Using xDuoo TA-66 or TA-26S Tube Amp for He400i

[omeryasin]

Is it a good idea to buy xDuoo TA 66 or TA 26S Tube Amp for He400i.
I read that for Tube Amps we need High Impedance headphones
Also heard that Tube Amps don't work great with Planars

 

[archerious]

You shouldn’t use a tube amp, and if you choose to it would probably not drive low impedance planar headphones well. You may hear static, hiss, and other distortion.

Tube amps are most commonly paired with high impedance headphones such as HD650, DT880, etc.

I personally would recommend you simply EQ your headphones bass and treble up a few DB. It’ll give a similar effect to OTL amps like Bottlehead Crack.

 

[Snoopy]

Im using a Cayin HA-2A with both my planar Headphones (Meze Liric and Aeon 2 noire) and I have absolutely no problems with static , hiss or distortion.

Also the 1 watt tube amp drives both headphones equally as loud as my previous SMSL SP400 and Singxer SA1..

 

[olds1959special]

I like my Xduoo TA-84 OTL with Beyerdynamic DT-880 600 ohm headphones

 

[DVDdoug]

I don't know anything about those particular amps, but it's 2025 and tubes are dumb!

You can make a good tube amp, but yes, tubes are "naturally" high impedance so to make a power amp (for speakers) you need an audio output transformer. That adds to the already-higher cost. You might need a transformer to get good performance with low impedance headphones too. And since tubes have a heater and don't work cold, they are energy inefficient.

Tubes are also high-voltage so driving 300 or 600 Ohm headphones should be no problem. I assume that's why some vintage headphones are higher impedance. But it's still easier & cheaper with solid state.

MacIntosh has made excellent tube power amps since the tube days and they still do but they are crazy-expensive. They've always been "high end" but they may not have been "overpriced" in the old days, when all amps were made with tubes and most audio equipment didn't perform as well.

An low-power amplifier chip that can drive speakers or headphones (with high quality) only costs a couple of dollars, and you have to add a few resistors & capacitors. The active electronics costs very little. If you buy a (solid state) headphone amp, or DAC/headphone amp, most of the cost goes to the case, power supply, controls & switches, connectors, etc. And since its a low-volume specialty item, the per-unit marketing, distribution, and other overhead costs are higher than for a receiver or TV.

You can buy a power amp for less than one dollar per watt. A headphone amp is a LOT easier to build. Of course a one-watt headphone amp will cost more than a dollar, but the "little amplifier" shouldn't contribute much to the cost.

 

[olds1959special]

I don't know anything about those particular amps, but it's 2025 and tubes are dumb!

You can make a good tube amp, but yes, tubes are "naturally" high impedance so to make a power amp (for speakers) you need an audio output transformer. That adds to the already-higher cost. You might need a transformer to get good performance with low impedance headphones too. And since tubes have a heater and don't work cold, they are energy inefficient.

Tubes are also high-voltage so driving 300 or 600 Ohm headphones should be no problem. I assume that's why some vintage headphones are higher impedance. But it's still easier & cheaper with solid state.

MacIntosh has made excellent tube power amps since the tube days and they still do but they are crazy-expensive. They've always been "high end" but they may not have been "overpriced" in the old days, when all amps were made with tubes and most audio equipment didn't perform as well.

An low-power amplifier chip that can drive speakers or headphones (with high quality) only costs a couple of dollars, and you have to add a few resistors & capacitors. The active electronics costs very little. If you buy a (solid state) headphone amp, or DAC/headphone amp, most of the cost goes to the case, power supply, controls & switches, connectors, etc. And since its a low-volume specialty item, the per-unit marketing, distribution, and other overhead costs are higher than for a receiver or TV.

You can buy a power amp for less than one dollar per watt. A headphone amp is a LOT easier to build. Of course a one-watt headphone amp will cost more than a dollar, but the "little amplifier" shouldn't contribute much to the cost.

I have two home headphone setups. I like my tube headphone amp (it uses a built in DAC) specifically with the DT-880 600 ohm headphones. Together the sound is probably more enjoyable than using my solid state THX AAA 789 with Sennheiser HD650 balanced. It has distortion but it's a "fun" sound with enough clarity, not as "sterile" as the THX AAA 789 setup. My TA-84 is the only product I use currently that uses tubes, and it's pretty bad as a pre-amp and not as good when using an external DAC with it, but as a pure headphone amp for high impedance headphones utilizing the built-in DAC it sounds good. This is supposed to be the best product made by Xduoo according to what I read.

 

[olds1959special]

I don't know anything about those particular amps, but it's 2025 and tubes are dumb!

You can make a good tube amp, but yes, tubes are "naturally" high impedance so to make a power amp (for speakers) you need an audio output transformer. That adds to the already-higher cost. You might need a transformer to get good performance with low impedance headphones too. And since tubes have a heater and don't work cold, they are energy inefficient.

Tubes are also high-voltage so driving 300 or 600 Ohm headphones should be no problem. I assume that's why some vintage headphones are higher impedance. But it's still easier & cheaper with solid state.

MacIntosh has made excellent tube power amps since the tube days and they still do but they are crazy-expensive. They've always been "high end" but they may not have been "overpriced" in the old days, when all amps were made with tubes and most audio equipment didn't perform as well.

An low-power amplifier chip that can drive speakers or headphones (with high quality) only costs a couple of dollars, and you have to add a few resistors & capacitors. The active electronics costs very little. If you buy a (solid state) headphone amp, or DAC/headphone amp, most of the cost goes to the case, power supply, controls & switches, connectors, etc. And since its a low-volume specialty item, the per-unit marketing, distribution, and other overhead costs are higher than for a receiver or TV.

You can buy a power amp for less than one dollar per watt. A headphone amp is a LOT easier to build. Of course a one-watt headphone amp will cost more than a dollar, but the "little amplifier" shouldn't contribute much to the cost.

Today I am preferring my solid state headphone amp, but I still think the TA-84 sounds pretty good despite using tubes.

 

[archerious]

I have two home headphone setups. I like my tube headphone amp (it uses a built in DAC) specifically with the DT-880 600 ohm headphones. Together the sound is probably more enjoyable than using my solid state THX AAA 789 with Sennheiser HD650 balanced. It has distortion but it's a "fun" sound with enough clarity, not as "sterile" as the THX AAA 789 setup. My TA-84 is the only product I use currently that uses tubes, and it's pretty bad as a pre-amp and not as good when using an external DAC with it, but as a pure headphone amp for high impedance headphones utilizing the built-in DAC it sounds good. This is supposed to be the best product made by Xduoo according to what I read.

Is there a reason you don't EQ your headphones when using a solid-state amplifier? Amir's review of the Bottlehead Crack amp revealed that the amp's high impedance and distortion increase bass with the specific headphones he tested.

You could achieve a similar sound with an EQ and save money on heating costs (like your AC bill). Honestly, using an EQ would be less wasteful than owning multiple amps and having to replace tubes.

If it's purely aesthetics, I get it. They do look nice, but the cost and headache are insane to me and fall under audiofool territory.

 

[olds1959special]

Is there a reason you don't EQ your headphones when using a solid-state amplifier? Amir's review of the Bottlehead Crack amp revealed that the amp's high impedance and distortion increase bass with the specific headphones he tested.

You could achieve a similar sound with an EQ and save money on heating costs (like your AC bill). Honestly, using an EQ would be less wasteful than owning multiple amps and having to replace tubes.

If it's purely aesthetics, I get it. They do look nice, but the cost and headache are insane to me and fall under audiofool territory.

I'm trying this now. The reduce bass setting in Apple Music EQ may be an improvement, but it seems I can just get accustomed to the bass and it's fine without EQ.

 

[olds1959special]

I don't know anything about those particular amps, but it's 2025 and tubes are dumb!

You can make a good tube amp, but yes, tubes are "naturally" high impedance so to make a power amp (for speakers) you need an audio output transformer. That adds to the already-higher cost. You might need a transformer to get good performance with low impedance headphones too. And since tubes have a heater and don't work cold, they are energy inefficient.

Tubes are also high-voltage so driving 300 or 600 Ohm headphones should be no problem. I assume that's why some vintage headphones are higher impedance. But it's still easier & cheaper with solid state.

MacIntosh has made excellent tube power amps since the tube days and they still do but they are crazy-expensive. They've always been "high end" but they may not have been "overpriced" in the old days, when all amps were made with tubes and most audio equipment didn't perform as well.

An low-power amplifier chip that can drive speakers or headphones (with high quality) only costs a couple of dollars, and you have to add a few resistors & capacitors. The active electronics costs very little. If you buy a (solid state) headphone amp, or DAC/headphone amp, most of the cost goes to the case, power supply, controls & switches, connectors, etc. And since its a low-volume specialty item, the per-unit marketing, distribution, and other overhead costs are higher than for a receiver or TV.

You can buy a power amp for less than one dollar per watt. A headphone amp is a LOT easier to build. Of course a one-watt headphone amp will cost more than a dollar, but the "little amplifier" shouldn't contribute much to the cost.

Because of posts like these and my subjective listening experiences I have finally decided to let go of my last tube amp. I am liking my solid state setup instead.

 

[Snoopy]

I don't know anything about those particular amps, but it's 2025 and tubes are dumb!

You can make a good tube amp, but yes, tubes are "naturally" high impedance so to make a power amp (for speakers) you need an audio output transformer. That adds to the already-higher cost. You might need a transformer to get good performance with low impedance headphones too. And since tubes have a heater and don't work cold, they are energy inefficient.

Tubes are also high-voltage so driving 300 or 600 Ohm headphones should be no problem. I assume that's why some vintage headphones are higher impedance. But it's still easier & cheaper with solid state.

MacIntosh has made excellent tube power amps since the tube days and they still do but they are crazy-expensive. They've always been "high end" but they may not have been "overpriced" in the old days, when all amps were made with tubes and most audio equipment didn't perform as well.

An low-power amplifier chip that can drive speakers or headphones (with high quality) only costs a couple of dollars, and you have to add a few resistors & capacitors. The active electronics costs very little. If you buy a (solid state) headphone amp, or DAC/headphone amp, most of the cost goes to the case, power supply, controls & switches, connectors, etc. And since its a low-volume specialty item, the per-unit marketing, distribution, and other overhead costs are higher than for a receiver or TV.

You can buy a power amp for less than one dollar per watt. A headphone amp is a LOT easier to build. Of course a one-watt headphone amp will cost more than a dollar, but the "little amplifier" shouldn't contribute much to the cost.

While this is all true.. ASR is generally turning this hobby into a bang for your buck thing.
Buy as cheap as possible and be done with it?
But where’s the fun in that ?

I don’t really have a preference in tubes or solidstate or digital vs Analog. As long as it sounds good , looks nice and has some craftsmanship and legacy behind it, I don’t mind spending some money on that

I definitely wouldn’t enjoy all this music stuff as much with only a Wiim streamer and some fosi / topping gear .

And if Tube Gear , a R2R dac or a turntable delivers good results I spend money on it .

Fosi or whoever could probably make a 1:1 luxman amplifier clone for 1/10th of the price.. still wouldn’t have a 100 years history behind it.

 

[olds1959special]

Is there a reason you don't EQ your headphones when using a solid-state amplifier? Amir's review of the Bottlehead Crack amp revealed that the amp's high impedance and distortion increase bass with the specific headphones he tested.

You could achieve a similar sound with an EQ and save money on heating costs (like your AC bill). Honestly, using an EQ would be less wasteful than owning multiple amps and having to replace tubes.

If it's purely aesthetics, I get it. They do look nice, but the cost and headache are insane to me and fall under audiofool territory.

I am trying SoundSource with AUNBandEQ and entered these settings for my HD650's:

sounds less bloated now

 

[olds1959special]

I sold my TA-84 OTL tube headphone amp/DAC! No more tubes for me. I am enjoying my HD650's with Harmon target EQ.