. They really work well on the tubes in my guitar amps. I put them on 2 tubes that would whistle when they got warmed up and I turned the amp up. After putting on the rings they were dead quiet. I will be putting them on all my equipment."
James May, Seattle, Washington
"The damping instruments arrived in perfect shape. What a terrific addition to my Thor 2000 preamp and VAC 70-70 amp. Larger, more defined soundstage, quieter background, etc. Great product -- thanks!"
Bruce Jobson, Snellville, Georgia
"Just thought ya'll would like to know results of adding the dampers to my son' s Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. It was an immediate improvement. Overall it is punchier, and crisper with a richer tone. The bottom strings have much better pitch definition and fullness regardless of how aggressively he plays. Great product!"
Lee Shelbourne, Penarth, U.K.
"Fitted the dampers to the signal and driver valves of my 300B PSE monoblocs. Superb. It has improved the low-level detail, and seems to have improved the imaging too. Everything in the soundstage seems to have a 'sharper' edge to it, and appears to be less 'fuzzy round the edges'. Many thanks for the excellent, super-speedy service. I will no doubt be in touch in the near future for a few more. Cheers."
Will Berdan II, Richmond, Maine
"I placed the dampers on all the tubes in my Audio Research LS-25MKII preamp, and VT-100MKII amplifier. I am impressed -- these definitely work in my system, and they won't be going back! I would recommend them to anyone using that particular ARC gear."
Cameron MacInnes, Ottawa, Canada
"I would like to say that if someone had upgraded my system components and achieved the improvements your products produced, I would have felt them justified in charging me thousands of dollars. I feel I am in your debt to have received these benefits at such a modest price."
Lon Armstrong, Austin, Texas
"These are a great product. The sonic character is a lot like that of the Pearl Tube Coolers, but seems to not quite darken the sound as much and to fetter the dynamics a bit less. This is good news; I really liked the affects of the coolers, and this has the affect and not some side affects. These Herbie's products have replaced the Coolers in my system. There is less constriction of dynamics. Things sound more open. The Coolers are not going back in."
Gerald Grochowski, Redondo Beach, California
"I don't believe the focus, clarity and speed (no hangovers) your products are achieving in my system. May the Lord prosper you in your enterprise---these devices perform according to the ads! By the way, your product is replacing Pearl tube coolers and Ensemble Tubesox."
Dave Gladchun, Van Nuys, California
"The rings work great. They do absolute wonders for Telefunken tubes. I'm still evaluating the mat but it too seems to be a winner. The rings get my vote for most tweek for the buck, they also don't take away any of the dynamics of the tube, something other tube dampeners have done."
Sean Christen, Hi Fi Talk
"The best way that I can put the change is 'I didn't know that I was missing that.' I didn't know that the soundstage was just a little smeared, it seemed to just snap into place where I didn't know that it was loose. The bass got tighter and the imaging got better in speakers that I thought that I was getting all that I could from."
Wilson Chan, San Jose, California
"The rings work like a charm. Image is so much more very defined and controlled. My entire system sounds one notch better easily.
I don't have a bass problem. Bass is under total control bymy DIY (i.e. over-engineering) bass panels. But I had a HF problem, a slight ringing around 5KHz. I suspect the ringing comes from (1) a metal floor lamp, (2) the window glass panel (probably too large for HF) and (3) the tubes. That prompted me trying the UltraSonic rings. Believe it or not, the ringing is gone after putting the UltraSonic rings on all of my tubes (except one). The UltraSonic rings are not inexpensive, but they really work. And the effect in my system is quite obvious. Very happy about them. Now, the Telefunken NOS tubes really shine!!!"
Jean van Laarhoven, The Netherlands
"Of course I was hoping to hear any effect at all, but what I heard was beyond my expectations. There is a much deeper and far more controlled bass now and the high notes are brighter and more defined. The whole of the soundstage is more holographic and the instruments are more separated from each other. I must say that I didn't expect that with my one-year-old Jadis Orchestra Reference amplifier (with 2xECC83 and 4xKT90 tubes) and the ten-years-old Quad ESL63 speakers.
"Needless to say that I am very pleased with the damping instruments (they look neat as well)."
Kevan Smith, Washington
I installed the dampers on my Unison Research Unico integrated amp and Cal Audio SigmaII 24/96 DAC. Immediately I noticed a difference. Less grunge, wider and deeper soundstage, instruments (especially cymbals) sounded more true-to-life. I noticed that I could turn up the volume a lot higher without things sounding harsh. Highly recommended!"
Bob Zurcher, Spokane, Washington
"I just placed the tube dampers on my Rogue preamp and again your products work. I would describe the sound as more lush with a more focused soundstage."
Ed Doell, Oakdale, California
"Well, you know, you have been doing business with Mr. Skeptical here when it comes to audio. And, well, the Black Hole was really something to do some magic on my most annoyingly edgy CDs. This afternoon, I put the four UltraSonics on my McIntosh C2200 preamp tubes, ran the digital source with the BH on the offending CDs -- well, I really didn't realize what a good music system I have until these microphonic mods. Just amazing: newly revealed and accessable bass, voice, inner rhythms, syncopation, and inner instruments within the larger piece.
"Hearable...listen-able...the ear can enter that part of the stage without being pushed out by flying bits of glass. The brittle and serrated edges are much diminished leaving very pleasing, detailed music! Thanks!"
Steve McCullough, Atlanta, Georgia
"All I can say is WOW!!!!! What a difference! I am hearing greater detail, better image resolution and separation, tighter bass, and an overall smoother sound. I have them on the tubes in my Ah! SuperTjoeb 4000 and on the 12AX7 input tubes on my Manley Stingray integrated."
Alan Olan, Sidney, Australia
"The sound from my BAT VK3i is now clearer, but also has the drive from my familiar records. Vocals became more solid and an all-round great improvement. All your products have certainly worked for me, all worthwhile investments."
Paul Briggs, London, England
"I fitted these (tube and interconnect dampers) last night and was bowled over by the improvement! My Croft Super Micro dual ECC83 phono stage has become a lot more detailed---I have A/B tested with speakers and headphones. Thanks a bunch. These are the best and most reasonably priced tweak I've ever tried."
Rich Brkich, Signature Sound
"I am very happy with how well they have worked on the line stage tubes in our demo Joule-Electra LA-150 preamp. I immediately noticed a less sibilant presentation and better imaging with a quieter, blacker background."
Matthew Trom, Portland, Oregon
"I don't suffer from Audiophile jaw-drop syndrome, but they sound good to me! Four are on the ASL Wave 6BM8's, and one is on the 6DJ8 in a Counterpoint SA-1000. As far as I can tell, the bass is tighter, mids and highs smoother and everything is more defined. How bout that! They work as advertised. Definitely worth it! (And you are certainly above and beyond in the customer service department.)"
Phillip Hyun, Lake Oswego, Oregon
"I am using your tube dampers on my 6SL7s and they are great!"
Mike Schneider, Cordova, Tennessee
"I never would have believed it! I bought a set just to play with after reading about the tube dampers at Audio Asylum. I first tried them on a pair of EL-84s on my headphone amp and didn't hear much difference. Gave them a second chance on a pair of 6922's in my DAC. WOW I'm sold! Simply amazing the improvement. Sometimes you never know what you're missing. Thanks!"
Ed Tarantino, San Francisco, California
"I had a bit of buyer's regret right after placing my first order, but damn if these things didn't make more of an impression than a speaker cable upgrade! I'm using 'em on a Rogue Tempest integrated. These things really give it some balls, more punch in the low end, better delineation of harmonic detail, etc."
Sigmund Finman, Canonsburg, Pennsylvania
"I could tell immediately that the cds playing on my Njoe Tjoeb 4000 were clearer, better defined, had more presence and in some cases, projected a height and depth of soundstage that were previously missing. That was immediately. I wonder if they'll sound any better after they've settled in? This is great for a $20 tweak."
Richard Makarewicz, Lennox Head, Austrlia
"I received today the tube dampers for my Tung Sol black glass round plate 6SN7 and 6SU7 tubes, used in my integrated valve amp. I am already using your dampers on my GEC KT88's.
"The improvement was not subtle. Focus, clarity and bass definition all improved significantly, but the most noticeable improvement was the elimination of what I'll call grunge, especially from the upper mids to treble.
"Without this glare and grain, the sound is sweeter, clearer with more air and detail. I was frankly quite surprised by the improvement. Thanks again."
Mark Ransom, Stewartstown, Pennsylvania
"The UltraSonic 9 arrived today. Thanks for the quick turn around. I'm using the damper ring in a 40 watt guitar amp. The original intent was to attempt to kill a obnoxious rattle when 'A flat' was fretted at moderate to loud volume. The ring took care of the rattle about 90%. An unexpected improvement in overall clarity also took place. My amp sounded very good before. Now it's sounds 'luscious'. Very happy!"
Bill Hunt, Birmingham, United Kingdom
"Absolutely remarkable! The effect on my 1962 NOS Siemens E88CC(6922) valves has been remarkable! The CD playing (Handel's La Resurrectione) really DOES sound like a live performance! I can't write further since I have to go back to listen to the music. God knows when I will be able to persuade myself to go to bed!"
Rob Cherry, San Clemente, California
"I'll be. Tonight, for the first time, when I flipped the toggle switch on the Manleys there was no microphonic noise as there has always been in the past. Perhaps, bass was a bit more focused and with, again perhaps, somewhat better tone. Interesting."
John Chleapas, U.S.
"I got these to use in my CJ Premier 4, and my modified Dynaco ST-70. Both amps are using Mullard EL34 tubes. After some careful listening I must say these things really work. Unlike the soft rubber types these are very well made and will not melt on my expensive tubes. The sound coming from my speakers is much better. The voices are more clear, and there is more 'detail' in the music I am listening to. I was not expecting so large an improvement for such short money to be honest.
"I have tried all sorts of various tube damping devices, including the silicone o-rings. Really no contest. The Herbie works far better than anything I have ever tried."
Larry Welsh, New York
"Thanks for the great service, got 'em today. Frankly, I'm astounded at the difference they make.
"I'm running a Golden Tube Audio SE MkII with Mullard GZ34, KR 300BXLS's, Mullard 6CA7's and RCA red base 5691's, all of which are reputed to be among the more non-microphonic of their types. But, frankly, I'm blown away. I only play favorites when comparing tweaks, in this case Randy Newman's 'Faust' CD. Instantly, there was a huge improvement in soundstage and imaging. Detail is vastly improved and a slight 'tizziness' on top is totally gone. The sound is more mellow and laid-back than I remember, but I guess that's the point. At the same time, I've gained an octave of 'music' both top and bottom. Additionally, the limits of my not-yet-fully-tweaked Hammer Dynamics Super 12's (which I built) have been revealed for the first time.
"I also played a Brubeck LP, 'Time Changes,' on my analog setup and feel that I've finally almost reached audio nirvana!"
Michael Veit, Munich, Germany
"After I installed the tube dampers, I couldn't believe the difference. I had excessive microphonic problems with the line and phono stage. I have a Beck RV1 preamp."
Steve Hoffman, West Hills, California
"INSTANT MO' BETTER!!! My VAC 300B amp (VAC 70/70) sounds instantly less wobbly, less microphonic, tighter bass, better everything."
The Kipnis Studio Standard: Amazing world-class cinema is now equipped with four hundred and eighty UltraSonic Vacuum Tube Damping Instruments! The sound system uses thirty MacIntosh MC-2102 amplifiers with one hundred twenty 12AX7, one hundred twenty 12AU7, and two hundred forty KT88 tubes.
