Tube-y tube amp owners-- Need a loaner Singlepower or Woo! - Page 2

wanna tube amp? try antique sound labs - cheap(price) and tuby!

If it'd be possible to judge Singlepower's house sound by the Extreme alone (which I know it can't but work with me here), then I agree with Earl - Singlepower's sound isn't very characteristically tubey. There's some of that sound you can get only from a tube amp but every tube combo I tried with my Extreme ended up sounding closer to the sound of a hybrid amp - there was speed, resolution, clarity, and wide-ranging dynamics.

Based on all the threads I've read in this forum, it seems like the Woo Audio and Little Dot amps are characteristically tubey. The EarMax Pro also. Incidentally these amps are the most often recommended for the DT880 in particular which I find interesting.

I see that Markl is looking for a tube amp and he wants SP, but everyone says SP is not tube-y.

Would someone recommend a well known tube-y amp ? MAD ? RSA ?

Why not try a Woo amp ? I have never heard one, but I also suspect they sound tubey - after all, they have tubes.

I had an RSA Raptor, but did not find the sound very "tubey". It did have tubes, but they were not very "prominent"

there are several designs where tubes will always outperform solid-state, for example in high voltage, low current designs. Also, tubes are significantly more linear than than transistors, and tube designs need not employ (as much) global feedback to achieve linearity. Tubes are gain devices, and depending on the circuit design their "sound" takes on a different role in the final sound of the system. Same with transistors. The case with the Singlepower amps is that the attention isn't made to attaining the lowest amount of THD, as was done in older tube designs, but instead to things like increasing slew rate, increasing bandwidth, etc. which changes the fundamental goals of building a tube amp and has resulted in a different sounding amplifier.

Bottom line is, go grab a Singlepower or stick yourself on a plane and go to the next bing meet and listen and report back!

"The case with the Singlepower amps is that the attention isn't made to attaining the lowest amount of THD, as was done in older tube designs, but instead to things like increasing slew rate, increasing bandwidth, etc. which changes the fundamental goals of building a tube amp and has resulted in a different sounding amplifier. "

I like that comment- It’s the best description supporting Singlepower’s design concept I’ve heard.


Mitch

I have listened extensively to a number of sold state and tube amps intended for headphone and speaker applications. What I have found is the differences between the two when both are well designed are very small. It is only when you pay attention to the subtleties do you begin to appreciate a design. This is particularly evident to me when people listen to my Atmasphere amps in my speaker setup. They often site the realism of the sound especially when I play some quality vinyl but more often than not they are hard pressed to express what it is that they like about the sound. I think that many of the reviews I have read over the years tend to lead us to expect more differences and larger variances in sound than we actually hear. The differences in quality pieces often read like the difference between beer and wine when in reality it is more lie comparing two fine cabernets.

Looking over posts from late last night and today the issue seems to be centered on the definition of tube-y.

Mark's take is .... This headphone longs for a warm, full, thick and heavy, almost stereotypically "tube-y" tube amp.

The stereotype obviously remains tubes are inherently thick, heavy, slow, rolled off etc... etc...

As jamato8 pointed out, a tube amp does not have to sound this way, and IMO, I believe a tube amp should not sound this way.

The SP amps as a breed are not overly warm or full and have a realistic tonality as close to spot on as I have heard. The SP amps do not in any way sound slow, rolled off or lacking in dynamics. In fact, the dynamic shadings of the SP amps put most SS amps to shame. The SP's do have that organic, liquid quality so prized in tube amps. But, this is not a coloration as much as an indefineable character that sounds more like reality. Resolution of the soundstage size and placement compares favorably with any amp period.

Another point, about tubes in general, is some of what makes tubes special is not what they do, but what they do not do. Tube amps do not generally thin out the tonality, add aggressiveness to the upper mids/ lower treble, add grain and grit to instumental textures or portray a faster than reality sound. So, even if tubes did not offer advantages they can be prized for the flaws they typically avoid.

Now, coming full circle back to my original point. The SP amps simply do not have the stereotypical tube sound one would expect based on the long standing tube stereotypes. Mark stated that the sterotypical sound was what the headphone needed. This headphone longs for a warm, full, thick and heavy, almost stereotypically "tube-y" tube amp. I only interjected because what he is asking for would not be what he would get with a SP. I was trying to be helpful not argumentative so this is my last post. I do hope this post helps clarify my stance.

it's strange to read this characteristic SP sound signature in such certain terms since in my limited, though, lengthy experience with a MPX3 and a few other SP amps (hours not weeks with the latter) such as (two) Extremes (one Platinum), PPX3 (XLR & slam), another MPX3 and a Maestro (preamp/headphone amp) these SP amps all had sound characteristics that varied and were versatile and dependent upon the tubes rolled. also SP (Mikhail) talks with his customers and attempts to build amps to suit those listening tastes and incorporate the right tubes to match listener preferences. and if someone expresses issues with their SP amp sound, almost always, one of the first questions and follow-up suggestions deals with tubes. just to offer a contrary opinion based on my direct comparison against my EC2A3 with stock cheap-o tubes, the MPX3 with EH 6SN7 tubes sounded slow, excessively warm, thick, muddled and congested, but when I rolled in some NOS 6SN7 that Mikhail suggested the sound noticeably changed for the better. it really opened up with a clean sound and very nice musical presentation, yet it still retained to a lesser degree my initial listening impressions.