Tube Amp Around 100-250$ range

Equipment / Electronics / Gear / Accessories Headphone Amps
1

So iv’e been looking to get my first tube amp and I don’t want to heavily invest in case its not my cup of tea, so I’m giving myself a budget 100-250$ (Important to mention I live outside the US so Schiit is a no-go)

From what I’ve seen iv’e only got 2 actual options, the Little dot MKII or go hybrid in which case so far I’ve only seen the positively mentioned is the LOXJIE P20. Iv’e also seen a bunch of odd tube amps on Amazon but iv’e got no idea how good they are.

I got a pretty large selection of headphones most of them on the budget side since I add them as a business expense (I’m a freelancer and Audio gear is an easy expense to explain on my taxes :slight_smile: ), which is also why I’m limiting the budget to keep it on the “DL”

  • KPH30I
  • Grado SR80E
  • Sivga 006 and 007
  • Coolermaster MH751
  • Sony MDR 7506 (the only actual one i use for work)
  • SHP9500
  • Sony WH-1000XM3
  • HE400SE
  • Drop 58X
  • Fostex T60RP (stock)
  • Meze Neo 99
  • ​HarmonicDyne Zeus and Helios (the Helios was a gift)
2

with the list of ho you’ve shared, you can only go hybrid as an otl like the LDmkII is fir high impedance headphones if which none if those are.

take a look at xDuoo, they have a number of hybrid options to consider.

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3

Alright, i think the MT-602 looks pretty dope, im just wondering if its worth also getting a balanced DAC and going for the 604 :smiley:

4

I can vouch for MT-602. Schiit Vali 2+ also worth a look.

As was said, you really don’t have many cans that would be wise for OTL - so you’re looking at hybrids.

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5

tangentially related, I too am in the market for a tube amp. Well one that is a hybrid as all my cans are plannars. But I have one more condition. I have a cat, and I’m afraid she’ll stick her face in hot tube, any suggestions for keeping cats away from face burning? also need to find a way to further dissuade cable chewing

6

most cats are fairly smart and know to keep away from heat (iv’e got 3 myself)
But you could make a small metal “cage” around kind like what’s on the TA from xDuoo but bigger and to cover most of the tube

Its the same thing that they dont touch on radiators or heat pipes etc

7

I’ll have to look into that when I finally find the one tube amp. may have to get creative to build a cage.

8

Not that hard, but some fine mesh on Aliexpress or whatever, Cut it, use a bit of epoxy and you are done

9

seal the amp in insulating foam… :wink:

10

btw quick question, did you get a chance to use the 602 as a preamp?

11

I do use it as a pre on work desk about half the time (mostly HE-5xx the other half, sometimes KPH30i, Monoprice M560), feeding an Integra ADM 2.1 into a couple old Kloss Cambridge Ambiance. Works well as a preamp, no pops or oddities (unlike a prior tube hybrid I used) Good pot, no problems. Nice build, good ergonomics. I haven’t messed with the front Aux-In. I think that’s the only thing that you could goof with, as I don’t think it mutes the rear input.

12

Cool i was thinking of hooking it up to my powered monitors and seeing how that work, i wonder if it outputs to both at the same time

13

GREAT QUESTION, and important one regarding this device as a preamp.

One drawback is that the headphone jack(s) do NOT mute. The signal will constantly run out of preouts. For me it’s not critical because I have a power amp right at might feet that I keep off unless running the speakers.

With powered monitors though, that would become a large annoyance.

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14

Well the main function is still to use it as a headphone amp, but since its on my desk i though “why not”.
With any other solution i would just get a Y splitter from my dac and feed both the speakers and the tube amp
But if i can just hook it up to the speakers that might be cool to get some “tubiness”