4 months on from owning the red october and experimenting with different tubes, dacs and headphones, I thought I would talk a bit about it.
Gear:
1266TC
Susvara
Utopia
Arya
Red october
WA33 JPS elite
Holo may KTE
Chord Dave and M-scaler
AQ niagara 5000
This is hands down my favourite amp and the most impressive amp I’ve ever heard. It’s honestly very hard to put into words how this thing sounds and even finding any negatives of it. I’m not a reviewer and describing audio gear in great detail doesnt come easy to me but i will try talk about my experience. Even 4 months after owning it now, everytime I sit down with this thing I’m totally blown away and in awe of it.
First of all. My absolute favorite headphone to pair with the red october is the abyss 1266TC. This headphone pairs so damn well on tubes and truly is the best way to hear the 1266TC and I use it the most on the red october. One of the main complaints of the 1266TC is the recessed midrange. With this amp, you won’t have that problem 
I also own susvara and utopia and rotate them regularly and both also sound very impressive on the red october. Some other headphones I’ve tried on this amp are the lcd4, lcd5, diana phi and diana TC. I have yet to find a headphone that doesn’t synergize well with this amp.
Regarding dacs to pair with the red october, I own a chord dave and m-scaler along with a holo may KTE. The reason why I have these 2 dacs is they sound so different to each other. The May leans to sounding more analogue, is slightly laid back, really smooth with amazing tonal density and overall just more natural. The dave is more vibrant and in your face with more resolution but also more fatiguing so careful matching is needed. After trying both dacs back and forth for months on end my personal preference is the holo may KTE. The combination with the red October just sounds ridiculously analogue and extremely smooth with great tonal density and weight and is overall more natural.
The red october sounds absolutely huge as long as your pair it with the right gear. The holo may has a massive soundstage as well as the 1266tc so when you pair all 3 together the end result is a absolutely massive soundtage in width and depth.
Regarding tubes. The Red october comes with gold lion 300B’s, a JJ 5571 and new production mullard GZ34 rectifiers. All of this combined, It’s very clear to me why Justin chose these tubes, it is the smoothest and least fatiguing I’ve heard the red october.
If the smoothness is too much you can roll the 12ax7 tube which honestly makes a much bigger difference than I would of ever imagined. Something like a telefunken 12ax7 or A sylvania 12ax7 black plate will make the amp lean towards being a bit more neutral with slightly less smoothness but you gain a more punchy sound.
I also own elrog 300Bs which I switch in every so often. The elrogs add absolutely crazy dynamics to the Red October along with some serious bass and imaging and speed. It is definitely a more analytical sound compared to the gold lion’s and you lose some richness and smooothness for sure.
I also own a WA33 JPS elite tube amp which is a seriously impressive amp but in my opinion the red october is pretty much better at nearly everything and is 2/3 of the cost. When you listen to a wa33 it sounds like a hybrid tube amp to me. It has the speed and imaging of a solid state amp but also the rounded off edges and tube spaciousness and smoothness. In my opinion the wa33 has more pinpoint accurate sharper imaging along with speed and transients but the red october beats it in every single other aspect. The Red october sounds way more tubier, much more open sounding, better midrange, richer, bigger soundstage (both depth and width), better tonal density, better timbre, more natural and alot more smoother and just overall more analogue than the wa33.
If I had to sum up the red october in one word it would be ‘euphoric’. This amp has the best midrange i’ve heard from any amp, it really is a midrange monster and has such an incredible musicality to it, it makes you feel the music with more emotion more than any other piece of gear I’ve come across. When you listen to this amp you forget about listening to your gear and analysing music and just end up compleley absorbed in the music.
I really hope more people can experience this amp and I’m hoping it gets alot more exposure at canjam this weekend.
