[ianmedium]

IMPORTANT NEW INFORMATION!

I just had a brief chat with Shikata San on facebook. He had posted there that the new hybrid amp will be more suitible for harder to drive headphones and that the TU-05 runs single tube thus less power.

I asked him what he meant by single tube and his response made me really happy!

It turns out our amp runs in Single Ended Triode mode!

So fellow owners of the '05 I think we own, from what little research I have found thus far, something very rare if not unique, a battery powered SET amp!

That explains the effortlessness and sweetness of this amp!

Cool eh!

 

[ianmedium]

Shikata san just posted this reply on FB about the SET aspect..

"yes,TU-05 is the smalest SET amp. It usually is triode mode,if you want power,It can be pentode connection with changing the internal wiring. Then it can drive over to 100mW. but, sound is a little Rough"

 

[AnakChan]

Shikata san just posted this reply on FB about the SET aspect..

"yes,TU-05 is the smalest SET amp. It usually is triode mode,if you want power,It can be pentode connection with changing the internal wiring. Then it can drive over to 100mW. but, sound is a little Rough"

I don't know if 100mW on tubes are the same as SS in headphone/earphone world (cos on speaker system I find the values to vary greatly at least with the ability to drive my B&W N804 which are known to be power hungry).

But some DAC/SS Amps I have, I could max 80mW easily on my IEMs. Any idea if this is created for IEMs specifically?

P.S. sorry for the funny Japan->International-->Japan communication

 

[ianmedium]

I am probably the worlds worst person to ask about technical stuff, especially tubes as I am still a novice. I think from reading his posts on FB the TU-05 is designed for more sensitive, less power hungry headphones and the new hybrid for more power hungry higher Ohm rated headphones.

I feel though that this being a SET design goes a long way to the headphone mismatch you experienced. It is so funny as I said in my review to treat this more like SET amp in terms of headphone matching and low and behold it is!

My PF's are 16 Ohm and seem to be a perfect match for this amp, combine the really black background and no channel imbalance at low volumes and it seems made for them.

I wonder how customs would fare with this amp?

 

[AnakChan]

Quote:

I am probably the worlds worst person to ask about technical stuff, especially tubes as I am still a novice. I think from reading his posts on FB the TU-05 is designed for more sensitive, less power hungry headphones and the new hybrid for more power hungry higher Ohm rated headphones.

I feel though that this being a SET design goes a long way to the headphone mismatch you experienced. It is so funny as I said in my review to treat this more like SET amp in terms of headphone matching and low and behold it is!

My PF's are 16 Ohm and seem to be a perfect match for this amp, combine the really black background and no channel imbalance at low volumes and it seems made for them.

I wonder how customs would fare with this amp?

 
I'm a noob about these things too. Even for speakers despite having owned my speaker setup for 13 yrs. I'm not even certain if I could really relate the little I know about speakers to headphones.
 
However what you wrote above does make sense that if it's 100mW (per ch I hope), then it's catered for low impedance setups. To be honest, most customs are low impedance anyway so it should be ok. Only some specifically designed IEMs like the Heir Audio Tzar (90 and 350 ohm), or the FitEar F111-AK100 just for the AK100's weird headphone out spec-ed design that are high impedance earphones.

 

[ianmedium]

I just went back to his post on FB,

He also wrote this..

Tu-05 is pure class A single tube amplifier. Therefore it is of about 40 mW output.
If you consider to drive the low efficiency Earphones or Headphone, TUR is better.

An aim is 95dB／mW.

So the 05 is much lower power which I assume is better for sensitive IEM's/headphones?

 

[AnakChan]

Quote:

I just went back to his post on FB,

He also wrote this..

Tu-05 is pure class A single tube amplifier. Therefore it is of about 40 mW output.
If you consider to drive the low efficiency Earphones or Headphone, TUR is better.

An aim is 95dB／mW.

So the 05 is much lower power which I assume is better for sensitive IEM's/headphones?

 
I've got to watch what I say here 'cos I'm sure there'll be the smart folks telling me I'm spouting utter rubbish. So for those readers, please go easy on me as I'm happy to learn .
 
I'm gonna briefly talk about speakers assuming it applies to headphones too and using my aforementioned speakers as an example. So my N804's apparently need something like 180W/ch to drive properly but this is with AB Class amps. If I use A Class amps, then a lower wattage would also drive it just fine. A Class amps are deemed more inefficient and therefore run hotter. However it appears that audiophiles consider Class A to be somewhat more "pure" (hope I've chosen the right word here) and usually A Class amps are more expensive than AB Class amps.
 
So if that same could be applied for headphones but scaled down considerably (instead of xxx-W, we're now talking about xxx-mW) then that 40mW A Class is still quite decent.
 
I'm sure at this point someone with better knowledge is gonna pounce at my jugular.

 

[ianmedium]

That sounds fine to me!
When you think about it headphones are just speakers you strap to your ears

Also, this article in Stereophile makes for interesting reading on the subject
http://www.stereophile.com/features/357/index.html

 

[hchanrn]

Gotta love the leather bag.  I have to admit....If my wife can carry her $2000 Louis Vuiton around I should  get one of those beautiful tube amps with the matching leather bag.  Honey...my bag is only half the price of yours and I can listen to music with it.

 

[ianmedium]

My amp now has a new playmate

 

[Mimouille]

My amp now has a new playmate

 
Congrats. Looks like someone got tired of waiting for the 901.

 

[ianmedium]

Congrats. Looks like someone got tired of waiting for the 901.

You know, when I found out what they used as a reference for this player, a Meridian CD player I was sold. I toyed with waiting for the new one but then after reading a few thoughts I don't think I would like its sound signature as much.

I was in trepidation about the UI and card matching but it is all so simple and I actually prefer the UI on this to my iPod! I downloaded one free hi rez file and oh boy it sounds great so now I am searching for a site that takes paypal and will get some more!

 

[Mimouille]

Quote:

You know, when I found out what they used as a reference for this player, a Meridian CD player I was sold. I toyed with waiting for the new one but then after reading a few thoughts I don't think I would like its sound signature as much.

I was in trepidation about the UI and card matching but it is all so simple and I actually prefer the UI on this to my iPod! I downloaded one free hi rez file and oh boy it sounds great so now I am searching for a site that takes paypal and will get some more!

 
I use this French site a lot, they have some albums in "studio masters". http://www.qobuz.com/

 

[ianmedium]

Oh thats great, thank you, I will bookmark it!

 

[Anthony1]

 
Quote:

Gotta love the leather bag.  I have to admit....If my wife can carry her $2000 Louis Vuiton around I should  get one of those beautiful tube amps with the matching leather bag.  Honey...my bag is only half the price of yours and I can listen to music with it.

 
I agree and the amp looks like headfi art IMO but regarding the retro bag - I could just imagine going through Changi/Dubai/HK airports with that strapped over your shoulder "glowing" while chillen' to "Funky Town" and being genital tazered, hooded and renditioned in nanoseconds