Tube Amp

[JediMa]

I’ve always been curious about tube amps and the whole “vintage tube sound” experience.

Years ago I briefly tried a DarkVoice 336SE, but I honestly wasn’t impressed — the build quality felt pretty rough and it kind of turned me off from tubes. Lately though I’ve been thinking about giving tubes another chance, mostly out of curiosity and to enjoy the different presentation.

I’m not looking to spend a lot right now — $300 is a hard limit — and this would mainly be about experiencing tube sound rather than chasing endgame gear.

Some options I’ve been looking at:

• xDuoo MT-604 (balanced hybrid with 4 tubes)
• xDuoo TA-66 (OTL tube amp)
• Fosi GR70
• Douk Audio U10

I’m aware many of these are hybrid tube amps, so the tube effect may be more subtle compared to a full OTL design.

For context, I’m mainly interested in:

• warm / musical presentation
• slightly smoother treble
• that “tube character” people talk about

Questions for people who have experience with these:

1. Are any of these actually worth trying, or are they mostly gimmicky tube flavor?
2. Is the TA-66 a noticeable step closer to a real tube experience vs hybrids like the MT-604?
3. Are there better tube headphone amps under $300 I should consider?

 

[solderdude]

I’ve always been curious about tube amps and the whole “vintage tube sound” experience.

Years ago I briefly tried a DarkVoice 336SE, but I honestly wasn’t impressed — the build quality felt pretty rough and it kind of turned me off from tubes. Lately though I’ve been thinking about giving tubes another chance, mostly out of curiosity and to enjoy the different presentation.

I’m not looking to spend a lot right now — $300 is a hard limit — and this would mainly be about experiencing tube sound rather than chasing endgame gear.

Some options I’ve been looking at:

• xDuoo MT-604 (balanced hybrid with 4 tubes)
• xDuoo TA-66 (OTL tube amp)
• Fosi GR70
• Douk Audio U10

I’m aware many of these are hybrid tube amps, so the tube effect may be more subtle compared to a full OTL design.

For context, I’m mainly interested in:

• warm / musical presentation

This is wishful thinking and mostly not caused by the tubes but the rather high output resistance of tube (speaker) amps.

• slightly smoother treble

You might mean ... rolled off treble ?

• that “tube character” people talk about

It does not exist in reality BUT people experience it .... it is known why this is so,

Questions for people who have experience with these:

1. Are any of these actually worth trying, or are they mostly gimmicky tube flavor?

Gimmick, tube distortion in those devices (I have a few designs myself) is usually higher than real tube amps for technical reasons.
They exist because there is a demand for it.

1. Is the TA-66 a noticeable step closer to a real tube experience vs hybrids like the MT-604?

I have no idea...

1. Are there better tube headphone amps under $300 I should consider?

Of course there are but it is unethical to point you to them

When you pay for shipping I can send you a loaner.

 

[EeeGee]

TA-66. Period. Amazing value. Naf said.

 

[JeffS7444]

A decently designed hybrid amp is probably going to sound pretty much like any other decent amplifier. OTL amplifier performance may vary depending on which headphones you use (load sensitivity) but maybe that's the difference you seek. BTW, attempting to dial-in sonics by rolling tubes is pretty much a waste of time unless your tubes are faulty.

 

[heartlezz7]

TA-66 provides really good value out of the box.

 

[kazuviking]

It does not exist in reality BUT people experience it .... it is known why this is so,

Wouldn't that be the compression some tube amps do?

 

[MAB]

Wouldn't that be the compression some tube amps do?

Can you show us this?

In reality, tube amps don't seem to do what tube fans claim they do. They don't produce copious amounts of the 'good-sounding' distortion. They tend to produce small amounts of the allegedly bad-sounding types, and even less of the so-called good-sounding type, typically at levels below audibility. Like this Carver. They tend to have moderate output impedance FR dependencies, but again not really audible amounts of this, even the really bad ones like this Wavac is not going to be an improvement over flat electrical response, especially since electrically we can modify FR effectively. They are noisy, but not audible unless the wonder is one of the few with super high efficiency drivers.

Now compression!?! Are you getting confused with tube compressors?

In a headphone amp all of this makes even less sense.

 

[solderdude]

Wouldn't that be the compression some tube amps do?

If anything tube amps do not act as compressors but exhibit soft clipping nearing maximum output voltage swing (indicated by the distortion vs output level plot).
It is also quite design dependent.

What is known is that perception bias (knowing one is listening through 'magical' tubes) is one of the biggest reasons for experiencing 'tube goodness'.
For speaker amps and high output Z headphone amps there are also factual changes but these are speaker/headphone dependent.
This can not be simply be emulated (as is often suggested) by adding just 'tube alike harmonics' as there are more factors in play (soft clipping, power supply behavior, output resistance, bandwidth limiting).

A lot of tube amps are purposely designed to 'sound' different.
The effect will differ per speaker/headphone.
There are people that like it (and state it sounds 'better'), people that don't and people that don't care or don't even notice a difference (when not aware).

Mostly it is all about how they look as well.
Here is a great thread showing hundreds of tube amps (there are even 5 of my designs in there, I do not sell any though, I only designed the schematics)

Hoved-fi - Vis emne - Rør, hvis du tør

danmarks strste hovedtelefon forum

hoved-fi.dk

 

[Saponetto]

A lot of tube amps are purposely designed to 'sound' different.

Absolute truth.
I am quite indulgent about tubes, you know, had several OTL amps and currently stayed with my first one, the old LittleDot Mk.II as a sidekick of my A30Pro.
Tried other tube amps, but at the end of the day just stayed with it because it is barely indistinguishible respect on the A30 Pro, except of course for power availability.

 

[Redacted]

Easier and cheaper to to batch process media files to dial in a "tube sound", or if playing from a PC use a VST plug-in.