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Laconic Lab Night Blues Tube Transformer Coupled Amp

Discussion in 'Headphone Amplifiers and Combo (DAC/Amp) Units' started by purr1n, Jan 12, 2016.

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  1. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Many times it's tubes that are imbalanced. The transformers, if they are wound by hand could also be imbalanced. Would need to iron it down through process of elimination.
     
    purr1n, Aug 18, 2016
    #81
  2. philipmorgan

    philipmorgan Member of the month

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    Gonna try this stepped attenuator:

    IMG_9106.jpg

    Got it from some fly-by-night (literally: http://dsh.re/f302c) operation on eBay. Should be interesting. @Hands seems to like it...
     
    philipmorgan, Aug 18, 2016
    #82
  3. Hands

    Hands Overzealous Auto Flusher - Measurbator

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    The included tubes are part of the problem (confirmed by swapping them between channels), but there are spots on the pot that are much better than others, suggesting the pot is at least partially to blame as well.
     
    Hands, Aug 18, 2016
    #83
  4. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Pots don't usually have much of a problem once past the initial most counter clockwise position. Once you are 1/8 away going clockwise, you are in the safe zone were stuff is going to be well matched. Of course there are pots that can just be defective. Steppers can be a pain in the ass. Personally, I hate steppers. I'll take a decent pot over any stepper any day. Just wanted to throw in my two cents to put audio nervosa in its right place. Not saying don't try, but I rather not see a movement of hobbyists talking about the dramatic sound quality improvements of different kinds of pots at same scale of USB defuckifiers. Finally, you get what you pay for.
     
    purr1n, Aug 18, 2016
    #84
  5. Hands

    Hands Overzealous Auto Flusher - Measurbator

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    Could be a defective pot, since it exhibits channel matching issues back and forth across channels even at deafening levels. Kind of sticks out like a sore thumb on the loaner NBM even after tube swapping.

    I am not tied to steppers one way or the other, or any pot for that matter (my preference would probably be a well-matched carbon pot, as much as some will laugh at me and mention issues like noise), but I've had some fun lately swapping them out in a particular amp because it's new to me. I am surprised they make as much of a difference as they do, for better or worse, and regardless if anyone else agrees with my findings. I would still rather start with tubes, caps, or most anything else in most amps, but in some cases, like the Crack, it's almost low hanging fruit in a sense if you have the time, money, and audiophool insanity to dick around.
     
    Hands, Aug 18, 2016
    #85
  6. hifi01170

    hifi01170 Acquaintance

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    hifi01170, Aug 18, 2016
    #86
  7. philipmorgan

    philipmorgan Member of the month

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    A better attenuator/pot to address channel imbalance, maybe better wire, probably better signal caps. May play around with different tubes.
     
    philipmorgan, Aug 18, 2016
    #87
  8. AxelFusco

    AxelFusco New

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    Hi..i am a new user here. As per my knowledge there is one more problems with this amp in Europe, that is CE marking. All electronics devices must have CE certificate to be imported, used and sold in EU. The electronic devices, which don't have this certificate and be imported to EU, will be send back or destroyed.And I'm not sure amplifiers from Laconic Labs have that.

    pcba board
     
    Last edited: Nov 8, 2016
    AxelFusco, Sep 12, 2016
    #88
  9. t3hwx9

    t3hwx9 Acquaintance

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    @AxelFusco, as far as I know, rules aren't that strict in case of person-to-person-declared-as-gift transaction. As for legal export to EU by Laconic Lab themselves, yes, it's one of known drawbacks.

    PS: in the meantime, order 3 (Singapore) had been declined by Aviation Safety again. Refund sent. Will try to find less obvious way to deliver this package, but it can take time. Order 5 is on it's way to Estonia (ground shipping, at least there will be no problems with safety checks).
     
    t3hwx9, Sep 12, 2016
    #89
  10. perkele

    perkele Acquaintance

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    Highly interesting topic. I suppose HD800 could benefit from LNB's reported tropicality. might as well take the plunge if t3hwx9 still uses his smuggling skillzors.
     
    perkele, Sep 25, 2016
    #90
  11. WNovizar

    WNovizar Facebook Friend

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    @t3hwx9 are you still accepting orders?
     
    WNovizar, Oct 16, 2016
    #91
  12. t3hwx9

    t3hwx9 Acquaintance

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    @WNovizar, that depends on the destination.
    Currently I have 2 EU orders on hold. Possibly risk-free and suitable for ground shipping.
    As for Aircraft Carriers, there are still 2 refunds to get and 1 amplifier to deliver before I can handle any untested destination.
     
    t3hwx9, Oct 16, 2016
    #92
  13. WNovizar

    WNovizar Facebook Friend

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    IIRC you failed to ship this to Singapore correct? How about to Indonesia? I am interested in these tube amps....
     
    WNovizar, Oct 16, 2016
    #93
  14. t3hwx9

    t3hwx9 Acquaintance

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    Correct.
    According to the ticket search engines, there's a 42% chance that MOW-JKT flight will be routed trough "problematic" Domodedovo airport.
    If you're not in the hurry, I'll look further into possible options and will PM you sometime this month. If you're looking to get an amp really soon, I'll have to pass.
     
    t3hwx9, Oct 16, 2016
    #94
  15. WNovizar

    WNovizar Facebook Friend

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    No hurry. Just take your time and PM me whenever you are ready
     
    WNovizar, Oct 16, 2016
    #95
  16. IceUul

    IceUul Friend

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    I got this amp thanks to @t3hwx9

    I am living in EU, only 1000km from the place @t3hwx9 shipped the package and he used ground shipping. It is risk free but it took 2 weeks to ship it to me.
    Just to notice that from Australia and Canada cheapest airmail will come in 3 days.

    About amp... best amp for this price? - Absolutely!

    How does it compare to other amps?
    I compared it to Schiit Vali and Jotunheim, it will beat them both. It is better in every aspect than 100$ vali, same league with Jotunheim, but little
    better, almost same size soundstage. Jot has better bass and lows, NBM has mids and highs and to notice that Jotunheim has great value, it is better
    than most 1000-1500$ SS amps out there. I have compared jot to Sennheiser HDVA600 and Oppo HA-1 and there are no contest

    Compared it also with next level amps like Stratus, EHHA and EC 2A3 which are all in same league. Felt like it is 60-70% about them, but still
    looses almost in every aspect. Anyway... these amps are 10x times more expensive than NBM (execpt EHHA, which cost about 3x more)

    Also NBM will get much better if you have decent R2R dac connected to it, i recommend get at least Modi Multibit for it.
    I used 4 different R2R dacs and it will scale very good, so get good DAC!


    With EU prices: Jotunheim with inside DAC = 550€ or NBM + Moby = 550-600€?
    Winner is NBM + Moby, i am sure this combo will beat shit out of jotunheim!

    About Headphones? HD800, HD650, LFF Paradox Slants, LCD 2.2... whatever you connect into it, it will play well!
     
    IceUul, Oct 17, 2016
    #96
  17. Kattefjaes

    Kattefjaes Mostly Harmless

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    @tehwx9 - how hard do you think it'd be to get one of these into the UK? How much would it cost? I'm intrigued...
     
    Kattefjaes, Oct 17, 2016
    #97
  18. Hands

    Hands Overzealous Auto Flusher - Measurbator

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    The NBM and Vali 2 are really amazing budget buys, if you can get the former. If you can't get it but need a budget amp to get you by, consider Vali 2 w/ an EH 6CG7 tube.
     
    Hands, Oct 17, 2016
    #98
  19. Kattefjaes

    Kattefjaes Mostly Harmless

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    Funny you should say that, @Hands...
     
    Kattefjaes, Oct 17, 2016
    #99
  20. RKML0007

    RKML0007 Friend

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    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Look what we have here???

    Edit:

    Lunch BOX

    Universal tube headphone amplifier with a resistance switching. Laconic (Laconia) Lunch BOX HA-06 is to improve the model Laconic (Laconia) Lunch BOX HA-02T A new volume control ALFA Hi-End (Taiwan) klassaTeper knob turns smoothly and does not cause spurious distortion by increasing gromkosti.Dobavleno headphone impedance switching that makes it possible to use the amplifier Laconic Lunch BOX HA-06 with both headphones with a high (150-600 ohm) and low (32-100 ohms) impedance.

    Characteristics:
    The frequency range of 10-100000 Hz
    Input impedance 10 ohms (20 ohms)
    Output impedance 30 ohms
    The input level 0.25-2.0
    S / N Ratio -80 dB
    Number of outputs to headphone 1
    Distortion <0.5%
    Built-in power supply unit
    The output voltage of 2-5
    Full gain of 16 dB
    Power Consumption 15 W
    Input RCA Connectors
    Output connectors 6.3 mm jack
    Used lamps 6N3P, 2h6N24P
    Headphone Impedance
    - Low mode from 32 to 150 ohms
    - Hi mode from 150 to 600
    Available through the connector None
    Dimensions 160 x 65 x 130 mm
    Weight 1200 g




    PRICE 8890 rubles.


    BUY


    Additionally, you can purchase a set of selected lamps, a Beyerdynamic headphones, as well as interconnects.

    Ask for product
     
    Last edited: Oct 17, 2016
    RKML0007, Oct 17, 2016
    #100
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