[Lindholdt]

Very interested in hearing what you think

 

[saujamhamm]

so far the apos ray, tung-sol, rca vt231, russian 6n8s... they've all been 10/10 perfect in both the roger and my lyr from schiit. the amount of glow i get from the heaters has more variation than these do with the sound.

i listen to everything from diana krall to az yet to yoyo ma - nothing has stepped out of line with this amp. i wish i could do more to describe the sound but i'm not much for discussing attack and decay and transients.

music to me either sounds "right" or wrong. there are many levels of right... but those are personal, how the image tilts, how vocalists sound... all that is up to your ears so i won't push my opinions, which are going to differ from anyone else.

but the rightness of the tor roger cannot be overstated. it's a gem of an amp. and the ray tube sounds exactly how you think it would. flawless.

 

[Knee Deep In Epoxy]

I have a Tor Balanced. I decided to use it as a "Poweramp" by setting it to max volume and adding a preamp before it in the chain to control the volume.

This way i can use a remote control to control the volume on the preamp. I also feel like it enables me to get the most out of the tube, but this may be placebo.

Effectively the Tor Balanced is running constantly at max power / volume, albeit the input power is reduced/controlled by the preamp.

Question - is this a bad idea? I'm I likely to burn out the amp this way?

Is there a better volume setting to set the tor amp to in order to use a pre-amp (e.g.12 o'clock, 3 o'clock, etc) or is it better to just use the volume control built into the amp without using a preamp?

I'm asking about both sound quality and longevity of the amplifier.

 

[michael2v]

Does anyone know the output impedance of the Roger?

 

[Ezumin]

Does anyone know the output impedance of the Roger?

I emailed TorAudio asking what the output impedance of the Balanced. Dima stated: The output impedance of the amplifier is about 67 ohms at a frequency of 1 kHz.

In another email Dima stated: The balanced amplifier uses two independent stages for each channel, so it is like two Roger amplifiers in the same box, but with different output transformers and some circuit changes, such as a 6-pin volume potentiometer.

I would expect the output impedance between the Roger and the Balanced to be similar.

 

[michael2v]

I emailed TorAudio asking what the output impedance of the Balanced. Dima stated: The output impedance of the amplifier is about 67 ohms at a frequency of 1 kHz.

In another email Dima stated: The balanced amplifier uses two independent stages for each channel, so it is like two Roger amplifiers in the same box, but with different output transformers and some circuit changes, such as a 6-pin volume potentiometer.

I would expect the output impedance between the Roger and the Balanced to be similar.

Wow, that seems quite high? That would mean a fairly low damping factor even for 300-ohm headphones. I rarely see this measure quoted at a certain frequency, is this the standard? Something like the Valhalla 2 is only 19 ohms in high gain by comparison.

Edit: Ok so I guess this isn’t so unusual; I see the Darkvoice is 78 ohms at 1khz, and the Bottlehead crack is well into triple digits! Now I’m starting to understand where the tube magic comes from; it makes me wonder how much of the tube effect that we all know and love with dynamic headphones is really just the low damping factor, not the actual tubes!

Edit 2: Came across this interesting old post. I don't know who to believe, that thread or NwAvGuy!

 

[Traiguen]

I have had the Tor Balanced with updated LinLai E-6SN7 tubes for about a month. I also got the QuickSilver Amp so I have been A/B them very often trying to pickup their differences... if any. As far as power, I can confirm that the Tor Balanced is barely able to drive the Abyss 1266 or the Hifiman Arya Organic, so if Planar Magnetic is your "thing"... I do not recommend the Tor Balanced. For 300 ohms dynamic headphones such as the ZMF Atrium (open or closed), the Tor Balanced drives them very well.
As far as sound I find these two amps very, very similar, but the QuickSilver is the more powerful one. Tor Balanced has a totally silent background, no hum or any noise at all just beautiful / enjoyable music comes out.

 

[Marutks]

I have had the Tor Balanced with updated LinLai E-6SN7 tubes for about a month.

How does it compare to your Homage amp? Which one do you prefer (with Atriums)?

 

[Traiguen]

How does it compare to your Homage amp? Which one do you prefer (with Atriums)?

I am so bad at hearing "real" sound differences between Amps... I keep A/B between the QuickSilver and the Tor Audio and I hear almost no difference, Maybe, the Tor is a tiny bit more dynamic and punchy.... but very little. Out of these two, the QuickSilver has much more power than the Tor Audio in case you want to listen very loud on the Atrium.
I just run a test track (Hotel California from the Hell Freezes Over Album) and the drum punch on the Homage was the best of the 3 Amps!. Homage in high impedance & high gain is very punchy and fun... I am liking this SS a lot.

 

[Lindholdt]

I have had the Tor Balanced with updated LinLai E-6SN7 tubes for about a month. I also got the QuickSilver Amp so I have been A/B them very often trying to pickup their differences... if any. As far as power, I can confirm that the Tor Balanced is barely able to drive the Abyss 1266 or the Hifiman Arya Organic, so if Planar Magnetic is your "thing"... I do not recommend the Tor Balanced. For 300 ohms dynamic headphones such as the ZMF Atrium (open or closed), the Tor Balanced drives them very well.
As far as sound I find these two amps very, very similar, but the QuickSilver is the more powerful one. Tor Balanced has a totally silent background, no hum or any noise at all just beautiful / enjoyable music comes out.

Interesting
Not sure if we just enjoy vastly different volumes when we listen, or if there is a difference between the balanced and unbalanced Tor when it comes to output. My unbalanced Roger is more than enough for my HiFiMAN HE1000's, I'm never even close to max on the volume knob.
Nice setup, though

 

[svmusa]

I have been considering this amp mostly due to 6sn7 tubes I have around with me which makes it easier to own and most particularly from what I can gather from you all is the nice warm sound signature, I am after a bit less energetic highs that modern gear seems to emphasize a lot which is sort of fatiguing for long listening sessions to my old ears.

Will the balanced or Roger/Nick versions will have issues driving low to medium impedance phones from your experience? Meze Neo 24 ohms, Sony MDR Z1-R ~ 65 ohms, they both are 103db sensitivity so don't need much power at all to drive.

I have Bayer DT 770 250 ohms, which I gather should be fine due to high impedance.

Reading the thread seems like tube rectification on Roger may not be that beneficial for sound? I could be wrong.

Leaning on the balanced version and gather I can also use single ended phones with an adapter?
Any one using preamp to drive their TOR rather than a fixed line out from DAC?

Appreciate your guidance, and hoping they are still shipping the amps with the current situation in Ukraine. I did reach out from their contact page but not heard back so far.

 

[svmusa]

I have a Tor Balanced. I decided to use it as a "Poweramp" by setting it to max volume and adding a preamp before it in the chain to control the volume.

This way i can use a remote control to control the volume on the preamp. I also feel like it enables me to get the most out of the tube, but this may be placebo.

Effectively the Tor Balanced is running constantly at max power / volume, albeit the input power is reduced/controlled by the preamp.

Question - is this a bad idea? I'm I likely to burn out the amp this way?

Is there a better volume setting to set the tor amp to in order to use a pre-amp (e.g.12 o'clock, 3 o'clock, etc) or is it better to just use the volume control built into the amp without using a preamp?

I'm asking about both sound quality and longevity of the amplifier.

Curious of your experience as I am also thinking of similar approach, Generally the volume controls are at the input signal level so in net you are bypassing the Tor volume control with max setting and usually this should not damage the amp other than possible clipping of headphone sound if you supply a higher volume from the preamp that exceeds the input sensitivity of the Tor amp.

 

[Traiguen]

An opportunity for those "Roger" owners out there if you want to explore the Balanced amp...
https://www.head-fi.org/classifieds/tor-balanced-tube-headphone-amp-3-month-old.62766/

 

[svmusa]

Wanted to share my recent extremely positive purchase experience from Tor Audio last month, I purchased the balanced version and had them provide a switch to accommodate 12SN7 tubes as I quite a few of them from my LTA MicroZOTL Preamp.

I am happy to report the amp is an excellent purchase and is a great backup for my LTA amp and much easier to roll tubes (6SN7/6F8G/12SN7), very responsive to tube rolling in my setup. The sound signature is perfect from musicality perspective, this is how I believe a tube amp should sound, no issues with hiss or buzz absolutely great black background, impactful bass, holographic mids and vocals. The treble is airy but not sibilant and a good match for sibilant phones.

I am using 30 to 80 ohms dynamic headphones with Audio-GD R28 and SMSL SU9 dac, got plenty of power using XLR inputs.

I think this is a sleeper amp and a great value in tube amps.