I’ve been looking to make an investment into an OTL tube amp for some time now and I was curious to get some additional input from this forum community. From what I’ve scoured this forum for so far, it seems like the EC ZDT Jr., bottlehead crack with speedball upgrade, la figaro 339, tor roger, hagerman tuba, mapletree sidewinder, and some feliks amps are all recommended. Forgive my lack of ability to describe the sound I’m looking for but the best way to put it is a warmer/gooey sound from the tubes. I would also like the oppurtunity to tube roll with the amp in the future if possible.
I am looking to pair the amp with the DT880 600ohm and HD600 headphones for my listening experience. My budget is around $500 USD and can be flexible if the value makes it worth the cost. I also have the SMSL SU-8 as my DAC.
I think I am also interested in understanding some price points for these so making an offer on a used amp is a little easier for me. For example, I saw a posting for an upgraded La Figaro 339 at $650, but I don’t really know how to quantify that listing price at the moment.
I have had nothing but excellent experiences reading over all of the forum threads here and hope to be continue learning along the way! All the help is greatly appreciated!
So, if you are going OTL, the tuba, ec jr, roger, and sidewinder aren’t otl, and are output transformer coupled amps. If you want something on the warmer side of things and OTL, I do think the feliks stuff is great for a warmer, thicker, more relaxed sound imo. The crack + speedball is the warmer and energetic choice, I really really like this with the 600 and the 880 600 ohm, this might be my preference here. The 339 is nice but imo kinda pricey for the sound quality it delivers, personally not my fav.
For what you are looking for, my top picks would be the crack + speedball if you want something extremely fun and good bang for buck (if you don’t mind building it yourself or buying prebuilt at a higher price), or the feliks echo if you wanted something more relaxed and a bit more refined. I think the octal duo otl and mellow boy otl from mapletree are also really nice too and sound up your alley, but might be pushing your budget new
Thank you so much for your speedy reply! I was thinking the crack + speedball is something I was very interested in based on all the positive reviews. I have read a lot about the great quality of the mapletree equipment, so it may be worth it to pay a bit more for it. I see the Octal Duo OTL is on special pricing $800 at the moment. Did you mean the OD300 model and not the 6SN7/6080 (maybe they are the same and I am misunderstanding). I wouldn’t mind the larger price point if I am going to keep it for a longer period of time to push off more equipment upgrades down the line. The feliks echo seems to be around 700 out of the US partner (as opposed to the lower EU price). I think the felkis echo would be a win if it didn’t have the extra costs associated with it.
If you can build the Crack + Speedball, it’s really hard to beat in the price range.
If you don’t mind Transformer coupled, and you can live with a none zero noise floor the ZDT used is a killer deal.
The Tuba is a little out of your price range, but very good.
I’ve not heard the Tor amps.
Personally I think that the higher end mapletree and feliks stuff might be a bit much to spend for what you have now, and the crack + speedball can take some pretty high end headphones and still sound great imo, solid investment.
I like the tuba, but it isn’t the most warm and thick sounding, it’s rather neutral for the price range.
@Sol also perhaps also see if you can find a used woo wa3 for a decent price
if you want a crack+ speedball i got a guy. he charges jack squat over retail price, and does a friggin hell of a job building and packaging them. he builds them for fun because he likes to. buys a kit builds it sells it, buys another.
edit: that is if you do not want to build it yourself.
I think my plan now will be to focus on acquiring a crack with speedball unless I find a wicked deal on the WA3; I am seeing some previously listed around $400.
@joshua_g I’ll send you a message to follow up about it
Thank you all for your insight, I’m really excited to get the ball rolling with tubes!
Hi guys, been thinking of getting into tubes, i guess i want to see if i can get unicorn audio, but see if i actually will prefer amplification like that
1500usd and below. what i look for
good slam, nothing too gooey/warm, something with good technical performance but whilst still being tubey, i say it like that because i actually have no idea what that sound is like, please inform me!.
HD800s, aeon 2 closed. I own Hifiman Arya and Focal Clear but im selling both of those.
My DAC is the ARES II and im running that off of a v280 vio
