someone please help me find this tube magic

You dont need a DAC if you dont want one. But i think that you want :). If you want to start with a budget amplifier you should check Little Dot amplifiers. (www.littledot.net). I have been more than happy with my Little Dot Mk III.

 

Hey there, nice headphones!

I'd like to get one of each myself!

 

A couple of questions:

what impedance are your DT990s?

Obviously the Grados are approx. 32 ohms.

What do you normally plug your headphones into?   A PC? A notebook? A good DAC can be a huge upgrade for a few dollars. My Dell notebook does not sound good with my AKG Q701s.

 

Raser's recommendation of the Little Dot III sounds good, but you might want to look around on this site to see if it works OK with your Grados, the Little Dot III will be good with high impedance DT990s.

 

You can buy a cheap but good DAC from iBasso.

Since I'm not too sure what you are using for a source I'm not sure what iBasso to recommend.

I have an iBasso D12 which takes 3 different types of digital inputs:

USB

SPDIF RCA

SPDIF Optical

My notebook sounds far better when I run USB to my iBasso D12.  I then sent the line out on iBasso D12 to my La Figaro 336C, unfortunately it is $300.00, but it does give me the "Tube Magic" with my AKG Q701.

There are a couple of great deals on tube buffers in the for sale section. These will give you a cheap intro into tube sound without the expense of a buying full tube gear. 

I don't have any personal experience with the HRT, Maverick or Music Hall but here are a few facts:

 

 - As you know, the Music Hall is not a tube amp.

 - some of the HRT products work with iPads and iPods

 - The Maverick D1 will not accept digital signals from iPads and iPods, obviously the best way to get good sound from iPads and iPods is via the digital output into a good DAC

 - The Maverick D1 does not use tubes in the headphone circuit

 - The Maverick D1 only uses tubes in the Line Out outputs

 - technically any tube headphone amp should be able to drive 250 ohm Beyer DT990

 - some OTL tube headphones amps may have trouble driving the Grados as they are low impedance ( for example Little Dot III or La Figaro 336C)

 - obviously you'll get some "tube magic" from using the Maverick tube Line Out into the solid state Music Hall headphone amp

 

 I've heard good things about the Bellari HA-540 tune headphone amp. Check it out on Amazon. Apparently it pairs well with Grados, not too sure about the Beyers.

First, there is no tube magic. They all sound different. A lot of false equivalency gets tossed around where people think that if they have tubes, they're getting the same sound as everyone else.

The sound depends, primarly, on the circuit used. Tubes play a role, but it is usually overstated. The most important part of the amp is the power supply. If you use a cheap amp with AC ripple going into the signal and AC on the filaments, it doesn't matter if you're using some extra special NOS tube. You won't be getting the most out of it.

Then you have build quality. No, that's not whether the case is pretty and the aluminum is shiny. There's high voltage inside and a lot of heat. You do not want flimsy junk handling high heat and, especially, high voltage. A quality power transformer is essential and those run $60-$70 and up. There aren't any shortcuts there nor do you want shortcuts. Quality transformers require a fair bit of raw materials and those prices are the same the world over, cheap labor doesn't help.

Similarly, I don't like PCBs for tubes. Tubes run hot and, unlike solid state, you can't bolt a tube to a heatsink. Heat weakens solder joints and can scorch the PCB. If the PCB gets damaged (it's easy to damage the traces) you'll either have to drillit and run jumper wires or replace the PCB. Replacing a PCB reauires desoldering everything and putting it on a new board. Another way to look at that is that it will take roughly twice the labor to replace than it takes to build a new one. That's OK if you want to DIY it, but labor costs otherwise would be more than the amp is worth. That's why I build and buy point-to-point tube gear. It holds up and is very easy to repair. The drawback is that it costs more to produce, which is why you don't find it in cheap amps.

Also beware of the hybrid amps. Some are pretty much solid state amps with a tube stuck on to light up. Sure, the tube is nominally in the system but it isn't really amplifying or doing much at all. More of these are turning up because solid state just doesn't sell today. A shame, because solid state can sound wonderful and is a terrific, inexpensive way to excellent sound. But people won't buy it because there's no glowing tube. Solution? Put a tube on that doesn't really do anything. Some of these amps really do sound good, but the tube has nothing to do with it. It'd be an excellent solid state amp except for the problem that no one would buy it.

So be careful with tube amps. You have to have quality components and a good build quality.

The cheapest way into tubes would be something like a Bottlehead Crack. It's a kit. An easy kit. You'd get good parts, a point-to-point build, and great sound. Nothing commercially made in the price range offers that.

Otherwise, look for a good solid state amp, like a Dynalo/Gilmore Lite, M^3, etc. Not as sexy as tubes, but they sound great. A Dynalo is more accurate, clesner sounding, more powerful, and has a much higher damping factor than any cheap tube amp. You'll get more performance for less money.

Read the OP again, the OP clearly states that they are looking for some tube magic and tube lushness

you raise a good point, I wonder if this tube in Maverick Audio equipment really does much

as for build quality I'm sure if they stick to an established brand and do their research on this website then they should be OK

I have owned several PCB mounted tube CD players, preamps and power amps of various brands over the past 25 years and have never had trouble with PCB mounting

 

kits..........If you have never soldered before it can be easy to solder an unreliable cold solder joint, and if you don't know what you are looking for it can be difficult to find

I don't know about that amp. What I look for is a name-brand power transformer, like a Hammond, Plitron or Edcor. If it has a brand, look it up. If there is no brand, look out.

As for PCBs, they can work for years. The trouble comes when something goes wrong. Often, it is a big disassembly job just to get to where you can replace bad parts. Soldering and desoldering something a few times can lift a pad, which is a pain to fix. If a part goes out and destroys a few traces, then it is an even more extensive repair. I'd rather put in a few more hours up front to build point-to-point. When something goes, you can remove and replace it in a few minutes. If a wire is damaged, it can also be replaced as quickly.

Further, parts do go bad regularly. Most people don't know it, though. Failure is when a component goes out of spec, not when it stops working altogether or catches fire or something. When a resistor drifts from 100 Ohms to 150 Ohms, it will still light up and "work," but the amp will be off and distorting the sound. Capacitors change value, too. If you look at datasheets over at Mouser and Digikey, you'll see that most parts are rated for a lifetime of a couple thousand hours. Every so often, it's a good idea to open up the amp and replace the electrolytic filter caps and anything else out of spec.

It's a myth that the only things in a tube amp that wear out are the tubes. Caps and resistors deteriorate, too. I'd bet a lot of people here are listening to amps that have parts out of spec and don't realize it because the change happens gradually and it still makes sound.

Which is why I prefer point-to-point. If I'm using something daily, I'll open it up every 5-6 years for fresh innards. I don't want to risk damaging a PCB and I'd like to get fresh parts in an hour, not spend an afternoon desoldering and disassembling it.

have you ever seen a resistor drift from 100 to 150 ohms?

 

 

Yes, at least several hundred times.

I've been restoring old electronics since '98. I keep a DMM nearby and measure what I pull. Resistors are never at their stated value. Which is why I always buy all new resistors for anything I restore. I go in assuming they're all out of spec and haven't been wrong yet.

The exception is wirewound resistors, which do hold up. I almost always use wirewounds in restoration and buolds since I know they won't go bad. That costs a little extra, but they won't have to be replaced again.

 

You've seen old resistors drift from 100 ohms  to 150 ohms?

 

What resistor type?

Carbon composition?

Carbon film?

Metal film?

What is the tolerance on the resistor? 1%.  2%. 5% 10% 20%?

Watt rating.......maybe they are running too hot?

 

 

 

 

Don't know anything about the Qinpu, but awfully cheap for what yeou are getting.

 

Have you looked into  the Little Dot I+,   at approx. $110 a cheap way to try tubes.

The Grado guys seem to like it, it has a solid state output stage so should have a low enough output impedance to drive Grados.

Edited by Chris J - 11/19/11 at 5:37am