Moth Si2A3: I caved!

[kentamcolin]

Just ordered a new Si2A3 from Moth Audio. I'm going to get Sophia mesh plates 2A3's to go with it. It will take them a few weeks to build it, but I should have it by mid-January.

I almost bought a Cary SLI-80, but would have continued wondering just how good a 2A3 based headphone amp would be.

 

[mikepittarelli]

I had a Cary SLI-80. Used it with
HD600s + Cardas cable. It wasn't so
great. Followed it with an Emmeline HR-2 and an MPX3, both of which were/are much more detailed and pleasant sounding.

 

[kentamcolin]

I'm feeling better already.

I actually just inquired about Sophia Electric's "Princess" tube. Moth is going to look into building the amp to use this tube.

 

[KR...]

Hurray!

You are my new hero!

Now it's up to you dear boy to write a detailed review and take many pics for us all.

 

[CRESCENDOPOWER]

.

 

[kentamcolin]

Actually I just sent a PM to Tuberoller regarding a review. I think his experience will be a huge benefit in doing this properly, and he lives fairly close to me. I'll certainly post pics once I get it if someone will tell me how (tried this before ut couldn't get it to work).

 

[kentamcolin]

Well I found out that the amp would really need to be built specifically for the Princess tube in order to work properly. Moth will do this for no additional cost. It involves some power supply mods and a different transformer. I'm hugely tempted to go for it, why not? Could be just spectacular, and power output for speakers is 5-6W, which is considerably more than the 3W with 2A3. Sophia claims the Princess combines the best of both worlds of 2As & 45 tubes, and initial reviews I have found rave about the tube.

 

[daycart1]

Good going! I don't think there has EVER been a review of any Moth amp here on Head-Fi.

 

[kentamcolin]

This is going to be a "Princess" amp for sure. It may take a bit longer to get because of the transformer issue as Moth does not stock the proper one. I'm sooooo excited (so was Craig at Moth Audio).

Now, when will that next Chicago meet be???

 

[KR...]

Great, this also means it can play amp the AKG K1000 with little effort

and any other headphone.

Plus you can now use any horn speakers with it as well.

 

[bootman]

Quote:

Originally posted by KR... Great, this also means it can play amp the AKG K1000 with little effort and any other headphone. Plus you can now use any horn speakers with it as well.

Moth makes the very nice Cicada speaker.

This is some exciting news.
We've been waiting a very long time for someone to own the Moth amp.


Here is a pic so that we may all drool.

 

[KR...]

I just notice that I got too exicted and my post made no sense whatsoever

Quote:

Great, this also means it can play amp the AKG K1000 with little effort and any other headphone. Plus you can now use any horn speakers with it as well.

Let me translate that

Great! This means that this amp can now be used with the AKG K1000 as well as any other headphone. Though maybe it wouldn't be good for Grados.

 

[markl]

Congrats, kentamcolin, very cool, we've all been dieing to know about this baby! What headphones/source/cabling will you be using with it?

(If it's not too rude, might one enquire about pricing?)

 

[kentamcolin]

Actually this amp should work well with Grado cans. On of the issues to deal with is proper loading when listening only to headphones. An 8 ohm speaker load is very different than a 300 ohm headphone load. the Grados would provide adequate loading, but the Senn's alone will not. The amp will have to be loaded when I listen to Senn's.

My cans are Sennheiser HD650, and according to Drew ar Moon Audio I'll have my Moon Silver Dragon cable as soon as the next production run is complete.

The amp runs $1995, and the Sophia Princess tubes are (ouch!) $599 per pair. I'm also going to use their rectifier tube as well as they claim the combination will be incredible.

I have listened to Moth's Cicada speakers and liked them very much, especially for $600! unfortunately, they are completely out of stock at this time. I will likely add these or Cain Abbey speakers in the future. My Dahlquist DQM-9's are efficient enough for this amp for the time being.

I'm going to be having a bit of an audio sale to pay for some of this.

 

[Nick Dangerous]

Awesome, man! Not only are you getting a Moth amp, but a Princess tube version... wow. The only drawback is that you won't be able to roll different 2A3's.

This may not be much of a problem, actually. Sophia's mesh 2A3 is already considered the best, and since they make the Princess tube... it looks like you'll be starting at the top and working your way up.

Now all you need is a pair of these...