[hipcat]

Hi all,

I’m just getting into headphones and looking for a tube amp kit and not quite sure what to go with. My main headphones are Sennheiser HD 265 @ 150 ohms I also have a pair of TSC NC-3’s @ 70 ohms. Most of the time I’m listening to an ipod nano in a dock using the line out. I’m currently building a Ratheon jan6418 preamp kit but want something nicer for at home. I’m not concerned with loudness but want as good and pure sound quality as I can get. I’d also like to play around with rolling tubes. My budget is pretty tight only up to about 300$. Wood and metal work are not a problem for me so case work is not added into the budget. The Ratheon kit is my first try at electronics but I have a friend who refurbishes old tube TV’s and radio’s so I have guidance on the high voltage stuff. Right now I’m looking at a Millet hybrid maxed or a Tubedepot 8LS integrated stereo tube amp and adding a headphone jack. I hope I supplied enough info and would greatly appreciate any help.

Thanks, Hipcat

 

[erikzen]

I'm not a DIY guy (and have you spent time in the DIY forum?) but how about the Compact Tube Hybrid.

Amp Features

 

[hipcat]

I'm really just getting into this and have spent some time at diy but was told some amps would drive my headphones and some wouldn't so I thought asking here would be better because of it being a headphone sight.The compact tube hybrid looks cool and is what I'm looking for. I'm going to check it out some more. Thanks for the info

 

[eddiewalker]

He's talking about the DIY subforum here. DIY (Do-It-Yourself) Discussions - Head-Fi: Covering Headphones, Earphones and Portable Audio

There are a number of popular and active projects. There are the low-voltage Millet hybrid variants: the original design; the Max which may be tough to find a PCB for; or the low-cost Starving Student with can be built point-to-point or with a PCB.

From Cavalli, there's the SOHA (Simple Opamp Hybrid) or the currently active SOHA II, and Bijou all-tube amp.

All of these have long discussions in the DIY subforum, and places like glassjaraudio offer a few kits/partial kits/PCBs

 

[hipcat]

Thanks, I'll check the diy section here

 

[Uncle Erik]

Check the plans over at HeadWize. You should be able to pull off the Strain OTL or the Brute Force for $300; maybe a few others, too.