Tom Christiansen Audio HPA-1

Equipment / Electronics / Gear / Accessories Headphone Amps
22

Yeah if you want to consider clear, solid state is the way to go imo

23

MAD = $950.00
Tuba = $1,1620.00 approximately, with wood sides. Importing is always a crapshoot.
Liquid Platinum is about $1,150.00, but again, you can never be 100% sure.

24

Hmmm, so the MAD would make the most sense it would seem unless you got without wood panels

25

So you donā€™t need real low impedance then. You have a wide selection to pick from.

26

Too wide, grin. In your case the question is what do you really want, not what is the most sensible. My head has never yet won an argument with my heart in the medium or long term.

1 Like
27

Since youā€™re not going super low, maybe you should look at that Sidewinder? Good amount of power, looks cool and lots of flexibility. Maybe shoot an email and get a price?

28

My favorite tubes from them were the OD300 SET and Mellow Boy

29

Did you ever look into the cayin ha-1a mk2? I forgot if I mentioned that or not

30

Beautiful review! Than k you for the information and insight!!

1 Like
31

Thanks, both. I need to point out that Iā€™m less certain today than I was a few days ago about getting back enough of my hearing for this to matter. I love considering these options, but itā€™s far from clear it wonā€™t prove to ultimately be a waste of peopleā€™s time.

But assuming a hypothetical positive outcome, apparently the scenarios in which a tube amp makes sense are fewer than SS. That said, grin, the Cayin sure looks sweet and is available from headphones.ca. But I canā€™t make sense of the output impedance specs.

1 Like
32

If you want to consider something inbetween a tube amp and a hybrid, perhaps consider the linear tube audio microzotl mz2 (with the NOS tubes and with stock psu to keep budget reasonable), because itā€™s got a low output impedance (like 2 ohms), but itā€™s not a hybrid in the traditional sense, but itā€™s also not completely an otl amp, really nice stuff. Can drive planar and also stuff like the clear pretty well from my experience. The punch of solid state with the sound of tubes, good inbetween (better than a hybrid imo). Really enjoy my mz3, the mz2 is def worth a look

33

Not ready to rule it out, but making the jump into the world of tubes is frightening at that price point. Incidentally, someone should gently point out to this company that a recommendation from Rafe Arnott is not a great idea if headphone enthusiasts are part of their customer base, grin.

1 Like
34

Hmmm, Iā€™m not familiar with Rafe Arnott, I just know that I was seriously impressed when I heard it, and also I love my MZ3 thatā€™s now at my desk setup, so I do like having it when I want a just natural sounding amp that doesnā€™t sound solid state but also not overly tubey (although my desk has gotten quite full recently lol)

1 Like
35

Thatā€™s a great looking amp at the least. I like how it was the clean lines of a SS amp, with the tubes inside the box. But the top is clear so that you can soak up the sepia glow.

The seperate power supply is also very cool and audiophiley.

Very nice.

36

Are u talking about Hagerman Audio Tuba parafeed amp?

37

Yes, I amā€¦

38

Great a good amp, but your price is incorrect it should be $649 on sale and its $749 with the walnut wood sidesā€¦

Hagerman Audio TUBA

Alex

39

@ShaneD is in Canada so it would be more expensive for him to get

1 Like
40

Well that sucks big time!!!

Sorry about that!

Alex

41

The price is correct as I wouldnā€™t buy it without the sides.