I am interested in getting Tube amps but i don’t know what to pick.
My choices are:
the Darkvoice 336se (it is from shenzhenaudio.com, can anyone tell me what their experience was with them),
the MASSDROP X ALEX CAVALLI TUBE HYBRID AMP (CTH)
the Monoprice Stereo Hybrid Tube Amplifier 2019 Edition.
If you have another recommendations please do tell. Also these amps are going to be used without a dac as i am going to buy a dedicated dac in the near future.
Z has done reviews on the first two I’m pretty sure. As far as the monoprice, it’s a price point thing… I’d go with the dark voice as I’m pretty sure it’s been on Z’s reference bench for a while
i am pretty keen on the Darkvoice are there any problems with it. do you know any problems the CTH has because i have heard some stories about static.
Sorry all I’ve got to go off on this one is what Z has said in his YT reviews
its fine np
Hello,
The Cth is a pure hybrid amplifier, depending on the tube it can be better than a transistor amplifier. The tube is okay.
The Monoprice Stereo Hybrid Tube Amplifier 2019 Edition is a stereo tube amplifier for systems on a quite affordable sector.
Not the best choice because the headphone output is not great, and it’s almost certainly not a good tube.
The Darkvoice is attractively priced, the workmanship is poor and the tubes are not the best choice.
You will certainly have to invest in better tubes.
Some say the Battlehead Crack is not bad.
Depending on your budget, I would look at Little Dot, they don’t have bad tube amps.
The Mk5 se or the Mk 2-3 might be interesting for you.
If you tend to have oversized headphones with a minimum of 80 Ohm indepandance, the Feliks Echo 2 would be interesting. a little more expensive than the Darkvoice, but with excellent workmanship.
i can stretch my budget to 330-340 usd shipped. with the Darkvoice can i use the stock tubes for a few months and then get better ones. Also the headphones i am currently using are the HD58X
Check this one when you live in the Us is maybe a better choice for you and can save a little bit money or invest for better tubes.
I’m using the DV with my HD58x on stock tubes.
There are certainly better tubes out there, but its still very enjoyable on stock tubes.
I don’t get the noise issues that some talk about. That could be a RF/physical placement issue.
The only issue I say to watch out for is heat. It does get real hot. I let mine warm up, but after 45-60 minutes I turn on a fan to prevent it from getting too hot.
This website ships to the UAE for free (the UAE is where i live). Only problem with this is that it is 10 usd cheaper than the darkvoice on Shenzhen Audio’s website.
Because the two tube amps you listed are a bit different, I’m going to reiterate a point that has been made in this thread. An OTL tube amp like the Dark Voice (and Little Dots, and Bottlehead, and Feliks Echo 2, etc) are going to look for a HIGH Impedance headphone. Some more flexible than others. Your 150 ohm Jubilee 58x should work fine with any of these.
Hybrid Tube amplifiers like the Monoprice listed here are more flexible for your potential uses, are easier to live with, but provide less of the “tube effect”. Like, a planar headphone may be lovely with a hybrid, but generally poor with something like DV. A true OTL tube needs warm-up time, throws tons of heat and uses lots of energy. You have to be thoughtful about where you put it and what is around it, much more so. It’s like a pet.
If you go the OTL route, I would encourage a DAC that allows easy output adjustment (or simply add an inline potentiometer).
Since I am the only one who is going to use the Amp and I am not getting any new headphones anytime soon ( I have had the HD58X for about 6 months) I will go the the OTL route.
You don’t say what headphones you intend to use.
The DarkVoice will be pretty sloppy driving anything with lower impedance. (say <150 Ohms)
My view on tube amps is they don’t really make a lot of sense until you get a bit more expensive.
The Dark Voice is a very wet, sloppy amp, I can live with that as a change up, but I prefer dryer amps for day to day use personally.
And despite what some “reviewers” will tell you it is not indicative of tube amps generally.
In your budget I’d look for a used ZDT Jr, it’s a MUCH better amp than the Dark Voice, and they turn up in the $300 range. Still won’t give good control of low impedance headphones, you need to spend a fair amount more to get that,
BHC is also a better amp , especially with the speedball addition, but it’ll be out of your price range.
I intend to use the HD58X from massdrop. Also I don’t understand what you mean by “very wet, sloppy amp” and “dryer amps.” And I just checked the BH Crack even without the speedball addition is 397.75 usd shipped, otherwise i was very interested in it.
They discount the Crack significantly in March on it’s birthday.
Wet refers to what Z refers to as “tubey”. The very syrupy tonaly rich midrange sound that is usually attributed to a LOT of 2nd harmonic distortion, it’s often coupled with a boosted Bass. Where that gets bad, is amps like this can get very “slow”, so you lose impact with the addition of the “richness”, hence my description of Sloppy.
Dry amps have a lot less of that, more like SS amps.
The BHC has a lot in common with the darkvoice, with the provided tubes it’s on the wetter side, but it has MUCH better control of the headphone drivers.
Despite what get’s said, wetness is not what tube amps are about, many higher end tube amps are like better SS amps with only hints of harmonic overtones, bigger more convincing stages, and an overall more natural sound.
When is its birthday because mine is on the 3rd of march and the amp is a gift from my parents
thank you for the very detailed explanation
what do you think of the little dot mk3
Don’t know the exact date, but it Looks like I bought mine on Mar 25th.
Haven’t listened to it, so I can’t comment
Another question. Can the BH crack be used without a DAC? if so would a simple RCA to 3.5 connector work?
Any amp can be used from the line out on your computer.
At some point you would want to get an external DAC, but it won’t stop it working.
Another thing to point out is that with the BHC direct from Bottlehead you need to assemble it yourself.