Tube headphone amp

[Nathan chu]

Need tube amp for
Focal Clear
Sony ier awe
Budget Under US $800
Thx

 

[robertozappala]

www.megahertz.it

very good amp

 

[solderdude]

Buy one.. plenty to choose from.

 

[DVDdoug]

Here's the thing... A good (low-noise, low-distortion, flat frequency response) tube amp will sound identical to a good solid state amp. If an amp has a "tube sound" it's going to sound different from another tube amp with it's own tube sound so you'd need to listen to decide if it has the kind of distortion you want.

 

[egellings]

Yep, you need to try candidate amps with your particular headphones to be sure you get the sound you like. Change the 'phones,, and you may no longer like an amp you liked with other phones.

 

[Foulchet]

I’ve bought a Cayin HA-1A Mk2 and I am really happy. It does sound different even blindly, however it is not so big that it would sound « bad ». Measurements are available online (on a website called RA = referenceaudio ? Cannot remember).
The impedance matching knob adds the « tube sound » the more you set it high. Plus it is really beautiful.

 

[rex4539]

http://feliksaudio.pl/en/products.php

Feliks Audio Echo Mark II

 

[dfuller]

Need tube amp

Do you, though? Tube headphone amps are usually OTL style designs which means they have very high output impedance, and tubes in general are significantly higher noise than solid state devices (this is because tubes have shot noise generated by the electrons emitted from the cathode striking the plate, which obviously enough transistors don't).

No comment on distortion, that's its own thing.

 

[JJB70]

Audio equipment is a discretionary purchase, we want audio equipment, we don't need it

 

[Helicopter]

Schiit Lyr and Valhalla both look good. I am really anticipating the big expensive tube headphone amp they have in the works.

Here I have a Darkvoice 336SE and a Loxjie P20.

To my ears, the Loxjie is pretty transparent and a great value. I am guessing it is buffer + op amps, but I haven't looked into it. Amir said he had purchased ome for testing a while back. I am hopong he reviews it at some point.

The Darkvoice is wonky and I pretty much only use it with HD6XX and cheaper cans because it pops and zaps and cuts in and out on one channel and I am afraid it will fry something. It is a fun piece of gear. Nothing special with Clear, but really seems it bumps up bass on my high impedance cans. (HD800s and 6XX here.)