SuperBAF Cheap Tube Amp Guide ~$1200 or less

Discussion in 'Headphone Amplifiers and Combo (DAC/Amp) Units' started by purr1n, Sep 13, 2016.

  1. bazelio

    bazelio Friend

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    T3 isn't available as DIY anymore. This is noted earlier in the thread. You can order a pre-built maxed out T3 from beezar.
     
  2. Skyline

    Skyline Double-blindly done with this hobby

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    Alright, Marv. You're officially off my Christmas card list :p

    Really, I think the right pairing is extremely important. Tubes, settings, AND headphones.

    With the HE-500, it's magic.

    With the HD650, I could list 10 other amps I'd rather use. The HD650 performance can be adequate/improved with the right tube, but with the wrong tube I'd describe it pretty much as Marv did above.
     
  3. zerodeefex

    zerodeefex SBAF's Imelda Marcos

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    It's no longer under $1200 then. This rec should be for the mid priced amp section.
     
  4. swamp

    swamp Acquaintance

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    I skimmed through and here are the impressions from various posters on the Monoprice tube hybrid speaker amp:

     
  5. bazelio

    bazelio Friend

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    Yeah that's true. Assembly costs look like they push it over the $1200 limit. In terms of bang for the buck, I'd probably recommend going with Cinemags, output CCS boards, and regular Solen coupling caps to get the cost down to $1225. The output CCS boards might be the most significant upgrade of them all, actually. It was a huge leap forward in dynamics.
     
    Last edited: Sep 14, 2016
  6. TRex

    TRex Almost "Made"

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    Whoa... Over $1200! It's just a bit under EC BW. Mjojo 2 seems to offer better value. Thanks!
     
  7. Jh4db536

    Jh4db536 Friend

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    DIY, the T3 maxed was like $950 bucks. Prebuilt, they can still be ordered in any configuration to meet your price point with maxed out being around $1,350. As Baz mentioned above, i suspect (untested hypothesis) the parafeed caps can be skipped for default Solens (Mundorfs might not be necessary after the output CCS upgrades). you could always upgrade later to something possibly even more exotic than "maxed" i.e. Rikens and other boutqiue parts. The other nice thing is, the default tubes will be good enough for most people.
     
    Last edited: Sep 14, 2016
  8. thegunner100

    thegunner100 Hentai Master Chief

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    Where does the Elise Christmas lights thing come from? Link/pic?
     
  9. Ferrum

    Ferrum Acquaintance

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    Thanks for your effort.

    cheers
    Ferrum
     
  10. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Where do you think?

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    A few Head-Fi'ers had a shit-fit when I said this could be a bad idea if you didn't know exactly what you where doing. Or at the very least, ask the manufacturer on the suitability of certain tubes and max current for the filament heaters. I guess no one bothered to to this: ask the manufacturer. Evidently one of the guys later blew a channel. Probably a filament heater. This guy was like "Oh crap, I need to hide this so I can get warranty service." He lucked out as he had the amp repaired for free by the manufacturer out of goodwill.
     
    Last edited: Sep 14, 2016
  11. TRex

    TRex Almost "Made"

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    If you went to North California meet-up, you'd see the biggest Elise X-mas tree. Even taller then above photos. ;)

    (Will I get banned over there if I post a photo here?)
     
  12. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Please post a photo.
     
  13. TRex

    TRex Almost "Made"

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    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    I had chance to listen to it for very short (1 song) time. From quick impression, I prefer Gungnir Multibit/Mojojo 2 combo (the Elise shared a table with Schiit). To be fair, I didn't pay attention what DAC he used to feed the Elise.

    Edit: I don't know the intention of the owner. The Elise sounded too smooth and lacking dynamic for my taste compared to Gungnir Multibit/Mojojo, thus I like the Schiit combo more. From my faded memory, the Elise has a bit larger soundstage (not airiness though).
     
    Last edited: Sep 14, 2016
  14. thegunner100

    thegunner100 Hentai Master Chief

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    LOL. We need a separate thread for Elise Christmas trees.
     
  15. Hands

    Hands Overzealous Auto Flusher - Measurbator

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    WTF, are they using different tubes in the front?

    I can't imagine any tube rolling shenanigans fixing what I considered the major flaws of the Elise. Namely lack of low-end extension and dynamics. I think some would be fine with that, but I really hate weak sounding gear.
     
  16. ButtUglyJeff

    ButtUglyJeff Stunningly beautiful IRL

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    This thread didn't need those. Stupid is as stupid does....
     
  17. ButtUglyJeff

    ButtUglyJeff Stunningly beautiful IRL

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    Bah, you have no idea. There was one guy convinced his "Christmas Tree" would hang with a ZDS, and would prove it at a Head-Fi meet. He mysteriously had a short out just before the date, and refused to bring it up in the thread, as he didn't want to cast a bad light on the Elise. The Amp cults have to stop...
     
  18. TRex

    TRex Almost "Made"

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    Haha. Truthfully I listened the Elise just a few minutes because I wasn't impressed. But anyway, there is an advantage of having x-mas tree: people took photo of it every 5 minutes. OK, seriously i don't understand spending lots on tubes - more than the amp itself - to "refine" the sound.
     
  19. schiit

    schiit SchiitHead

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    The christmas trees look like a great way to burn out a transformer heater winding, or blow up a heater power supply, if it's regulated.

    Here's the thing: tube amps are (usually) designed for a specific tube complement. These specific tubes require a specific amount of current to run their heaters (the things that light up, and--technically--the things that create the electron cloud that make tubes work). Some tubes only need 300mA or so of current to run, others need 2.5A. Some need more, some need less. The point is, it varies.

    And, if you plug in a 2.5A heater current tube into an amp designed for a 300mA tube, you're gonna probably have a bad day, like this:

    1. The heater winding overheats, transformer smells bad/gets hot, and transformer eventually fails.
    2. For a DC regulated heater based on common IC regulators, the regulator senses the overcurrent condition and shuts down.
    3. For a discrete DC regulated heater, the output devices cook themselves and die.

    Echoing others that you should ask the manufacturer what heater current range the amp can support, if it's not clearly specified.
     
  20. Gravity

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    What about ECP DSHA-1?
     

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