Tubes in a computer?

[philodox]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jazper apparently it sounded pretty good *shrugs* but the dac wasn't anything to write home about.

There is no DAC in the device he linked. It uses the output of your sound card [or something else I suppose]. It is just a tubed preamp basically.

EDIT: oops, I guess you were talking about that thing that you linked

I think I might upgrade my t-amp to one of those snazzy aluminum chassis with no pot and use this to control the volume.

Tube rolling the computer baby!

 

[Glod]

It surprises me no one has got the déja-vu and realized that this is just like the Music Fidelity X-10D. Actually, I got one my self here somewhere. It is still popular and even the old v2 still sells for handsome money at the on-line auctions.

If he still cares about this series of a tube buffer and amps, PinkFloyd will probably tell us the whole story.

 

[philodox]

Well, the Muskateer 3 is available for purchase shortly... I'm going to get one and rewire the output to 2xRCA. This will hopefully finally motivate me to modding my t-amp.

 

[Tachikoma]

so the musketeer 3 is a tubed preamp... thats it? And I honestly don't understand how the tubes in that "tubed" motherboard work.

 

[Jazper]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tachikoma And I honestly don't understand how the tubes in that "tubed" motherboard work.

gain stage after the dac as far as I understand it

 

[Tachikoma]

so it becomes useless if you upgrade to another soundcard/add a DAC?

 

[philodox]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tachikoma so the musketeer 3 is a tubed preamp... thats it?

Pretty much... the headphone out should be usefull as well.

 

[Jazper]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tachikoma so it becomes useless if you upgrade to another soundcard/add a DAC?

yah

 

[Jahn]

there are a few tube dacs running around, from the scott dixon tubedac+ for a few hundred, to that monster tube DAC in this month's stereophile for thousands. yikes.

 

[philodox]

I just got my Musketeer III... it's real purty.

The think is way smaller than I was expecting and quite simple really. The cables that connect to the rear slot are kind of flaky looking... I think I'm just going to have some custom mini-mini cables made and run them through an open slot. One from the AV710 to the M3 and one from the M3 to my t-amp.

I probably wont get a chance to install it tonight, but it's going in this weekend.

 

[OakIris]

philodox - please let us know the results!

I'm still confused as to whether this thing is a "tubed pre-amp" or a soundcard - the installation instructions call it a sound card.

Holly

 

[philodox]

It is definately not a sound card. It has a mini in and a mini out on the back and a headphone out and volume control on the front.

So I would say it is a tubed preamp with built in headphone amp.

The circuitry is pretty simple from the looks of things... lots of room for mods though.

 

[OakIris]

You are of course correct, philodox.

I somehow interpreted this statement: Quote:

1. Plug one end of the 20cm cable into the output end of the sound card where it is labeled “OUT” or into the green socket (speaker output). Plug the other end into the socket that is labeled “IN” on the PCI bracket.

to mean that they were saying the Musketeer was the sound card, but I opened up my eyes a bit further and saw that the graphic they included obviously meant that you plugged the Musketeer cable into your soundcard's "out" socket.

Anyway, I would like to hear about your impressions. I do indeed like the sound of tubes and I bet it does indeed look "purty" in your system. I'm already using a tube headphone amplifier with my computer set up so I guess I don't need to get the Musketeer, but I am still curious.

Holly

 

[philodox]

Well, I'm installing it in about 30min along with some other nice Cooler Master stuff:

Black brushed aluminum optical drive bezel
Rounded chrome ATA133 cable
Zalman CNPS7700-AlCu [ok, not coolermaster but I was waiting on the thermal compound]
Cooler Master Blue Ice Northbridge Chipset Cooler
[both installed with Cooler Master HTK-002 thermal compound]
...and a big 120mm blue LED fan also made by Cooler Master

I have a 80mm intake of the same type and it is nice and quiet... and it will help light up the case a bit along with the chipset cooler.

 

[MikoLayer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by philodox Well, I'm installing it in about 30min along with some other nice Cooler Master stuff: Black brushed aluminum optical drive bezel Rounded chrome ATA133 cable Zalman CNPS7700-AlCu [ok, not coolermaster but I was waiting on the thermal compound] Cooler Master Blue Ice Northbridge Chipset Cooler [both installed with Cooler Master HTK-002 thermal compound] ...and a big 120mm blue LED fan also made by Cooler Master I have a 80mm intake of the same type and it is nice and quiet... and it will help light up the case a bit along with the chipset cooler.

hurry up and write a review already