[vkung]

Quote:

Originally Posted by coredump /img/forum/go_quote.gif Burning in my new TU-882 now. I'll write up a detailed review in a few days. First impression are really good.

Thank you for your review !!
Elekit Tu-882 is originally designed for the Japanese Market. Elekit Tu-882 is not the first generation products. Tu-882 went through several generations. The Japanese market is highly competitive and this amps is one of top competitors in the market. This amp is extremely well designed within his price range.

TU-882 is excellent considering the price. No audio component is perfect. However, I find more people like fancy stuff, but lose sight of good amp design. If you look at Skylab's ranking REVIEW SUMMARY: A ranking of 19 tube and tube/hybrid headphone amps, this ranking will tell you a lot.

VK

 

[hvu]

Just got my TU-882 today

The next 100 are going to be fun

 

[jsplice]

I'm considering getting this, but the tubes seem to be more obscure than more popular tubes such as 12AX7, EL84, etc. Does anyone foresee a problem obtaining tubes for this amp?

 

[vkung]

You can use either 2C51, 5670W, or 396A. There are plenty of 6570W /2C51 or 396A.

 

[mrarroyo]

At HAM radio fests I have purchsed a box of NOS GE 5670 for under $5 each. These are dirt cheap tubes and easy to find.

 

[regal]

Don't understand why this amp has coupling caps. A proper SET OPT amp doesn't need them. Looks like an OTL amp that they threw a pair of cheap P-P OPTs on for impedance matching. Would be much better with SET OPT's.

 

[yellowruby]

Just upgraded my TU-882 last night. One of the upgrades was to replace the ALPS 50 kOhm volume pot with a 100 kOhm pot. Victor recommended this one, after consulting with Elekit: http://www.alps.com/WebObjects/catalog.woa/E/HTML. The guys at Elekit clearly expected users to replace the factory pot, as the cut out in the main PCB easily accomodates the larger pot, the PCB for the pot has an extra set of holes sized to the larger pot size, and the ribbon cables have excess slack that are taken up when the larger pot is installed. And best of all, the 100 kOhm pot corrects the loudness at the 9 o'clock position, which was apparently on my HD580s, too.

BTW, other upgrades was putting in a standard modular power plug (with ground) and silver wiring. Only about eight hours into burn in, but the sound has a bit more clarity than before.

 

[hvu]

Thanks for the update I may have to do that to my TU-882.
Could you post a link to the volume pot that you are using now?

 

[yellowruby]

I'm using the ALPS RK27112A0A16. ALPS lists it here:

RK27 Series｜Products Line

Its also listed on ALPS Japanese Web site:

RK27シリーズ｜RK27112A0A16｜基本情å*±

The OEM coverage for the current volume is -40dB, but the 100 kOhm pot above is -60dB. The difference of -20dB affects the balance at low volume.

Works fine and fits great. The shaft length is the same as the original and the volume dial fits the same as before. Its much better in fine tuning low end volume. It also turns with a bit more resistance.

 

[AnAnalogSpirit]

Hi ELEKIT TU-882AS Owners...
 
I've finally acquired, built and have begun burning one of these in myself. I've been having my head swimming in the terminology of the Tube Amp world for over a year now, and did the educational thing... nabbed a Bravo Audio amp off eBay to see if I liked the general sound signature of Tube topology over Solid State, and yup it sure is for me!!!
 
I was swayed by Skylab's 22 amp roundup whereby the TU-882AS was in the top ten and under in the $500USD range...
 
Link Here: http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/402585/review-summary-a-ranking-of-22-tube-and-tube-hybrid-headphone-amps where it quite nicely came in 7th. I trust Skylab's reviewing, I've been a fan of it for some time.
 
I've had the pleasure of positive communication with Victor Kung through the entire process, as I was Quite nervous about Building an amp (even a PCB assembled Kit) despite my years in Electronics Class back in High School... LOL. Surprisingly a painless and VERY ENJOYABLE experience.
 
I'll reserve some more of this post for my Audio impressions, however I'll put some in Date Coded order:
 
 
2010, April 10:
 
Spent the weekend having A BLAST getting to know the rough character of the TU-882AS fitted with the GE 5670W Tubes. Very nice, especially coming from the single tubed 6N11 in the Bravo Audio Amp. I found I preferred the Medium Gain setting listening with a variety of headphones and musical styles.
 
Primary phones used were: SONY MDR-XB700, MDR-XB500 transplanted into KANEN KM-880 Shells, KOSS PRO4AA recabled by Zombie-X of ZXAC, who also recabled my UR40 set. The reason I mention the variety of cans is that the TU-882AS handled the various impedances with aplomb, and there was only certain occasion, mainly with the 250 ohm PRO4AA set where i raised the Gain setting from Medium to Maximum. 
 
Sound: The sound was Deep, Lush, Sweet, with nice rounded sharpnesses (non harsh treble) but like the melted glass tips on the tubes themselves, rolled. So you dont 'cut' your ears with the ugly treble harshness that happens with Solid State amps that overblow on you. IMO. Never "Harshed Out" on me.
 
I have a pair of the 396A Tubes on order, and i did something STUPID as a newbie to tubes, i damaged a tube while the amp was powered up, knocking that Tube out of commission. Luckily the channel survived, and Victor was quick to offer trouble shooting advice for me. I should be back up sooooooon, and this time I'll be more careful. :-D
 
I can't wait to season the new tubes and the amp a bit more, and post more about my experiences with it!
 
 
 
2010, April 13:
 
Well, now I have received some new tubes in the mail, I tested my reference FLAC file, Orbital's "Doctor?" on 'The Altogether' 2-Disc set, and am wowed a bit by the difference in the rendition between the already GOOD 5670W tube performance, and the 396A tubes...
 
I was chatting with a pal on another site and i was stopped by the sound and here's the snippet:
 
"they sound smoooother, quieter analog noise floor, richer, not honkier bass, and more authority to the musicality" -FLACvest
 
Um, i don't know what else to say for now, I just need to burn them in, and see how things go. I wish I had my object of desire: the Ultrasone PRO 900 to listen with already, but alas the SONY XB700 is doing a good job. However i get the feeling they are unable to resolve some of the upper treble information and resolution that the amp and tubes are putting out.

 

[High_Q]

I'm not getting very good sound output with HD650.  I am curious, what impedance setting everybody is using their HD650 with.  I am also curious what DAC people are using as their source. I am using udac as my source.  Is that a not a good setup for the HD650?  My K701 and Beyer 600ohm sound okay with the setup, but HD650 I should describe as neutral sounding??  Is that how HD 650 typically sounds?

 

[coredump]

I like the HD650 on high and the K701 on low.  I would describe the HD650 as warm, bass heavy, and slightly veiled.  Thats just my brief opinion of it and others might disagree.  I use the Audio-gd Compass and have never heard the uDac.

 

[AnAnalogSpirit]

Hi, I'm using the iBasso D10 as my DAC... optical so that means Wolfson WM8740 chip is used. lovely presentation. I'm keen to hear more about the uDAC in conjunction with the TU-882AS.
 
What are your gain settings? Are your phones stock cabled, recabled, etc? I'l admit to not having much experience with the HD6xx series but a pal of mine does so I can ask Q's regarding theire response of various sorts, and am curious about them in general.
 
As for myself, I'm using a pair of recabled Pioneers which have surprised me tbh. The XB700 I have are knocked out by these cheaper cans, and I'm looking / pinching pennies for a nicer set so am in research mode.
 
I myself am favoring medium gain primarily, it gives much of the nice clarity of low gain, but lots of the meat or tubey syrup of high gain without the distortion factor. and for some phones i'm liking low gain for cleaner rendition. Using the WE396A tubes.

 

[vkung]

Impedance
Here is the comment  from TU-882 designer  Mr. Fujita
In our opinion, the gain of TU-882R/AS is designed perfect.
Matching the impedance is important only to convey the power of the amplifier to the headset in most effective manner.
However, having the best sound quality is another story.
Matching the impedance could cause distortion and low damping.
You need to see the balance of the impedance matching and good sound quality.
As the said headphone, Senn HD650, seems to convey the power very effectively, it no longer has to be connected to high impedance.
Connect it to low impedance and get the best sound out of it. Low distortion and high damping.
As you know, the vacuum tube amplifier has very low damping, 5 or 10 at most, compared to a semiconductor amplifier having 100-200 damping.
Connecting it to low impedance could lead to high damping and low distortion, a better sound quality, which must be something that all users want to achieve.
 

 

[techenvy]

anyone compared this to woo or mad?