[smodtactical]

What is your favorite tube amp for vocals / mid range ?

 

[Haidar]

Great question! I expect many OTL amps and SET amps to be mentioned as favorites for vocals and mids

 

[Wes S]

The Cayin HA300mk2 makes the midrange and especially vocals sound so hauntingly lifelike it's nuts.

 

[smodtactical]

The Cayin HA300mk2 makes the midrange and especially vocals sound so hauntingly lifelike it's nuts.

What other tube amps have you tried ?

 

[Wes S]

What other tube amps have you tried ?

My last full tube amp was the ZMF Pendant SE, and I had a hybrid as well, the Rogue RH5.

 

[VanHai]

DNA Sonett 2 with Mullard GZ 34 and Reflector 6N30P- DR tubes. Vocals and mids are so intimate regardless using different dynamic headphones.

​

 

[roderickvd]

Given a certain level of build quality, maybe tubes and pairing will matter more than the bare amp? Not saying the amp doesn't matter, but...

 

[TonyTripleA]

What is your favorite tube amp for vocals / mid range ?

I’ve only tried a handful, and owned three… a bigger Ben, an Auris nirvana... and a Prima Luna 200, purchased in that order. The EL34 tube is what I chose because of how it handles vocals and midrange. Cheap to replace and readily available, I chose Sophia EL34 tubes because of the 5 percent improvement to the bass “tightness” on the nirvana.

But just as importantly synergy with my fav headphones was a critical part of the choice, and the Nirvana won on that front with the utopia and the 1266. The prima Luna does most of its work powering speakers, and hasn’t really suited the abyss 1266 like the nirvana but works okay with the utopia The bigger Ben was fun but no comparison in resolution, clarity or sparkle to the nirvana which remains the best valve amp I’ve heard, especially for vocals or jazz. To top it off is a fantastic build In my mk2 version.

I am looking forward to the new Sparkos tube amp that’s coming shortly. it uses a 12AU7 I believe, and that’s a fav driver tube for me as I found some old 1976 vintage ex military versions that work superbly, labelled as long plate GE. The best sparkle I have heard so far in the nirvana. And the Sparkos op amps are the best solid state I have heard so that pairing in the amp would potentially be magical… we will see.

I don’t think I’ve heard a valve amp I didn’t enjoy at some level with the right matching headphones… but nirvana and 1266 complement each other beautifully. I should add I tried a few different DACs to boost the synergy and settled on R2R, a denefrips terminator, which seems to enhance the synergy by further promoting the vocal midrange to a more mellow “Liquid gold” sound. Something the 1266 benefited from and the utopia revels in.

Finally I should mention the need for music that also fits with the system. The bigger Ben had one amazing advantage - badly recorded music sounded fun. The nirvana will shine a spotlight on a bad recording… the distortion on some notes near the start of “kinda blue” by Miles Davis drives me nuts using the nirvana and 1266 and yet with the primaluna I have to consciously try and hear it… and it sounds umm great. So what I’m pointing to is “horses for courses” you need to decide what you want to hear. I know I prefer the detail and accuracy the nirvana/1266 gives, plenty of friends prefer something more musical and forgiving, and I often join them in that too.

So far it’s a great 30 year plus journey…

T

 

[smodtactical]

I’ve only tried a handful, and owned three… a bigger Ben, an Auris nirvana... and a Prima Luna 200, purchased in that order. The EL34 tube is what I chose because of how it handles vocals and midrange. Cheap to replace and readily available, I chose Sophia EL34 tubes because of the 5 percent improvement to the bass “tightness” on the nirvana.

But just as importantly synergy with my fav headphones was a critical part of the choice, and the Nirvana won on that front with the utopia and the 1266. The prima Luna does most of its work powering speakers, and hasn’t really suited the abyss 1266 like the nirvana but works okay with the utopia The bigger Ben was fun but no comparison in resolution, clarity or sparkle to the nirvana which remains the best valve amp I’ve heard, especially for vocals or jazz. To top it off is a fantastic build In my mk2 version.

I am looking forward to the new Sparkos tube amp that’s coming shortly. it uses a 12AU7 I believe, and that’s a fav driver tube for me as I found some old 1976 vintage ex military versions that work superbly, labelled as long plate GE. The best sparkle I have heard so far in the nirvana. And the Sparkos op amps are the best solid state I have heard so that pairing in the amp would potentially be magical… we will see.

I don’t think I’ve heard a valve amp I didn’t enjoy at some level with the right matching headphones… but nirvana and 1266 complement each other beautifully. I should add I tried a few different DACs to boost the synergy and settled on R2R, a denefrips terminator, which seems to enhance the synergy by further promoting the vocal midrange to a more mellow “Liquid gold” sound. Something the 1266 benefited from and the utopia revels in.

Finally I should mention the need for music that also fits with the system. The bigger Ben had one amazing advantage - badly recorded music sounded fun. The nirvana will shine a spotlight on a bad recording… the distortion on some notes near the start of “kinda blue” by Miles Davis drives me nuts using the nirvana and 1266 and yet with the primaluna I have to consciously try and hear it… and it sounds umm great. So what I’m pointing to is “horses for courses” you need to decide what you want to hear. I know I prefer the detail and accuracy the nirvana/1266 gives, plenty of friends prefer something more musical and forgiving, and I often join them in that too.

So far it’s a great 30 year plus journey…

T

Did you like the mids on the bigger ben more than nirvana and PL ?

 

[TonyTripleA]

Did you like the mids on the bigger ben more than nirvana and PL ?

That’s actually an interesting question to answer accurately. The bigger Ben was a lot of fun, very tubey, to the point of being mildly bloated to my ears. But bear in mind I’m making comparisons to a much more audiophile amp in the Auris nirvana. The thing is for some music I just couldn’t stop tapping my feet… so why? Well the treble wasn’t great, the bass was bloated but that midrange was fun… is that a better sound, well on a Friday night after a beer probably!

That said let me make some comparisons… the next amp under the Auris nirvana is the Auris HA2SF. I demoed that and loved it. I felt it had that tubey goodness, a bit like the WA2. For the price these two amps sounded great and were close to the bigger Ben in many respects Related to that fun facto. Not saying that the bigger Ben didn’t have some positives it did, power and presence, but it’s a lot more costly... but the after sales service was fantastic, you do pay for what you get there. But a few years back with many more cost constraints (ie kids) I would have been very happy with cheaper options! When I could I did go for the Auris though… it was meant to be owned for a year and sold but it’s joined my never to be sold list, that says a lot. It makes every headphone I’ve tried sound great.

I’d recommend trying as many amps with your own headphones as you can and then buying half of those . I hope that helps, (well probably not the last half of the sentence).

T