Birthday cash, buying first amp and DAC, $400 limit, need advice

[NoName]

I will refer you to these threads. I don’t really have anything I can say about it myself.

Chinese tube power/pre-amps, tube buffers

I am making a thread were people can share experiences with cheap chinese tube amps / pre-amps / buffers I am currently running a FX Audio tube 01 with GE JAN 5654W tubes, sounds warm and wide. The little 30 dollar device can add something to your system if used with good tubes. I thought about buying a better preamp, but decided to upgrade the FX Audio. I ordered a linear power supply for it and some new tubes - Sylvania JHS 6AK5 and Voshkod 6ZH1P-EV. Feel free to share your experience with…

Cheap Tube Buffer vs Darkvoice 336SE

Introduction I’m still new-ish to the tube world, but bought one of those cheap Chinese tube buffers back in August 2019 along with upgraded tubes and was really impressed with the results. After hearing from a variety of sources, including @ZeosPantera, that the Darkvoice 336SE was the budget-ish standard bearer for what tube amplification should sound like (which is not saying it’s the BEST tube amp, just a good example of tubey-ness), I started getting really curious if this little tube buff…