[jham1496]

Quote:

As long as you have a decent DAC there is no need to upgrade, you won't see the difference.
I didn't not compared myself the A1 with others SS amp, but generally the opinions of tube sound vs SS sound is this one :
 
SS amps can sound harsh but ensure the maximum fidelity.
Tube amps sound sweet, they are more musical, but this musicality is distortion, hence less fidelity to the recording.
 
So basically the A1 is Hybrid meaning it combines both ss and tube sound.
 
However it has a THD of 0,1% which could be better. And audio-gd's product THD is much lower.
Hence, it more like "do you want an euphonic sound ? or an analytic one, with high fidelity to the recording ?" although I think audio-gd has some sound tuning for more euphonic sound on their amps.

Thats about what i thought, thanks.  Ill be getting my A1 a little after christmas.  

 

[jham1496]

Really loving my A1.  Upgraded to RCA 5654 black plate tubes which made a HUGE difference. The amp is a little bright with the stock tubes, the RCAs completely take that brightness away.  Sounds good with my dt990s (still a little bright with these for my taste) and GREAT with my cambridge audio s30 bookshelf speakers. No i'm gonna spend too much money on tubes but with the money i saved by buying this, it wont be a problem. 
Great price on a great amp, highly recommended.

 

[irishsammy]

Glad you're liking it.  I've loved my A1 from the beginning.  Powers my 880/600's very well. 
 
Where did you get the 5654 tubes?  I'm about due for a roll...

 

[jham1496]

Quote:

Glad you're liking it.  I've loved my A1 from the beginning.  Powers my 880/600's very well. 
 
Where did you get the 5654 tubes?  I'm about due for a roll...

i just got them off ebay. I used the little dot tube rolling thread as a guide because the A1 uses the same driver tubes.  

 

[Solitary1]

I just bought the audio gd NFB-11.32, and of course the tube vs. SS is there. Also audio gd has not been burn-in, very transparent, but the A1 with HD 650 (which love tubes) is better. Using the AKG K167, the audio gd is winner.

 

[zekrocha]

hello...do i need buy this A1 with D1?
can i buy this A1 only for my Dac for my cd player coz i'll already have stereo amplifier

 

[CoiL]

Has anyone tried A1 with Aune T1? Or is there anyone who could try it out? Thinking of buying this tor my external 8Ohm shelf-speakers instead of Onkyo receiver. 

 

[uncola]

I just ordered an A1 and I'm currently using an Aune T1.  I'll let you guys know how they compare

 

[Thujone]

  I just ordered an A1 and I'm currently using an Aune T1.  I'll let you guys know how they compare

 
I'm definitely interested in the comparison. What headphones are you A/Bing with?

 

[uncola]

Hifiman he300, ultrasone hfi550 and I have some yuin pk2 with upgraded spc cable. What attracted me to the a1 as an upgrade(hopefully) to the aune was all the reviews that said it had great bass. Lately I've been on a dub step/edm kick so I switched to my ultrasone which are normally in my closet. I also really like the bigger more pro looking appearance and knobs of the A1 enclosure and I like that it doesn't use a power brick like the aune. The speaker amp is just a bonus but I might use that too

 

[kingofzero]

What's the headphone output impedance of this thing?
 
Edit: It's 30 ohm.

 

[uncola]

My A1 arrived today!  I'm very impressed with the sturdiness and appearance of the enclosure.  The hifimediy dac I was going to pair it with hasn't arrived yet, so I don't want to compare it to the Aune T1 yet.  When the dac arrives I'll use both amps with it and compare.  So far I'll just say the headphone out is dead silent with no hiss and gets plenty loud and sound seems very good so far.  I'm using it to power some speakers I had in my closet and so far it's good and gets plenty loud for my bedroom.  Speaker out also has no hiss, which gives me a LOT of confidence in the design and build quality.  Here's some unboxing pics
 
edit: some more speaker impression
Long story short, I used to have a Dayton DTA100A 2 channel amp.  I was never happy with it because it felt so low quality.  Issues it had:  pop on power on to both speakers and headphone port, hiss on speakers, RCA input jacks would sometimes come out if you didn't twist when removing the cord from them and a giant power brick.  I eventually sold it for the cost of shipping.  It did have lots of power, and the general sound from the speakers was decent.
I'm happy to report this Maverick amp has none of those issues and feels like a high quality part.  The sound quality to the speakers is definitely higher quality than the dayton as well.  The volume knob has a smooth action and I get no audible noises or distortion when making large turns, power button has a nice positive action when you push it in, rca jacks are high quality and feel firm in the sockets, speaker outs are also nice and stiff and don't shift when plugging in banana plugs.  I'm using bluejeans cable's white version of Belden 5000 12ga with their short banana plugs.  I have the monoprice premium 3.5 to 3.5 cable interconnect(the thick one) and I'm using a 3.5 female to rca male adapter to use the rear rca input on the A1.  My speakers are PSB Image B5, 5 1/4" woofers and 1" titanium tweeters.  8 Ohms nominal but I've seen some different PSB spec sheets say 6 ohms so not sure.   I was watching War of the Worlds as a bass test and I never got above 12:30 on the volume dial, any higher and my neighbors would complain.  Music is mastered louder so it is way lower on the volume dial.  
 
Once I get my hifimediy sabre 9023 dac I'll A/B test it vs the Aune
 





 

 

[pigmeat]

Hey guys.  First post but i've been lurking for a few months here.  My A1 arrived in the mail earlier this week and with a tube roll, it sounds great to me.  It's ALMOST perfect with one slightly large flaw for me.  I contacted Ryan from Mav Audio and he unfortunately said it is working as intended.

 
I have my Velodyne sub hooked up with RCAs to the tube pre out.  it works great when playing through speakers but when i plug my headphones in, the sub still fires.  Like Ryan said, the line out does not get muted under these circumstances.  My question to you Head-fiers is what can I do to modify the way this works.  I was thinking an on/off foot switch, a/b switch...  i'm using small 4" bookshelves that have decent mid and high but 0 bottom end so just abandoning the sub isn't really an option right now.
 
Other than the line out quark and a few other minor cosmetic issues (stupid screw holes), this is exactly what i’ve been searching for.  Its small, it has great output for near field, headphone amp built in and its tube!

 

[Thujone]

If there is some way to hook up your sub to the speaker tabs (in a combo with your bookshelves), that's the only way I can think to get the whole system to work without needing a switch. Kind of obvious, I know, but I don't know what kind of hookups you have on the back of your sub. If it is anything like the Dayton Audio Sub-800, it should be doable (I'm guessing you don't have this kind of setup though).

 

[pigmeat]

  If there is some way to hook up your sub to the speaker tabs (in a combo with your bookshelves), that's the only way I can think to get the whole system to work without needing a switch. Kind of obvious, I know, but I don't know what kind of hookups you have on the back of your sub. If it is anything like the Dayton Audio Sub-800, it should be doable (I'm guessing you don't have this kind of setup though).

 
yeah i have the speaker tabs on the back but i was trying to avoid running signal through additional stuff.  It's just a more complicated setup with more speaker wire (and more of a mess).  I'll give it a shot.  Thanks for the help.