[FunyunBreath]

I've got the D1 and the 600 ohm 880's. The D1's amp just doesn't have enough juice to power high ohm cans well at all. If you're thinking about going high-ohm your best bet for an affordable desktop amp would be an OTL tube amp. I just built a Bottlehead Crack and being OTL it powers my 880's marvelously. The D1 works great as a DAC though, and it powers low ohm cans well with really no background noise.
 
My friend has the 32 ohm 880's and we just sat down for a few hours and did a side by side comparison that i'm going to write a review on pretty soon. the setup we ran was: FLAC played through Fidelia set to normal 24/96 resampling -> Optical out to Maverick D1 -> Solid state out to Crack
 
We ended up finding out that the 600 ohm 880's when powered through this rig sounded marvelous, very very ow noise floor, incredibly detailed, tight bass, with liquid mids. His 32 ohm 880's through the crack sounded slightly warmer with a bit more noise and less instrument separation. When we ran his 32 880's through the D1 they still had a nice soundstage and were driven well even compared to the 600 ohm 880's being driven through the Crack. 
 
The big conclusion we came to is that for 200 bucks the D1 powered the 32 ohm 880's well enough to not justify needing to buy a tube amp and the 600 ohm 880's if someone was on a budget. The 600 ohm 880's sounded better than the 32's when run through the OTL amp, but when run through the D1 they sounded lifeless and had a significantly reduced soundstage, with anemic bass and harsh highs.

 

[RandomShortGuy]

Thank for the awesome feedback! Being a college student, I'm not exactly made of money so I'm just trying to get the best out of what I can within a budget I can afford.
 
As of now, it looks like I'm going to try and find a DT990/600, sell my M50s (which may be a little difficult as the cosmetic condition I received them in wasn't exactly amazing, I sanded out most of the scratches and painted them a deep purple. I think they came out very well, but I doubt many others have the same appreciation as I do for purple.) and look into a OTL amp of some sort, and pair that with my D1. 
 
Three more questions, how difficult would you say it is to assemble a Crack? I have some soldering experience but I'd still say that it's limited (mainly just repairs of broken connections) The second being, do you have any other recommendations for an amp that doesn't need to be assembled that is within that price range? And lastly, how would the set up be? As of now I'm using my D1 via optical from my desktop. Would it be PC > D1 > Amp > DT990?
 
Thank you again for the help!

 

[FunyunBreath]

No problem, I know how tough it is to be an audiophile on a college student budget
 
The crack is just straight up awesome, and for $220 you really can't go wrong. Doc B's philosophy is why buy an amp that cost $200, when over 50% of that cost is because someone has to assemble it. Just spend that $200 on a kit and you get an amp that sounds like it costs more than twice as much. 
 
The crack really isn't difficult at all. I have absolutely no knowledge of circuit theory and just a bit of soldering experience, and I built the amp over a weekend. Doc's directions are top notch and he literally goes step-by-step, even gives you warnings on the more "challenging" parts so you don't accidentally mess up. 
 
For around $200 a DIY amp kit is the way to go for OTL rather than a Little Dot or some other chinese amp. The little dot's sound great but you can get twice the amp if you build it yourself, plus it's fun
 
As far as the connections go for your setup you've pretty much got it nailed. I run optical -> D1 -> Crack -> 880's (as far as the solid state output vs the tube output on the D1 i've been trying to decide which I like better) I replaced the original tube in the D1 with a Western Electric 396A and it definitely adds a little bit of warmth. Although it might just be in my head, I think the soundstage sounds a bit less wide than using the SS out.

 

[Tequilasunriser]

Did you install the speedball mod or is it a vanilla crack?
 
If not, do you plan to install the mod?

 

[jbhildebrand]

The Maverick site has a new listing today for pre-ordering the Tubemagic D2... any info on this product yet?

 

[Ultrainferno]

sure, there's a hidden D2 thread somewhere. not kidding
 
and this: http://www.mav-audio.com/base/product/tubemagic_d2/d2_hardware

 

[FunyunBreath]

Quote:

Did you install the speedball mod or is it a vanilla crack?
 
If not, do you plan to install the mod?

I have the speedball parts sitting on my desk wanted to enjoy the base kit for a while before giving it some kick

 

[_Spanky_]

I'm baaaaaaaaaack! It's been a few months since I've been here but I've been in contact recently with Ryan so I thought I would stop by again.
 
Quote:

sure, there's a hidden D2 thread somewhere. not kidding
 
and this: http://www.mav-audio.com/base/product/tubemagic_d2/d2_hardware

Indeed, the D2 is on it's way finally. The product page has all the info so far. Another production batch is on it's way to Ryan right now so I would imagine any orders pending will get fulfilled in the next week or so. 
 
Looks like I need to rework the original post as none of the spoilers work now (darn Head-Fi forever updating).

 

[iskimya]

Hi to all and especially to that gentleman involved with all the hard work put in this thread.
 
I found myself in this forum because i was looking for some information regarding the Mav D1. Is it me or is there a problem with the links submitted by _Spanky_ in the front page of the thread?  Would like to see some more information before I take the plunge to get one of these.

 

[Ultrainferno]

Quote:

I'm baaaaaaaaaack! It's been a few months since I've been here but I've been in contact recently with Ryan so I thought I would stop by again.
 

Indeed, the D2 is on it's way finally. The product page has all the info so far. Another production batch is on it's way to Ryan right now so I would imagine any orders pending will get fulfilled in the next week or so. 
 
Looks like I need to rework the original post as none of the spoilers work now (darn Head-Fi forever updating).

What tube is in the DAC? Ryan doesn't mention it on his product page
 
never mind, I found it: NOS GE 5670W

 

[_Spanky_]

Quote:

Hi to all and especially to that gentleman involved with all the hard work put in this thread.
 
I found myself in this forum because i was looking for some information regarding the Mav D1. Is it me or is there a problem with the links submitted by _Spanky_ in the front page of the thread?  Would like to see some more information before I take the plunge to get one of these.

Hey iskimya, the links are broken. I've had to fix the thread many times as the forum updates have broken the features. If I have some free time today, I will work on it.


Quote:

What tube is in the DAC? Ryan doesn't mention it on his product page
 
never mind, I found it: NOS GE 5670W

Bingo

 

[Ultrainferno]

I was hoping for new tube

 

[_Spanky_]

Well it's cool for those that owned the D1 that still have the tubes. I now regret getting rid of my WE396A... Oh well.

 

[Ultrainferno]

I still have all my tubes

 

[B-Dawk20]

Anybody around here have the chance to use the HD650 with the D1? Looking into getting one in the future.