First tube amp suggestions for the office

Equipment / Electronics / Gear / Accessories Headphone Amps
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Looking for a tube amp for the hd6x0 line. I’m looking for a cheap and cheerful headphone amp for my second office (semi end of work from home) set up.

I’d like something that is smooth and musical. I’ll be pairing it with a nice DIY chip based r2r dac.

I’m open to DIY options, but the dollar/performance ratio is king. I’ll be replacing a thx 789. Budget would be $500 cad max or preferably less. I’m eyeing a used bottlehead crack or Eufonika amp right now. I wish the sw51+ amps were still available and cheap :confused:

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I am really impressed with my new tube amp, the Little Dot MK9. My landed cost was $650.00Cdn., all in.

I started out with the Little Dot MKIII, which I got for about $300.00 on CAM. I find the MK9 much “tubier” and way more fun to tube roll.

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I am looking for a tubey sound to complement my solid state amps. Thanks for the suggestion.

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take a gander at the xDuoo hybrids. they’re well spoken of.

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Which model would you recommend?

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what’s your budget and where do you live?

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Canada and less than $500 cad would be ideal. I understand that the TA-26 is kind of a dark voice clone. I was thinking a used crack might be a good step up.

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I’m a Canuck too, so is Shane for that matter.

if you can get a Bottlehead Crack, go for it… or look for a Mapletree?

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Never heard of this maple tree? What’s that?

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BHC makes a lot of sense for you if you’re happy assembling.
I wouldn’t discount DarkVoice or xDuoo TA-26.
Those amps will come in under budget and give you a lot of wet “tubiness” for your money, with room to play with some tube rolling.

I would not be looking at hybrids in your situation where you’re seeking “tubiness”, variation from SS and synergy with 300Ω Senns. Go OTL.

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I was thinking that too, thanks.

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Canadian company that makes tube amps. Mapletree Audio.

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Out of my budget I think as their cheapest amp is $900 USD + Shipping.

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TA-26 or Crack are the best options.

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How far apart in performance would you say the crack+speedball is from the TA-26?

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You buy Crack only if you know how to solder. You might need to trouble shoot it sometimes. TA-26 you just buy and forget.

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people charge a lot for building cracks lol

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No worries, I can solder fairly well. Used cracks seem to be pretty cheap too, but I’m worried I’d have to redo the bad solder job of the previous owner. Much less annoying to start from scratch.

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Crazy deal, too bad I’m up in Canada.