[DNT]

Hi guys,
I've been spending some time with my Aria now. Overall I'm totally satisfied but I'm very curious about tube amps and want to explore it more. So can you please give me some inputs and recommendations what to start of with. Thanks so much. Have a great day.

 

[riceboy]

What is your budget for a tube amp and what type of cans do you have? Oh and sorry about your wallet

 

[Uncle Erik]

What headphones do you want to use with it and what kind of music?

Keep in mind that there's excellent value in the For Sale Forum - help out another Head-Fi'er, too.

 

[DNT]

I'm currently using DT770/80 and MS1. Well I listen to almost all music. From rock, hiphop to newage, jazz, classical. I'm thinking of upgrading to some cans that are more musical. My budget would be $400-$500, but the less the better as I'm still in highschool. Thanks.

 

[Ricey20]

you can check out a Woo Audio 3 for slightly less than 500 of if you want to save money check out a Little Dot MKIV. Or you can wait and save up another 100 and get a Woo Audio 6

Also some darkvoice amps are around this range.

 

[DNT]

I have taken Little Dot MK line, Darkvoice and WA into consideration but asking for extra informations to guide me to a good start. I don't want to ruin my first experience with a tube amp. By the way, have anybody tried the Sophia Baby amp? I heard it drives speakers fine but I wonder about its capability to work with headphones. Thanks.

 

[breakfastchef]

If you scored a DV, LD or Woo, you won't ruin your first tube experience. I very much enjoy my LD MKII, but wish I had spent the few extra bucks for the MKIII.

The Woo products blew me away at Can Jam. I am so wanting the new WA6 SE, but may have to settle for the straight WA6. The SE looks like the WA6, but also has a matching has a tube power supply. Wow!!

 

[royewest]

Build one. Try the S.E.X. amp from Bottlehead.com. There are plenty of other affordable kits. Then get HS credit for your "science project."

 

[JimSmiley]

My first tube amp is a Little Dot MKIII. It's a great little headphone amp/preamp at a very reasonable price. Customer service is great..some good tube rolling options as well. I love it.

 

[pataburd]

x3 on the Darkvoice 336i. : )

 

[ktheone]

1 vote for LD MK2

 

[Chops]

My brother had the LDII++. It wasn't a bad sounding amp, but boy did it ever run hotter than heck!

Anyway, if you want to go on the cheap and want to roll some tubes and even try a little modding, you may want to look into the Xiang Sheng 708B. It's really not a bad little amp once you replace the stock crappy tubes for something better. And for about 30 bucks more, upgrading the volume pot and input caps will easily put this amp right up there with the higher-end amps. And if you want to go crazy on mods like some of us have, then the sky's the limit.

Just a suggestion.

Modifying the Xiang Sheng 708B [56K!!!!]

Quick REVIEW: Modded Xiang Sheng 708B vs. LDII++ vs. LDM+...

 

[recordcousin]

If you are a DIY type, I'd go for the Soha amp

Eric

 

[fhuang]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncle Erik /img/forum/go_quote.gif What headphones do you want to use with it and what kind of music? Keep in mind that there's excellent value in the For Sale Forum - help out another Head-Fi'er, too.

yep. i see there's a yarland p100 sells around 200. i'm not the seller and i don't know the seller but i have the amp. it's a very nice amp. one thing though, it's heaven with akgs but hell with beyers