Polygonhell, Agree there are a variety of approaches to use the same given tube set. Thank you for sharing this insight.
Well, you piqued my curiosity. So, I plugged my ZMF Aeolus into my Quicksilver HPA and then back into my favorite amp, Ray Samuels Audio Emmeline II The Raptor. And, I think you may be onto something. There was a sensation of being very smooth and relaxing with Aeolus on the Quicksilver. I will have to play around with this combination some more.
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Curious your thoughts about playing with Aelous’s pads. For me the perforated suede have a terrific musical flow with great bass authority and the music sounded more melodic. The Universe pad had greater focus and slightly more forward as compared to the Perf Suede.
Both pads were excellent and very enjoyable with the QuickSilver.
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Universal Perforated Lambskin didn’t sit well with me so got rid of them. After experimenting with velour pads, ZMF Aeolus were much improved. However, Universal Perforated Suede are what I use exclusively with Aeolus as they are cups of perfection. These pads further augment the common relaxed motif of the Aeolus and Quicksilver. So, all of my Aeolus listening with any amplifier, including Quicksilver, are with Universal Perforated Suede. Relaxed and smooth.
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Update;
I had purchased my Quicksilver used, which did not include JJ EL84 tubes. From what I understand, many had received the JJ EL84 tubes as stock from the factory. I on the other hand had been using a pair of Tung Sol EL84 for the first eight months of using my Quicksilver. It sounded good. However, it never blew me away. Hence, my less than enthusiastic reactions in this thread. So, I would like to amend past comments to state that the Quicksilver does sound stunningly musical with ZMF Aeolus. Also, in other places I have stated that the Quicksilver was not up to the task of driving HiFiMan HE6SE v2. That was only the case when using Tung Sol EL84.
Fast forward to the past two months I have been tube rolling a bunch of EL84 tubes and a few 12AX7 and 12AT7 tubes. It did not take long for me to place the Quicksilver HPA as my favorite amplifier BY A LONG SHOT. And I am happy to report that with every single EL84 tube that I have tried since the Tung Sol EL84, there has never been a problem with the Quicksilver powering HiFiMan HE6SE v2 to astounding levels of performance. In fact, I have never heard HiFiMan HE6SE v2 sound this good.
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I do have some Russian Reflector EL84 coming in soon. But, I think I may have already settled on my final favorite tube combinations.
My favorite tube combination so far is:
Genalec Golden Lion EL84 in the rear sockets
Psvane 12AX7-S Art Series in the front sockets
Runner up combination so far:
JJ EL84 in the rear sockets
Mullard 12AT7 in the front sockets
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Nice battle station setup! You running your Quicksilvers in dual-mono? 
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Looks like one for each Bifrost (so, does that make it Quad-Frost? 
).
Nice setup for sure.
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Got home late from work tonight to Reflector EL84 Soviet tubes. Too tired to stay awake for critical listening. However, after a late dinner, I popped them in my tube tester and I gave them a good bill of health. Then off to the Quicksilver for a very brief a/b initial listening comparison. Reflector EL84/Mullard 12AT7 a/b against Genalec Golden Lion EL84 /Psvane 12AX7-S. Sounded nice and a fairly competitive match. I am finding the Reflectors to be decent performers. However, I am not awake enough to listen anymore as I keep nodding off. Off to bed to get some zzz…
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