Riviera levante

[José luis]

hola, alguien tiene alguna experiencia con el integrado riviera levante y lo compararia con pass labs

 

[matakana]

hola, alguien tiene alguna experiencia con el integrado riviera levante y lo compararia con pass labs

Sablon Audio does, he purchased one last year.

 

[gian60]

I never listened Levante but had at home the smaller integrated and mono power amp to try and my friend bought pre and mono amp
Sound is very natural,and i think are better than Pass.
Need to check firt the power you need,if no power problem sure i suggest Levante

 

[plasmod3]

Indeed a very nice and natural sound those riverias. The apl preamp and the 100w monoamps

 

[Sablon Audio]

Some 12at7 tube rolling feedback for Levante owners





To cut to the chase, I could happily live with @50% of these tubes and the differences within this cohort were generally more stylistic than of substance. Some might be more preferable for classical music than say jazz or electronic, so there is an element of choosing according to your tastes / system needs. My notes in order of listening are:

Tungsram 1956 Tilburg - a high resolution energy monster. For users of either Taiko Extreme XDMS or my Sablon Evo cables, the magnitude of the gains in resolution over its predecessor are similar for the Tilburg compared to the ‘grail’ Philips. A rather high bar for the others I suspect.

GEC A2900 2 mica - quite a step backwards across the board and less energetic despite its reputation as being very dynamic. A moderate overall performance for me.

Siemens Papersa - seemingly relabelled from the Phillips factory in Buenos Aires. Very pleasant. Well-balanced (mid-hall / even frequency distribution) with a silky sweet presentation. A little less resolving and energetic than the Tungsram Tilburg. A good all-rounder does everything well and has nothing much wrong. A great starting point and you might be happy to stop rolling here.


‘Lorenz' ecc801 - Inverted commas as that’s how the tubes are labelled but were originally supplied in Valvo Hamburg 1961 boxes. I’m however told the internal structure is reminiscent of Brimar, so who knows. Fuller bodied and slightly mellifluous, giving some hitherto unnoticed information but sounds slightly slow and recessed. Suspect the latter aspect will ameliorate with more extended burn-in.

Valvo e180cc / 5965 1964 (green label Philips Heerlen?) sounds more linear and less voluptuous than the ‘Lorenz’ above. Objectively, it plays well from cold but will I feel benefit from more extensive playing time to become more enjoyable/soulful across all musical genres. Atm is more powerful than subtle, and better suited for electronic music. Less tonally saturated than my earlier production model, in the manner of later production tubes due to cost constraints from the emergence of transistor competition.

Valvo 6201 1966 blue 2 mica halo - a very positive immediate first impression consistent with its reputation as being the ‘special one’. Projects well with a full body yet remains open on hf extension. Good clarity but musically a bit slow / polite with some reluctance to unravel threads. I’m asking myself whether there might be a better sounding production year / version or is my system simply too revealing? Sometimes you see guys with cheap chi-fi dacs / amps writing reviews on rather esoteric valves and I wonder if they can properly assess the true capabilities.

TFK 5965 - 1981 Ulm - UnderwheLMing. Nothing worthwhile to report here.

RTC (Radio Technique France) 12at7wa foil getter - quite nice though soundstage is somewhat small and closed in. Dynamic range seems more limited, notes don’t jump as far or fast. Might evolve with burn in but, well, the other new tubes were rather more open from cold. Still a nice tube though and could work well for many.

GEC 5965 3 mica / black plate / dual support disc getter, all the King’s Horses etc and yet it still sucked. Dark, closed in and limited dynamic range.

Brimar 6060 Yellow - Quite open, clear and energetic. Tonally lighter and brighter than others here which rather surprised me. Agile with little inertia yet I switched off emotionally quite quickly. I suspect that body / weight will evolve with burn in and make it more complete.

Philips 6201 disc getter - middle of the pack performance wise and slightly fatiguing to listen to. Reasonably balanced but doesn’t have the dynamic range of the better options here. Competent rather than special. No Jose Mourinho.

TFK ecc801 - tbh I somewhat dreaded firing these up given my experience of the 5965 and this model’s reputation as the weakest of the TFK 80x range however it gives a fair middle of the pack performance. Is articulate and agile but possibly more competent than charming, given its neutrality. Balanced overall without any knockout qualities.

Sylvania 6201 black plates gold pins. The only US tube in my ensemble. Darker weightier, possibly less nuanced presentation but quite an enjoyable soulful listen. Substance has its virtues. Hangs onto the musical thread quite nicely, with notes starting / stopping quickly and holding onto my attention. A respectable performance.

 

[new2Krell]

Thanks SA. Sounds like there is only really one winner for you as far as your comments go, but with some reservations about improvements with some tubes after a longer burn in. Are you planning any further updates to these comments?
A surprise to me were your comments re the Yellow 6060, is quite the opposite of my experience. Just goes to show how different systems and ears can vary opinions.
Makes me think I should go back and listen to some of my other 12AU7's, to refresh my memory why I settled on the white 6060 all those years ago. Who knows it may even change my mind again
Great job though and interesting reading (for me at least!)

 

[Sablon Audio]

The Philips 5965 I was previously using, early model with pinched waist and D Foil getter.

 

[Sablon Audio]

Thanks SA. Sounds like there is only really one winner for you as far as your comments go, but with some reservations about improvements with some tubes after a longer burn in. Are you planning any further updates to these comments?
A surprise to me were your comments re the Yellow 6060, is quite the opposite of my experience. Just goes to show how different systems and ears can vary opinions.
Makes me think I should go back and listen to some of my other 12AU7's, to refresh my memory why I settled on the white 6060 all those years ago. Who knows it may even change my mind again
Great job though and interesting reading (for me at least!)

Well, like I said I could genuinely enjoy living with half of them however it is hard to replace the resolution of the Tungsram, once heard, and this is something I value for product development. That said, the Riviera has a special circuit / design which aims to correlate with human hearing rather than lab instruments so my preferences here might not be wholly representative in other contexts. I won’t however be spending more time on burn in / revisiting but will likely burrow deeper down the 1950s options; more handmade and more toxic materials ;-)

Technical overview - Riviera

An audio amplifier must reproduce a signal with the highest fidelity for the human ear, not for instruments.

www.rivieralabs.com

The Brimar 12au7 equivalent is 6067 btw, though I have often found e80cc to be a better sounding tube if your equipment can handle the extra current draw.

 

[rgmd11]

Just purchased today a pair of Mullard M8162 Gold Pin Valves to substitute the Russian Genalex in my Aqua La Scala,of which i am 100% sure will improve the SQ significantly, but keeping on thread I heard several headphone amps earlier this year at Headphoneauditions in Amsterdam, including the Riviera AIC-10 (balanced version) which was hands down the best by far, a truly class product which just gets everything right, maybe its the magic sauce in the special circuit design that correlates with the Brain as Mark previously mentioned,measurements/marketing certainly are not always the bencmark to concider when making a purchase, as I have found out over the years at great cost, hoping to make a Riviera purchase in the future.

 

[new2Krell]

Just purchased today a pair of Mullard M8162 Gold Pin Valves to substitute the Russian Genalex in my Aqua La Scala,of which i am 100% sure will improve the SQ significantly, but keeping on thread I heard several headphone amps earlier this year at Headphoneauditions in Amsterdam, including the Riviera AIC-10 (balanced version) which was hands down the best by far, a truly class product which just gets everything right, maybe its the magic sauce in the special circuit design that correlates with the Brain as Mark previously mentioned,measurements/marketing certainly are not always the bencmark to concider when making a purchase, as I have found out over the years at great cost, hoping to make a Riviera purchase in the future.

I agree totally with your comment re measurements, if it were down to that parameter alone valve amps would, generally, not get a look in and what a travesty that would be. Thank goodness it is all about music, ears and personal taste.

 

[iaxel]

I use the AIC-10 Bal as a headphones amp.
Works beautifully with the Hifiman Susvara.
I’m using the HP G73 tube, which sounds sublime - a highly recommended combination.

 

[dminches]

Well, like I said I could genuinely enjoy living with half of them however it is hard to replace the resolution of the Tungsram, once heard, and this is something I value for product development. That said, the Riviera has a special circuit / design which aims to correlate with human hearing rather than lab instruments so my preferences here might not be wholly representative in other contexts. I won’t however be spending more time on burn in / revisiting but will likely burrow deeper down the 1950s options; more handmade and more toxic materials ;-)

Technical overview - Riviera

An audio amplifier must reproduce a signal with the highest fidelity for the human ear, not for instruments.

www.rivieralabs.com

The Brimar 12au7 equivalent is 6067 btw, though I have often found e80cc to be a better sounding tube if your equipment can handle the extra current draw.

Can you post a picture of the Tungsram 1956 Tilburg?

 

[Sablon Audio]

Not a brilliant photo but you can make out the disc getter

 

[Sablon Audio]

The King is dead, long live the King!

1952 Tungsram ecc40, welded black plates and disc getter. Supposedly one of the best phase inverters available but also performs on a similar level to my top ecc82 and 6sn7 options with (despite) appropriate adapters.

 

[Sablon Audio]

Squeezing a bit more purity and refinement from the ECC40 with the TP adapters, courtesy of @takacs75

 

[orrman]

anyone know how do I get Levante to unity gain? volume pot on 12 (like AIC10) or set to max? anything else?

 

[Sablon Audio]

@orrman - i don’t personally know but wouldn’t be surprised if both models use the same volume pot. Best shoot an email to Silvio at the factory to confirm.