[G600]

They are also efficient cans, and don't quite need the MK VI power (He meant MK VI, not MK IV ??).
But a better choice will be the VI with a balanced 880 (DIY or recabled) in 600 Ohm !

 

[Androb]

They are also efficient cans, and don't quite need the MK VI power (He meant MK VI, not MK IV ??).
But a better choice will be the VI with a balanced 880 (DIY or recabled) in 600 Ohm !

Oh didn't read properly. I assumed he meant mkvi since it's what this thread is about

 

[boombobby289]

I guess you are better off with a non balanced amplifier for those phones, since neither of them can be balanced. And the SE jack is pretty noisy. Check out other little dot amps.

Are you saying the tube amps is not good for driving low impedance cans like AKG K550 or Beyer DT880 (32 ohm)?
Any recommendation for tube amp to be used with low impedance cans?

 

[Androb]

Are you saying the tube amps is not good for driving low impedance cans like AKG K550 or Beyer DT880 (32 ohm)?
Any recommendation for tube amp to be used with low impedance cans?

No but this amp is kinda only good for balanced headphones. The SE output with my w1000x for example, is really noisy.

The Little Dot MKIII works fine!

 

[naimless]

Sadly I've decieded to sell my mk6+ so if anybody in the UK is interested its listed in the for sale thread.

 

[Androb]

Bought some tubes from G600, digging the sound!
 

 

[Taowolf51]

I'm pretty interested in the MK VI+, it looks to be exactly what I want, a dynamic sounding (and very very pretty) high power tube amp. Does anyone have any experience with how it drives the LCD-2's? Those will be the main headphone I use with them (my only other decent headphone at the moment is the Denon D7000, which I would love to pair this amp with, but I doubt it will perform well).
 
At the moment, I am driving the LCD-2's with an Emotiva XDA-2/Bottlehead Quickie/XPA-200 stack (speaker amp) and am pretty fond of the sound. However, it's a bit annoying hooking my headphones up to a speaker amp all the time (the amp also powers my main system), so I'm looking at a couple replacements, the VI+ among them. The other two are the Emotiva Mini-X and the Schiit Lyr. Does anyone have any experience with these two and how they compare to the VI+?
 
I've heard both good and bad things about the stock tubes. Is buying new tubes for the amp a must right away? Or do the stock tubes do a good enough job? Any recommendations for affordable tubes?
 
I've heard that unbalanced isn't the best choice for this amp, is it really such a big difference? I can build a balanced cable for my LCD-2's and I do have a balanced DAC (XDA-2), but the XDA-2 is already part of my main speaker system. Would the VI+ perform well enough with an unbalanced DAC?
 
Also, are VI+'s on sale on the classifieds that often? I saw naimless's post, but sadly I'm in the US.

 

[G600]

In the competition you are listing, the VI+ is by far the best.
Be sure to use a balanced source, and balanced headphone cables.
 
The worst stock tubes are the 4 power tubes. Just buy NOS RCA 6AS7G or Svetlana equivalents, and be ready to rocket your LCD-2.
That's what i'm using right now, and it sounds first class. This combo responds well to source / tube upgrades, so you're ready for the long term.
 
The SE out is just for convenience, it sucks.
And this amp isn't for sale very often...

 

[elwappo99]

  I'm pretty interested in the MK VI+, it looks to be exactly what I want, a dynamic sounding (and very very pretty) high power tube amp. Does anyone have any experience with how it drives the LCD-2's? Those will be the main headphone I use with them (my only other decent headphone at the moment is the Denon D7000, which I would love to pair this amp with, but I doubt it will perform well).
 
At the moment, I am driving the LCD-2's with an Emotiva XDA-2/Bottlehead Quickie/XPA-200 stack (speaker amp) and am pretty fond of the sound. However, it's a bit annoying hooking my headphones up to a speaker amp all the time (the amp also powers my main system), so I'm looking at a couple replacements, the VI+ among them. The other two are the Emotiva Mini-X and the Schiit Lyr. Does anyone have any experience with these two and how they compare to the VI+?
 
I've heard both good and bad things about the stock tubes. Is buying new tubes for the amp a must right away? Or do the stock tubes do a good enough job? Any recommendations for affordable tubes?
 
I've heard that unbalanced isn't the best choice for this amp, is it really such a big difference? I can build a balanced cable for my LCD-2's and I do have a balanced DAC (XDA-2), but the XDA-2 is already part of my main speaker system. Would the VI+ perform well enough with an unbalanced DAC?
 
Also, are VI+'s on sale on the classifieds that often? I saw naimless's post, but sadly I'm in the US.

 
I had the MKVI+ and the Denon D7000. Surprisingly good combo. Really smooth sound for the D7000. 
 
When I compared the MKVI_ to the emotiva mini-x with my HE-500 and HE-6, I found the emotiva to outperform in just about every category. Obviously, the MKVI+ was much better for dynamic headphones. Actually, I'd bet the MKVI+ would be a sweet pairing for the HD800.

 

[Taowolf51]

  In the competition you are listing, the VI+ is by far the best.
Be sure to use a balanced source, and balanced headphone cables.
 
The worst stock tubes are the 4 power tubes. Just buy NOS RCA 6AS7G or Svetlana equivalents, and be ready to rocket your LCD-2.
That's what i'm using right now, and it sounds first class. This combo responds well to source / tube upgrades, so you're ready for the long term.
 
The SE out is just for convenience, it sucks.
And this amp isn't for sale very often...

 
Thanks for the info, I'll take a look at those tubes!
Have you ever tried the Lyr with your LCD-2s?
 

   
I had the MKVI+ and the Denon D7000. Surprisingly good combo. Really smooth sound for the D7000. 
 
When I compared the MKVI_ to the emotiva mini-x with my HE-500 and HE-6, I found the emotiva to outperform in just about every category. Obviously, the MKVI+ was much better for dynamic headphones. Actually, I'd bet the MKVI+ would be a sweet pairing for the HD800.
 

 
Really? Not something I expected, but the D7000 seems to sound best out of sources it shouldn't.
 
That's interesting, I would think that since the VI+ has a similar amount of power it should easily perform as well. Perhaps it's because the VI+ is OTL? Maybe the speaker amps can throw around a lot more current and that's what is really needed.
I'll take a closer look at smaller-ish speaker amps. The two other speaker amps I've been interested in are the TBI Millenia MG3, and a fully refurbished and upgraded NAD 3020 (a friend of mine does amazing refurb jobs on those amps).
 
Have you tried any other speaker amps with planars?

 

[zenpunk]

   
I had the MKVI+ and the Denon D7000. Surprisingly good combo. Really smooth sound for the D7000. 
 
When I compared the MKVI_ to the emotiva mini-x with my HE-500 and HE-6, I found the emotiva to outperform in just about every category. Obviously, the MKVI+ was much better for dynamic headphones. Actually, I'd bet the MKVI+ would be a sweet pairing for the HD800.

It just shows how subjective this hobby is. I stopped counting on how many headphone amps and receivers I tried the HE-6, including huge vintage Pioneer SX and Hifiman own EF6, and the MKVI+ was to those ears the best combo. But I will have to admit I never heard the Emotiva.

 

[elwappo99]

 
Really? Not something I expected, but the D7000 seems to sound best out of sources it shouldn't.
 
That's interesting, I would think that since the VI+ has a similar amount of power it should easily perform as well. Perhaps it's because the VI+ is OTL? Maybe the speaker amps can throw around a lot more current and that's what is really needed.
I'll take a closer look at smaller-ish speaker amps. The two other speaker amps I've been interested in are the TBI Millenia MG3, and a fully refurbished and upgraded NAD 3020 (a friend of mine does amazing refurb jobs on those amps).
 
Have you tried any other speaker amps with planars?

 
The MKVI+ is a really stellar amplifier and it designed for low impedance headphones, so even though it's overkill in terms of power, it's a really smooth amp for the D7000. By far my favorite amp for them.
 
I have tried out a ton of speaker amps for planars. I tried receivers, vintage amplifiers, tripaths, boutique audio companies, etc. I was the guinea pig of sorts for the emotiva, and prepro tried to get me to guinea pig for the Millenia amp. It looks super promising and has really good reviews (although, they are spread thin).
 

   
It just shows how subjective this hobby is. I stopped counting on how many headphone amps and receivers I tried the HE-6, including huge vintage Pioneer SX and Hifiman own EF6, and the MKVI+ was to those ears the best combo. But I will have to admit I never heard the Emotiva.

 
I did actually have a pioneer SX-990 that I compared with the MKVI+. I tried a lot of other amplifiers too. I thought the MKVI+ was really a stellar amplifier with orthos and outdid a lot of other amplifiers that I had for orthos. I found that it just didn't quite have the juice for the HE-6 which led me to searching for a speaker amp. When directly comparing, I thought they were really close, but the emotiva delivered some extra bass, which the HE-6 definitely needs. Some orthoholics suggest lack of bass is a sign of the HE-6 being underdriven. 

 

[zenpunk]

I tried the SX-1980 and the sound was just stellar and it would be hard not to be impressed by the combo but personally I just couldn't listen to it all day. Too much of a good thing come to mind. Personally I preferred the spacious, detailed and ultra realistic presentation of the MKVI (with 5998 tubes).
But I can easily imagine most people preferring the lusher, bass heavy presentation of the Pioneer.

 

[Taowolf51]

   
The MKVI+ is a really stellar amplifier and it designed for low impedance headphones, so even though it's overkill in terms of power, it's a really smooth amp for the D7000. By far my favorite amp for them.
 
I have tried out a ton of speaker amps for planars. I tried receivers, vintage amplifiers, tripaths, boutique audio companies, etc. I was the guinea pig of sorts for the emotiva, and prepro tried to get me to guinea pig for the Millenia amp. It looks super promising and has really good reviews (although, they are spread thin).
 

 
That sounds pretty awesome. So did you find the speaker amps to be the best performers with planars? I wonder what speaker amps have that the multi watt headphone amps don't.
 
When you tried the VI+ with the D7000, was it unbalanced, or did you modify the cables to be balanced? An amp that would work excellently with both of my major headphones is pretty alluring, but considering it would cost me about $800 with shipping compared to $220 for the Emotiva, it's a hard sell. My only worry with the Emo is the volume control (also it doesn't look that great, but eh). I really think a Mini-X with the XDA-2's resistor step ladder volume control would be the perfect headphone amp for planars.

 

[elwappo99]

 

   
The MKVI+ is a really stellar amplifier and it designed for low impedance headphones, so even though it's overkill in terms of power, it's a really smooth amp for the D7000. By far my favorite amp for them.
 
I have tried out a ton of speaker amps for planars. I tried receivers, vintage amplifiers, tripaths, boutique audio companies, etc. I was the guinea pig of sorts for the emotiva, and prepro tried to get me to guinea pig for the Millenia amp. It looks super promising and has really good reviews (although, they are spread thin).
 

 
That sounds pretty awesome. So did you find the speaker amps to be the best performers with planars? I wonder what speaker amps have that the multi watt headphone amps don't.
 
When you tried the VI+ with the D7000, was it unbalanced, or did you modify the cables to be balanced? An amp that would work excellently with both of my major headphones is pretty alluring, but considering it would cost me about $800 with shipping compared to $220 for the Emotiva, it's a hard sell. My only worry with the Emo is the volume control (also it doesn't look that great, but eh). I really think a Mini-X with the XDA-2's resistor step ladder volume control would be the perfect headphone amp for planars.

 
I could only use my MKVI+ balanced. The SE output on mine had the hum issue all of the other ones did. It was very prevalent in high sensitivity headphones, but dead quiet on balanced operation.
 
 
When it came to the Hifiman HE-6, the only headphone amp I heard it on that could compare to speaker amps was the Liquid Glass. After hearing them on  speakers, headphone amps always seemed weak. 
 
I mentioned to emotiva a few times that they should make something like that. Their response was usually something like we have a great headphone amplifier built into our DAC! Finally after the mini-x picked up more steam, I posted a thread over on their forums and their top guy said they would look into it. I'm always impressed with their gear (just bought their DC-1 DAC, which I'm really impressed by), so I'll be interested to see what they can put out!