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Amp Advise - Tubes

TCUDustoff

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Jan 8, 2025
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Howdy! First post. I've been a lurker for a while. I've got B&W 602s as my home theater setup, got the first pair in college and got the center channel and floor standers later to fill in the set, and had a full set of X-Can v2 (DAC, AMP, and buffer) I've used for years. Currently using X2HR's but I've had Grado's in the past. TLDR; I am in Canada with my wife for her two year medical fellowship and my X-Cans are in the US in storage. I desperately need something. Trying to figure out best option. Partial to tubes, but also know most of the stuff out there is crap and I'm better off with my dad's 70s Marantz gear. Stuff today is AI filtered garbage. For what it is worth, I am an engineer at NASA and I understand how 99.99% of audio today is filtered bullcrap that is meant for the tick-tock crowd. My wife, who uses a Mac and is a surgeon, is annoyed by my grumblings but I insist; does she use infeior implements for heart transplants? No! Anyways, I need something *ahem* stat. The friend of mine, long time, who sold me the X-Cans recoomended Schitt but I am not sold. What do folks reccomend today for $1000k USD? I am looking for a tube (I think) amp that can be hooked to a PC. Music style? Power Metal, mostly -- Nightwish, Powerwolf, Within Tempation, Ghost, ect... Looking for some punch, tube warmth, and ability to drive (evnetually) GRADO GS100X (or something similar...I like the sound). Thoughts? Its overwhelming loking at all the chineese crap.
 
Welcome:)
Lurking around ASR will have you know that most of us don’t look for sound quality in headphone amps. Chances are that whatever it is you’re getting will sound the exact same as 95% of what is available on the market today. Heck even most tube amps have become transparent these days and are indestinguishable from a solid state amplifier in a blind setting.
I would look through the different reviews on here and see what suits you, although I can’t remember if Amir ever has reviewed a tube amp positively.
 
Heck even most tube amps have become transparent these days and are indestinguishable from a solid state amplifier in a blind setting.
I would look through the different reviews on here and see what suits you, although I can’t remember if Amir ever has reviewed a tube amp positively.
You are right. A well-made tube amp these days (like the McIntosh) has an indistinguishable sound profile, making it hard to justify the need for one.
I recently did some analysis and measurements on the xDuoo MT-602/MT-604 headphone amplifiers and the results were the same.
 
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