[aspenx]

 
Quote:

For SS I'd lean more toward the M-Stage or the Asguard than the F100. The F100 from all accounts is a poor quality copy of the BCL. I have another BCL clone from HK called the "Lovely Cube', it takes a little DIY skill to complete but so far I find that it sounds pretty good with the W1000x's. Review is forth coming since I do not have it cased and properly grounded to my satisfaction. 
 
With the all tube Bijou, you'll also need to have the negative feed back turned up all the way for it to work well with the Low Z W1000x's, which I do no think is ideal. If you want a DIY amp I'd suggest either the Starving Student or SOHA II or SS a low gain M3 build.
 
Personally I think the W1000x also sound great coming out of my cheapie Aune DAC/Amp (which is a Grahm Slee Solo clone) They are not hard to amp.
 
 
 
 
 

From what I reckoned, the F100 is a copy of the AT-H5000 not the Lehmann BCL.
 
Yes, I've read your posts on the Lovely Cube on the M-Stage vs. BCL thread. You've yet to write your review. It does looks too good to be true though. By DIY, do you mean just putting the board into a casing and grounding it? Can I do it easily with the "accessories" that the seller is also selling on eBay?
 
I'm sorry, I didn't understand what you meant by "SS a low gain M3 build". Please explain.
 
I'm listening through my Musiland Monitor 02 US and it's not satisfying to me sadly. Grainy, edgy and no soundstage to speak of.

 

[aspenx]

Quote:

Well, unfortunately I have no experience myself with any of those amps except the Bijou (which I liked a lot, but never tried with the W1000X).  For tube amps you might also consider the AudioTailor Jade, which worked well for me from the one of its outputs that is designed for lower-impedance cans. 

Frankly, the Bijou looks impossible for me to DIY so I think I'll have to drop it from my list to consider unless I can get a affordable assembled version.
 
I'll definitely look into the AudioTailor Jade! Thanks for the recommendation.
 
I'm going to spend a lot more time reading up before I make any purchase, so more recommendations are very welcome.

 

[Skylab]

If you wanted to warm up the sound of the W1000X, the J Soundlab "Headphone" would also be a good choice.

 

[francisdemarte]

From what I reckoned, the F100 is a copy of the AT-H5000 not the Lehmann BCL.

Opps! Your right I was thinking of another amp.
 
The Lovely Cube comes with a fully populated board and a pair of pretty nice RCA plugs. So you'll need a case, and some type of 15V AC power source like a torodial transformer , if your using a transformer you'll also need an IEC jack and standard 3 prong power cable. The vendor only sells a 220V transformer which is not useful if your in the US and his shipping prices for the case are pretty high, you might as well spend a bit more and get the M-Stage from coolfungadget.
 
I'm sorry, I didn't understand what you meant by "SS a low gain M3 build". Please explain.
 
I was referring to AMB's M^3 DIY SS amp (http://www.amb.org/audio/mmm/). You can build it to different gain amounts, with sensitive AT headphones I would go no higher than a gain of 5 or else you won't get a lot of use out of the volume control. Parts with shipping may be a bit over a $400 budget.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Quote:

 
From what I reckoned, the F100 is a copy of the AT-H5000 not the Lehmann BCL.
 
 
 
Yes, I've read your posts on the Lovely Cube on the M-Stage vs. BCL thread. You've yet to write your review. It does looks too good to be true though. By DIY, do you mean just putting the board into a casing and grounding it? Can I do it easily with the "accessories" that the seller is also selling on eBay?
 
I'm sorry, I didn't understand what you meant by "SS a low gain M3 build". Please explain.
 
I'm listening through my Musiland Monitor 02 US and it's not satisfying to me sadly. Grainy, edgy and no soundstage to speak of.

 

[PANGES]

Great info on the DAC's and amps, guys. My W1000X's haven't been getting much head time lately due to the fact that I still don't have a proper dac/amp setup yet.

 

[sanakaku]

Guys quick question how big are the cups in this babies like can you post pics holding it appriciate and how heavy like compare with a different can
 
Love lots.

 

[PANGES]

Quote:

Guys quick question how big are the cups in this babies like can you post pics holding it appriciate and how heavy like compare with a different can
 
Love lots.

I don't have the pics you want, but they're really light. They are super light in compairson to the M50's.

 

[aspenx]

Quote:

If you wanted to warm up the sound of the W1000X, the J Soundlab "Headphone" would also be a good choice.

Wow. It looks very interesting. I wish I could audition it...

 

[aspenx]

 
Quote:

Opps! Your right I was thinking of another amp.
 
The Lovely Cube comes with a fully populated board and a pair of pretty nice RCA plugs. So you'll need a case, and some type of 15V AC power source like a torodial transformer , if your using a transformer you'll also need an IEC jack and standard 3 prong power cable.
 
I was referring to AMB's M^3 DIY SS amp (http://www.amb.org/audio/mmm/).

Have you heard the F100 then? I THINK I have heard the HA5000 which it copies but I can't remember how it sounded. The impression wasn't very deep.
 
I'm in Singapore (SEA) and 220V is fine. I have no idea what a IEC jack is though. I feel ashamed to tell head-fiers that I'm a electrical and electronics engineering fresh grad. Haha......
 
The M^3 is too expensive... For now!
 
Thanks for all your suggestions Skylab and francisdemarte! I'll be sure to look more into them. Buying takes just a few clicks and emails but the work behind it is going to take me much more time.

 

[aspenx]

Quote:

Guys quick question how big are the cups in this babies like can you post pics holding it appriciate and how heavy like compare with a different can
 
Love lots.

They're pretty BIG. I can't turn my neck much if I have them hanging off me, if that gives any indication at all.
 
I'll try to take a picture of it with my M50s soon.

 

[sokolov91]

Skylab, are there any cheap transformer coupled tube amps you can think of that are cheap enough. I would very much like to try a tube amp, but I have tried SS amps with high output impedance and it was very relaxing, but no to my liking.
 
Sadly, I do not have several K to drop on a leben .

 

[sokolov91]

Quote:

If you wanted to warm up the sound of the W1000X, the J Soundlab "Headphone" would also be a good choice.

How does the bass get with a "warm" amp? 
 
I am asking because I wonder if the mid bass would not get too much of a boost.

 

[Ypoknons]

The Elekit Tu-882AS is the cheapest I think of off the top of my head. The Darkvoice 3322 isn't prohibitively expensive but it does have two volume controls, drives me crazy. Then there's the hybrids - EF5, Millet Hybrids and so on... of course Skylab has more impressions. 

 

[Skylab]

The cheapest transformer-coupled tube amp I know of is the Musical Paradise MP-301 for $200.  Nice little amp.  It's a speaker amp too, and my son is using the one I bought in his room with some little B&W monitors.  It's a little tubey sounding, but generally nice.
 
Then there is the very nice Elekit, as Ypoknons mentioned.  And then a little further up is the WooAudio WA6 at around $600. 
 
The J SoundLab is $400, and sounds excellent, although it has kind of a fat sound, especially in the mid-bass, although some of that is the Mullard tubes I am using.  I'm sure that would be much less if you used something like Siemens or Telefunkens (the JSL uses 12AT7's, for which there are a lot of great and fairly inexpensive rolling options).

 

[aspenx]

The JSL looks very interesting with it's "Yin" and "Yang" headphone outputs. (It's the one with the 2 different sound signatures right?)
 
Today, I was listening to my music collection and just realised that I actually listen to quite a wide variety of music. I feel that I'll be able to appreciate both a tubey sound and a more neutral one depending on the music. Also, I'm (blindly) confident that the W1000x will sound just as great with either type of amplifier.
 
However, I don't think I'll welcome anymore bass boost though. It's great as it is! (even through my lousy setup!)