I second what Rajiv mentions regarding the differences that come with changing the tubes as such. In my Lyrita system, I have made the same changes. Personally, the sq of the Chinese tubes is not to my liking. Perhaps, it is more of a systems synergy aspect. Also, from a demand-supply standpoint, going with Russian tubes as stock makes sense. One can always experiment with tube rolling at a later stage.Hi,
I agree with Viren that changing from the Chinese 2A3C tubes to the RCA 2A3 tubes will be a big improvement. While the Chinese tubes are among the better new production 2A3 tubes they do have a glassy sounding top end. Another less expensive way to get the sound you are after is to change the rectifier tube in the 2A3 amp from the Russian 5U4c to a RCA 5V4G or Brimar 5V4G. The Russian rectifier is a very good tube and is a good match when used with warm euphonic tubes like ecc83, 6SL7 etc .
I am not sure if your DHT pre can take the 5V4/GZ34/5Z4 type rectifiers , some of the Lyrita DHT preamps use the 6X4 type rectifier. If it can try experimenting with the different rectifiers.
Regards
Rajiv
On the other point, I highly recommend you looking at the Monarchy DACs. This is only if you want to go down the pre-owned route. I have acquired one a few months ago. It is a mind-boggling DAC. There is a thread on the same under the DAC subsection. I will post my detailed impressions sometime soon.