Cheap, well-tubing headphones help?

Any recommendations? Looking for under $100 (otherwise I would get the HD600s)

Planned setup:

AmazonSmile: FX AUDIO Bluetooth Tube Preamp & Headphone Amp & Bluetooth Receiver+ESS9023 GE5654 HiFi Bluetooth 5.0 Vaccum Tube Preamp with RCA BT Input & RCA/3.5mm Headphone Output Bass Treble Control (Black): Home Audio & Theater

AmazonSmile: Riverstone Audio - Tested/Matched Pair (2 Tubes) 7-Pin GE JAN 5654W Fully-Tested Vacuum Tubes - Upgrade for 6AK5 / 6J1 / 6J1P / EF95 - JAN 5654W Platinum Grade Pair: Musical Instruments

Edit: current updated/full planned setup below-

Sound Setup Tube Stuff - PCPartPicker

you want to know of a pair of headphones that work well with tubes under 100$?

Used AKG K240 Sextett / DF / M
Used Sennheiser HD250 / HD540 / 560 / 580

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ye, just wanna try dipping my toes in (will upgrade tubes b4 trying)

My KPH30i’s did well on tubes before they snapped :stuck_out_tongue:

For reference what tube amp are you using?

The HD 280 Pro [New version] I saw from Zeos tubes very well. I hear its very similar to the Neuman NDH 20 in regards to revealing to tubes.

Outside of this I think it might be second hand options i’m not aware of. The old version I hear isn’t as sensitive to tubes.

Keep in mind this is closed back and a monitor at that. I’m not sure about the comfor of the pads they look like pancakes I’d look into Yaxi pads potentially as an alternative.

On solid state its a typical monitor from what I watched.

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what tube amp do you currently have if i may ask please?

edit: i mainly ask because tube amps vary widely depending on design and which headphones they play well with

On post now

posted now

i’d get the one without bluetooth. i had one and the bluetooth just sucked and might have been the reason it had a hum idk. i dont think you can turn the bluetooth off. i have it built into my pc anyways

what do you reccomend?

This looks good:

AmazonSmile: LOXJIE P20 Full Balance Tube Amplifier Headphone Power Amplifier (Red): Electronics

https://www.amazon.com/Nobsound-Vacuum-Preamplifier-Digital-Control/dp/B01NBM7K8L
there used to be one with bass, mid, and treble knobs but i cant find it right now. definitely get one with the eq knobs.

edit: get a good power supply too. stock one on all of those cheap tube amps blows. something like 12v 3.5a
i just realized i meant to use this as a preamp between your dac and amp. i thought i saw somewhere that you have an amp already.

Neither one is an OTL tube amp, so likely doesn’t require a traditionally ‘tube friendly’ headphone. With Hybrid, you still want to pay attention to the damping factor, matching higher output impedance of the amp with higher impedance headphones, but they essentially treat headphones the same way a solid state would since it’s a solid state output stage.

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this where I interject, say save up a bit more money and buy the Nighthawk Carbon’s…amirite?

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:triumph: Damn straight :triumph: I didn’t know they tubed well… Now I have to get some :pray::pray::pray:

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Christ, I’ll have to do questionable things with my underwear stuck in strange places to afford that

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they won’t be $100…but on the used market they usually go for around $250, I think. sometimes lower if they don’t have both ear pads they came with out of box.

all that said though…I made that comment as Thotstomp and I have an ongoing thing about the NHC. I love mine so much and often recommend them in threads asking for questions. they are an extremely fun headphone!

I dunno what they go for in USD…but you might find the Senn HD599 or 599se (difference is color…ugly or black) and they do very well on a hybrid tube amp. used they go for $100 CAD, new I think they’re like $200 or so USD off Amazon.

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The HD 599 SE were close to half off during Amazon Prime day. I think they were $120 something.

they may be an interesting upgrade path for getting deeper into tubes!

the most important thing would be getting a hybrid tube amp that won’t fail you as you go up the ladder of better headphones.

you should be able to find used Schiit Vali 2 for decent prices.

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