[Honeypot]

Ultimately depends on your taste.
What I mean, is there are a lot of great options and none of them will be "the one" for everybody.
For instance, tungsram 12au7 with it's adapter it's a joy. The Amperex bugle boy too. The tungsram E88CC it's another cheaper option which is also very enjoyable. Mullard another superb option.
How much do you want to spend?
What sound characteristics are tou trying to achieve?

 

[Honeypot]

For those people with the echo, I have recently started using it as a preamp.
To give some context, since I got the zmf caldera I started using more and more echo as an amp, seeking how warm and holographic Caldera could go. Which ultimately lead me to start tube rolling and experimenting how this little amp can perform. But due to output impedance, many people stated that the caldera as a low impedance planar could work better with solid state amps or OTC tube amps. That brought my curiosity up and ended up purchasing the zmf atrium open (still waiting for it).
In the meanwhile and trying to get the most of the caldera (and as I am currently out of budget because of the tube rolling and the AO purchase), thought to myself, what if I pair the zmf with my ss amp (flux Fa-12) with the echo as a preamp (with the new tubes), that way I wouldn't be conditioned by the high impedance of the otl echo and still get the flavour of the tubes.
Well. Surprisingly surprised.
I have no words. Just try.

Let me know what you think.

And excuse me the wall of text without proper separation and punctuation.
But I am writing this while going to pick up my kids from school

Have a nice day everyone!!

 

[MacMan31]

For those people with the echo, I have recently started using it as a preamp.
To give some context, since I got the zmf caldera I started using more and more echo as an amp, seeking how warm and holographic Caldera could go. Which ultimately lead me to start tube rolling and experimenting how this little amp can perform. But due to output impedance, many people stated that the caldera as a low impedance planar could work better with solid state amps or OTC tube amps. That brought my curiosity up and ended up purchasing the zmf atrium open (still waiting for it).
In the meanwhile and trying to get the most of the caldera (and as I am currently out of budget because of the tube rolling and the AO purchase), thought to myself, what if I pair the zmf with my ss amp (flux Fa-12) with the echo as a preamp (with the new tubes), that way I wouldn't be conditioned by the high impedance of the otl echo and still get the flavour of the tubes.
Well. Surprisingly surprised.
I have no words. Just try.

Let me know what you think.

And excuse me the wall of text without proper separation and punctuation.
But I am writing this while going to pick up my kids from school

Have a nice day everyone!!

How do you use your Echo as a pre-amp if both that and your SS amp have volume adjustment. Which one do you use to adjust the volume and where do you set the volume on the other one?

 

[DonSimon76]

How do you use your Echo as a pre-amp if both that and your SS amp have volume adjustment. Which one do you use to adjust the volume and where do you set the volume on the other one?

I have my Burson Funk amp at full volume and use the Echo as the preamp controlling the volume.

 

[Honeypot]

How do you use your Echo as a pre-amp if both that and your SS amp have volume adjustment. Which one do you use to adjust the volume and where do you set the volume on the other one?

I generally turn the volume up to 3 o'clock.
It's the same level my DAC provides, and I keep my FA-12 at around 12 o'clock. Sometimes a bit more, sometimes a bit less. For me it's Superb combo.

 

[MacMan31]

So basically there is no set way of doing it. Just got to figure out what works best for my setup.

 

[Honeypot]

That's what I found out myself

 

[MacMan31]

That means I would not be using the balanced output from my DAC. I'd be going SE from my Gungnir DAC to the Echo and then SE out to my Schiit Midgard.

 

[Honeypot]

That means I would not be using the balanced output from my DAC. I'd be going SE from my Gungnir DAC to the Echo and then SE out to my Schiit Midgard.

Yup, exactly what I do. It's not a problem at all. SE is as valid as balanced. Sometimes even better.

 

[MacMan31]

Yup, exactly what I do. It's not a problem at all. SE is as valid as balanced. Sometimes even better.

I would want to be able to se the volume on the Echo and then leave it alone. Just adjust the volume on the SS amp which in my case is a Schiit Midgard.

 

[Honeypot]

I would want to be able to se the volume on the Echo and then leave it alone. Just adjust the volume on the SS amp which in my case is a Schiit Midgard.

You can definitely do that once you figure out the output you need on the echo to feed on the SS. I try to feed the SS with same lvl as the DAC does. Sometimes even a little less, so I can have more freedom of adjustability in the SS. But once you find how hot the signal outputs on the echo, to feed the SS, you are pretty much good to go.

 

[MacMan31]

You can definitely do that once you figure out the output you need on the echo to feed on the SS. I try to feed the SS with same lvl as the DAC does. Sometimes even a little less, so I can have more freedom of adjustability in the SS. But once you find how hot the signal outputs on the echo, to feed the SS, you are pretty much good to go.

Not sure how I can figure that out. In any case I'm trying the Echo Mk2 as a pre-amp into my Schiit Midgard. So Schiit Gungnir into the Echo Mk2 into the Midgard. I have the Echo Mk2 volume set at 12 o'clock. Still plenty of volume adjustment available on the Midgard. The only downside I see is that the Echo Mk2 cannot be a passive preamp. If I want to simply use the Midgard with no tubes I can't.