tube CD player for tube integrated amp?

Also check out the Cal Labs Alpha/delta combo.

Hi Cincy bob: have you rolled NOS in your Doge 6? I am new to tube electronic, thus have no idea what NOS tube is and am wondering if Doge tubes need bias tuning.

www.high-endaudio.com had a shootout in Dec 2007 where Doge 6 (with NOS tubes) is highly comparable to players like Reimyo DAP777/transport combo, Electrocompaniet UP SE, AMR CD 77, Accuphase DP77, but being the best "value" ie lowest price.

Hi Saki70: thanks for suggesting Granite 657.
The 4 players in my original post vary in prices from US$700 to $1500 (new). I could go higher with compelling choices.

Prologue II is said to be auto-biasing, thus I will consider rolling 12ax7 tube after my set is fully mature/breakin.

Ez ear, to date, I have not been too creative with the tubes in my Doge 6 CD players. You might be aware that Pacific Valve has a decent stock of tubes - both new reissue tubes and NOS tubes. The staff at Pacific Valve has experimented with various tubes in the Doge 6 CDP, so I trusted them to recommend the upgraded tube complement. You can check my virtual system threads for the specifics, but my recollection is that they replaced the four 12AX7s with Tong-Sols and the pair of 12AT7s with 1987 JAN Phillips tubes. The cost of the six upgrade tubes was modest (less than $100), and the sound is excellent. So I have not, personally, gone any further to experiment with alternative tubes.

As an aside, I would advise caution in putting any faith in the high-endaudio.com shootout findings. To put it mildly, there is a lot of controversy swirling around about that shootout. You can read all the dirty laundry over at the Asylum if you are interested.

Nonetheless, the Doge 6 is really an unbelievable value. When you see the build quality of this unit and hear the level of performance, you will be impressed.

By the way, as good as the Doge 6 is, it really is not in the same league as the AMR CD-77, which IMO is one of the very best SOTA digital sources currently available, regardless of price.

Try the Lector 7t. It is spectacular.

Thanks for the recommendations thus far.

I still have a lot of reading to do before deciding. In particular, I am unsure about "synergy" between tube amp and tube vs. SS CDP. Of course my easy ear will tell me but where to begin is the question.

The fun is on.