I’m tempted to buy an HA-1A just because I like the way it looks.
1 Like
Ha300 is awesome. I love mine for both the looks and the sound lol
HA300 is in a price range that I’d have to hear it first, the HA-1A is just at the tipping point where I might buy it just to see.
I think this is the biggest issue I’m running into now, I’ve reached the point I’m willing to spend on a better DAC/AMP/Headphones, but there at a point I really want to hear them before jumping.
Bought mine used from avexchange for around $160, people sell them all the time on there just gotta look often.
Here’s another mini brute in the same MSRP ballpark for flavor:
https://www.phileweb.com/sp/review/article/201211/27/671.html
Yeah, I almost buy audio gear for sonic performance alone, but;
Dimensions, coordination, fit, finish, etc. also play a role when it comes to upstream gear.
um, guys, can we get back to the subject of this thread? is the Darkvoice the best tube amp for 250$ what is a step up from that? I want to get a good tube amp for Aeolus thats coming. I mean i dont want to be a pain or anything but its why i created the thread lol.
I think that a step up from the darkvoice would be the eddie current massdrop, bottlehead crack with speedball, la figaro 339, tor roger, feliks echo or Espressivo Mark II, Woo Audio WA6 2nd gen, and it just goes up from there
You can pick up an Eddie Current ZDT Jr off Ebay for ~$250.
And that was one of the better regarded tube amps when it shipped at $400.
I really like mine.
is the dark voice the best at this price range? (under 300$). Oddly enough there doesn’t seem to be that many tube amplifiers out there in this range. dark voice’s main competition seems to be little dot, little bear, XDuoo and schitt
I think so imo, unless you get used and find a deal something (like polygon pointed out you can)
How does the eddie current compete to the bottlehead crack?
I haven’t heard a crack, but they get both get discussed in the price range.
The Crack is an OTL design, so it will probably sound very different.
You have to go to the Bottlehead SEX for their SET design.
Interested if you’ve heard the Roger?
The fact he winds his own transformers has me intrigued.
It’s pretty good imo. Someone I know has one and it’s decently sold, and you can tell it’s hand built. It sounds pretty great too, but he had swapped the tubes so I haven’t heard it stock
The big limitation on SET designs is the transformer and no one in a $1K amp can afford to buy the highend ones, they’re just too expensive.
But winding your own means it could be very interesting, though he’s grossly undercharging considering the amount of work involved.
omg this isnt a OTL, its an OT! it has a transformer. wow. probably sounds great. i think Tor has a transformer too
what does SET stand for?
Single Ended Triode amps
1 Like
Super Epic Triodes 
1 Like