[Mr C]

Ok well I ordered mine yesterday, lets see how long it takes to reach the land of wine and cheese.
I'm very interested in a online tube retailer too, anyone knows of any tubes that'll give richer bass to my hd580?

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

After reading a few complaints about the EF2's USB DAC being too quiet, I hooked mine back up to the USB of my Macbook Pro and to the Pico USB DAC-only that I normally use, and switched between them. The EF2 driving my HD600 will play quite loud and higher than I will ever listen to it with either the built-in USB or the Pico DAC hooked up to the RCA. The Pico DAC-only does let the EF2 play about 3-4 dB louder than the internal DAC, but there is there is more than sufficient volume with the internal DAC.

And the EF2 will play the HD600 louder than my portable USB DAC amps. The 3MOVE and Vivid V1 (which I have not compared side by side in a while) can play fairly loud with the HD600, but none of the others can play that loud and I'm not sure the 3MOVE would match the volumes of the EF2.

 

[mmd8x28]

I took some pics of the EF2 in the studio. Volume control is in movie listening for me.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...n/EF2/ef21.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...n/EF2/ef22.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...n/EF2/ef23.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...n/EF2/ef24.jpg

 

[Nankai]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HeadphoneAddict /img/forum/go_quote.gif After reading a few complaints about the EF2's USB DAC being too quiet, I hooked mine back up to the USB of my Macbook Pro and to the Pico USB DAC-only that I normally use, and switched between them. The EF2 driving my HD600 will play quite loud and higher than I will ever listen to it with either the built-in USB or the Pico DAC hooked up to the RCA. The Pico DAC-only does let the EF2 play about 3-4 dB louder than the internal DAC, but there is there is more than sufficient volume with the internal DAC. And the EF2 will play the HD600 louder than my portable USB DAC amps. The 3MOVE and Vivid V1 (which I have not compared side by side in a while) can play fairly loud with the HD600, but none of the others can play that loud and I'm not sure the 3MOVE would match the volumes of the EF2.

Actually computer system volume control will be automatically set at 50% after EF2 USB just connected. Users need to maximize the system volume to 100%.

 

[daigo]

I run the EF2 from my computer (usb audio out at 100%) and I listen to music using foobar2000 (volume at max) at ~10-11 o'clock position being right on the border of being too loud for my headphones.

 

[sithlord32786]

man! This amp is pretty much exactly what I want for a desktop amp...a tube/dac combo. Right now I'm running my DT770/80's out of a BSG 9v cmoy from my stock integrated sound card. Needless to say, it's really unacceptable. The sound is clear but whenever I want to turn the volume up to a decent level, I get distorted bass and I know my Beyer's are capable of good clean bass and overall better sound. The only problem is, I didn't really want to spend this much. Is there anything like this amp that's any cheaper or is this pretty much it?

 

[mmd8x28]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nankai /img/forum/go_quote.gif Actually computer system volume control will be automatically set at 50% after EF2 USB just connected. Users need to maximize the system volume to 100%.

Macintosh's default to 100%.. I tried all my Macs, the EF2 defaulted to 100%, not 50%.. Including a fresh installed Mac...

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sithlord32786 /img/forum/go_quote.gif man! This amp is pretty much exactly what I want for a desktop amp...a tube/dac combo. Right now I'm running my DT770/80's out of a BSG 9v cmoy from my stock integrated sound card. Needless to say, it's really unacceptable. The sound is clear but whenever I want to turn the volume up to a decent level, I get distorted bass and I know my Beyer's are capable of good clean bass and overall better sound. The only problem is, I didn't really want to spend this much. Is there anything like this amp that's any cheaper or is this pretty much it?

This is pretty much it in terms of low price desktop DAC/amp, and for the price it's a steal. It gets even better with upgraded tubes, and even more better with an upgraded external DAC like Pico, SuperPro DAC707, iBasso D4 or D10. (The internal DAC is a Burr Brown PCM2702E Japan like in the Meier 3MOVE or Practical Devices XM5, and it's an upgrade over most PC soundcards, but it can be easily improved upon).

 

[daigo]

I just received a lot of 6AK5 tubes that I won on ebay for $12 shipped. Six GE, 2 Sylvania gold pins, and 4 RCA's in their cardboard boxes in pretty good condition.

With the GE 6AK5 matched pair (labeled by the seller) in the EF 2, I had to turn the volume knob down from where I had it at last night for listening to the same jazz tracks I last listened to. Looking forward to trying the others as well!

 

[FrozenGecko]

Quote:

Originally Posted by daigo /img/forum/go_quote.gif I just received a lot of 6AK5 tubes that I won on ebay for $12 shipped. Six GE, 2 Sylvania gold pins, and 4 RCA's in their cardboard boxes in pretty good condition. With the GE 6AK5 matched pair (labeled by the seller) in the EF 2, I had to turn the volume knob down from where I had it at last night for listening to the same jazz tracks I last listened to. Looking forward to trying the others as well!

Besides the volume, have you noticed any differences?

 

[daigo]

I'll get back to you after a few days

 

[jrah]

How do these compare with the Little Dot MKII for only the amp part?

 

[sithlord32786]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HeadphoneAddict /img/forum/go_quote.gif This is pretty much it in terms of low price desktop DAC/amp, and for the price it's a steal. It gets even better with upgraded tubes, and even more better with an upgraded external DAC like Pico, SuperPro DAC707, iBasso D4 or D10. (The internal DAC is a Burr Brown PCM2702E Japan like in the Meier 3MOVE or Practical Devices XM5, and it's an upgrade over most PC soundcards, but it can be easily improved upon).

Thanks for the input.

Well, if I got a better DAC like the D2+ or D4, I wouldn't really need to get the EF2 then. In that case I could get a different amp and just pair the amp and DAC together. The only reason I was really attracted to the EF2 was because it was an all-in-one solution, but if the DAC in the iBasso's are really that much better than the integrated DAC in the EF2 then I just might have to get one of those and then a tube amp by itself. I could then use the iBasso for portable purposes. The only problem is that now I'm spending even more money that I would have with just the EF2, but I guess, you get what you pay for.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sithlord32786 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Thanks for the input. Well, if I got a better DAC like the D2+ or D4, I wouldn't really need to get the EF2 then. In that case I could get a different amp and just pair the amp and DAC together. The only reason I was really attracted to the EF2 was because it was an all-in-one solution, but if the DAC in the iBasso's are really that much better than the integrated DAC in the EF2 then I just might have to get one of those and then a tube amp by itself. I could then use the iBasso for portable purposes. The only problem is that now I'm spending even more money that I would have with just the EF2, but I guess, you get what you pay for.

Sounds good - the thing I like about the EF2 is it's balanced sound and more power than a portable, for the cost of a portable, but with desktop quality sound. What I don't like is that some people assume that if they wont use the DAC then it isn't worth buying, when I still think it is hard to beat as a tube hybrid for under $200. Others (that I have heard) to consider are the EF1 (or it's replacement, the EF5), Cavalli CTH, Millett Starving Student. I've not heard the LD amps.

I find the EF2 has a precise enough volume pot to use with IEM, as did the CTH that wiatrob built and let me review. The Cavalli is great if you can build your own amp, and is very tunable with 6.3v and 12.6v tubes. The one I tried had a nice volume pot. The EF1 was very good and only slightly behind the CTH, but good enough that I sold my DV336i after I got the EF1. It is more powerful than the EF2 and responds to tube rolling as well. The EF1 volume control was not as precise and was not good for IEM, but I understand that has been corrected in newer versions while mine was made very early in production. I actually traded the EF1 for the EF2 because I liked it so much. Our Millett SSH from the rds kits has the same issue with an imprecise volume pot, making ours a poor choice for IEM, but as a DIY amp you can choose a better volume pot if you need.

Obviously there are a lot of desktop amps in this $200-400 price range to consider, including SS like Travagans and Firestone or Nuforce. But I still use my EF2 often with my Macbook and Pico DAC, even though I could restrict myself to only my most expensive amps. If you can't DIY and can't spend $600 on a Woo amp, I tend to think of the EF1 and EF2 as my preferred recommendations. The Qinpu A-3 is another one I reviewed and like about as much, especially for driving Stax transformers.

 

[mmd8x28]

Wow, I just found a song in my iTunes library that seemingly has no bass at all on the EF2 (and only a sliver of bass on the computers own headphone jack).

It's Gorillaz - 19-2000 (Soul Child Remix)

There just seems to be no bass, and nearly every other song from them has pumping bass on the EF2's.. Don't know if that's the intention of the song or not. The youtube (stereo versions if you can't find it) are like that too, no bass..

Is it just me, or is this the song just bassless?