[Promee]

Ok, so....it has been running for about 24hrs now and all I can say is What!
What a transformation, this thing is pure magic, it powers my LCD-4s with authority and has a nice wide soundstage. Dare I say it sounds better than my custom $1800 tube amp, not as resolving but much more inviting. This lives up to all the hype and for some reason mine has ZERO hum, hiss, RFI, or anything to speak of even when handling it while it's running. I guess I got lucky with the tube lottery. I forgot how much NOS tubes change while breaking in, it has been a while. The mid range vocals can be a little wonky on some tracks but great on others, I think this will get better with more burn-in.

I got this because I found the Mojo 2 a downgrade from the Mogo 1, it's much more neutral and I couldn't EQ it to sound the way I wanted. The Mojo 2 can't even drive the LCD-4 properly but this can! I'm getting rid of the Mojo 2 asap to use towards another set of headphones.

Excited now to test my Clears that arrive tomorrow. Now I need to find some kick ass closed back headphones that I can use at work. My short list right now is Focal Celeste, DCA Aeon 2 Niore, Denon AH-D7200, or DCA E3. I didn't think the E3 could be driven by this but now I see no reason why if the LCD-4s work great.

Edit: I'm running this off of a M series MacBook through a AQ Jitterbug, maybe my source is just free of noise compared to others who are experiencing it. Just a thought but probably not the case. The supplied cable is crap though, it barely hangs onto the Mini and slides off too easy. That was a simple replacement though, had a couple around the house, not a big deal.

That’s great news! I had a similar experience. I would say the jitterbug might not be so necessary, as I would bet that the DAC buffers data anyway (though I am not 100% sure, almost all do these days), but you might try the Topping HS02 for power filtering between the device and your tubes… I think the hiss dies down with time, not that it is an issue in your present situation, but I will say that the Clear has been the most prone to the hiss of all of my headphones (other than IEMs) so it could slightly pop up with that one, still wouldn’t be an issue with music playing. Hope you love the Clears!!!

 

[stevedlu]

That’s great news! I had a similar experience. I would say the jitterbug might not be so necessary, as I would bet that the DAC buffers data anyway (though I am not 100% sure, almost all do these days), but you might try the Topping HS02 for power filtering between the device and your tubes… I think the hiss dies down with time, not that it is an issue in your present situation, but I will say that the Clear has been the most prone to the hiss of all of my headphones (other than IEMs) so it could slightly pop up with that one, still wouldn’t be an issue with music playing. Hope you love the Clears!!!

Audioquest says the jitterbug also filters the bus power through a capacitor to limit noise/RFI. That’s really the only reason why I was using it. I also have the ifi iDefender+ that theoretically does the same thing as the Topping HS02. I don’t think I need the Jitterbug or the iDefender+ but it would be interesting to see what a dedicated hq power supply does to the sound since it has tubes. I’ll try that tonight. Thanks.

 

[tassardar]

Rather interested in this. Can I know the power draw if this and if normal phones have a chance to power it?

 

[Promee]

Rather interested in this. Can I know the power draw if this and if normal phones have a chance to power it?

Normal phones can definitely run it. I measured 150 mA at 5V at extreme volume for both Focal Clear and Sennheiser HD 600. If I’m not mistaken, an iPhone can output 500 mA, so there is plenty of headroom, and you should be totally good to go with most any modern phone. Just keep in mind if you are using cellular data or texting while listening, there will probably be audible interference, but it you’re just using WiFi, it’s not an issue!

 

[stevedlu]

I experimented with some A/B tests using the AQ jitterbug and different external power supplies via the iFi iDefender+ with some interesting results. The differences are subtle but noticeable in some cases.

The Jitterbug adds some punch in the midrange while adding some sparkle/harshness to the top end. Bottom line the Woo Mini sounds much more laid back and precise without the jitterbug. I don't have measuring equipment but I would suspect that the Woo mini with Jitterbug would measure worse in regards to TND, but sometimes "worse" is subjective. I kind of see it as a way to "tune" the Woo mini while on the go depending on what music/tracks you are listening to. Worth getting one if you don't already own it? Nope.

Now it gets more interesting using the iDefender+ to isolate the 5V input.

iFi iPower Elite 5V: This is the most robust 5V power supply I had to use. This is a $300 high capacitance switch mode power supply with very low noise floor. This without a doubt added punch/heft to the bass and midrange. It is quite noticeable and had no negative impact to the rest of the sound, just made the Woo mini sound a tad more powerful. Not a game changer but noticeable.

iFi iPower 5V: Just a $60 wall wart with a very low noise floor, even lower than its more expensive big brother above. This had absolutely no effect whatsoever on the sound.

Chord Quest Dac OEM 5V power supply: I wanted to try this since it's a very high quality wall wart despite being OEM. I go back and forth between the iPower 5V and OEM with the Chord Qutest depending on my mood. The iPower is more resolving while the OEM adds a smoothness. The same goes for the Woo mini. While the iPower made no difference the Chord OEM made the top end of the Woo Mini much smoother and more "tubey" sounding. Overall I preferred the sound without it on my cans but I can see other people enjoying it.

All of these are very minor changes in the long run and don't make a difference for me since I use this while traveling or moving around the house. What I got most out of this is that the Woo mini has very good power filtering and regulation, not really a surprise.

Anyways, not very useful but thought I'd share.

 

[stereonerd]

Anyone using these with Abyss Diana’s? I see them paired together at shows and events often but not much feedback on the sound and headroom with planars.

 

[Promee]

I was inspired by @stevedlu above to do a couple more quick experiments on the Tube Mini and the iPhone. I was able to get my power meter connected in series with a USB-C adapter and use of the Topping HS02 and the phone. Power consumption was the same as previously reported by with the Tube mini drawing no more than 0.13A at 5V or 0.6W, though I didn’t go all the way to ear bleeding levels. I may have actually discovered some more interesting info about the HS02 and iPhone in the process, though.

First, hooking additional power to the HS02, it pulled more current through the auxiliary USB power when playing vs idling (0.11A vs 0.08A), so there was some power being pulled from that side, but not enough to account for the full device power. Also, interestingly, when I hooked up the meter between the phone and the HS02 with no auxiliary power, the combo of the HS02 and Tube Mini was drawing more than 1.5W! moving the meter between the HS02 and the Tube Mini showed the expected 0.6W when playing. So, the HS02 appears to be drawing about 1 watt as an efficiency cost when in the line between the phone and the Tube Mini, which is almost double the power the Mini itself draws.

Second, this had the side effect of showing that the phone was putting out over 1.5W or 0.3A at 5V without any trouble. This just confirms that the iPhone is nowhere close to being limited in current capability for the Tube Mini. Even for transients, the iPhone‘s sustained output is rated at 0.5A - more than 4x what is being utilized by the Mini. Perhaps there could be some kind of regulation in iPhone power output that might limit sudden, transient jumps in power, but this seems like it would be more than accounted for in capacitors in the Mini. All of this confirms that a phone is good to go for powering the Mini, and would emphasize that the difference in power supply to the mini is more a question of quality of power supply and extremely subtle, though perhaps not totally irrelevant @stevedlu and I have pointed out...

 

[Promee]

Also, separate thought, separate post. Before I went down the rabbit hole above, I actually jumped on this thread because I had made an observation with the Mini that I wanted to see if anyone could confirm. I decided after learning a bit more about SE vs BAL to compare the two outputs on the Mini with the same headphone. I used the Celestee, which is easy to drive on either, and I had both types of cable handy, though they were different brands - SE being Focal’s stock cable and BAL being an Apos Flow. I was floored by the difference between the outputs. First of all, the noise floor is radically lower on the SE - with volume-matching the music for perceived loudness, there was a night and day difference in hiss when paused, with the SE being much lower. Second, the bass was vastly enhanced on the BAL output - it was not a subtle difference. To my ear, the hiss is still minimal enough to ignore, and the improvement in the bass was enough to make be want to stick to BAL. Can anyone else confirm this behavior, preferably with an SE and BAL variant of the same cable?

 

[stevedlu]

Also, separate thought, separate post. Before I went down the rabbit hole above, I actually jumped on this thread because I had made an observation with the Mini that I wanted to see if anyone could confirm. I decided after learning a bit more about SE vs BAL to compare the two outputs on the Mini with the same headphone. I used the Celestee, which is easy to drive on either, and I had both types of cable handy, though they were different brands - SE being Focal’s stock cable and BAL being an Apos Flow. I was floored by the difference between the outputs. First of all, the noise floor is radically lower on the SE - with volume-matching the music for perceived loudness, there was a night and day difference in hiss when paused, with the SE being much lower. Second, the bass was vastly enhanced on the BAL output - it was not a subtle difference. To my ear, the hiss is still minimal enough to ignore, and the improvement in the bass was enough to make be want to stick to BAL. Can anyone else confirm this behavior, preferably with an SE and BAL variant of the same cable?

I appreciate the comments, made another discovery thanks to you. I just compared the Focal Clear OEM Short 3.5mm, Long 6.5mm, and Balanced XLR w/ GU Craftsman 4.4mm adapter. The 6.5mm has waaaay more bass impact than the 3.5mm, i'm assuming this is just a better cable with lower gauge wire. I avoided it since it's absurdly long for me but I shall no more. The XLR with 4.4mm adapter was the worse, it had less bass than the 6.5 and the bass was distorted while having more gain with other frequencies. This is almost certainly because of the adapter though, it's a POS from amazon, it looks nice but I should have known better. I have a 4.4mm adapter from Woo Audio arriving in the mail tomorrow and will let you know how it compares. FYI, with the Focal Clears I have zero hiss even with balanced. I do get hum when I touch the mini though. I suspect I either got lucky with the tubes or they lowered the tube gain in the newer units.

 

[stevedlu]

Anyone using these with Abyss Diana’s? I see them paired together at shows and events often but not much feedback on the sound and headroom with planars.

I've heard multiple people say it's a great match withe the Diana MR, not the TC though. As far as planers go the Mini sounds amazing with the LCD-3, no shortage of power for bass/mids and no compromise in staging vs desktop amps that i've used. In comparison the LCD-3's stage is much smaller and more intimate with the Mojo 2 as well as having less bass. I've read the Questyle M15 dongle is also great with Planars.

 

[Promee]

I appreciate the comments, made another discovery thanks to you. I just compared the Focal Clear OEM Short 3.5mm, Long 6.5mm, and Balanced XLR w/ GU Craftsman 4.4mm adapter. The 6.5mm has waaaay more bass impact than the 3.5mm, i'm assuming this is just a better cable with lower gauge wire. I avoided it since it's absurdly long for me but I shall no more. The XLR with 4.4mm adapter was the worse, it had less bass than the 6.5 and the bass was distorted while having more gain with other frequencies. This is almost certainly because of the adapter though, it's a POS from amazon, it looks nice but I should have known better. I have a 4.4mm adapter from Woo Audio arriving in the mail tomorrow and will let you know how it compares. FYI, with the Focal Clears I have zero hiss even with balanced. I do get hum when I touch the mini though. I suspect I either got lucky with the tubes or they lowered the tube gain in the newer units.

That’s a cool looking adapter! Let us know what you think when you get a chance to try it!

 

[Alexzander]

Also, separate thought, separate post. Before I went down the rabbit hole above, I actually jumped on this thread because I had made an observation with the Mini that I wanted to see if anyone could confirm. I decided after learning a bit more about SE vs BAL to compare the two outputs on the Mini with the same headphone. I used the Celestee, which is easy to drive on either, and I had both types of cable handy, though they were different brands - SE being Focal’s stock cable and BAL being an Apos Flow. I was floored by the difference between the outputs. First of all, the noise floor is radically lower on the SE - with volume-matching the music for perceived loudness, there was a night and day difference in hiss when paused, with the SE being much lower. Second, the bass was vastly enhanced on the BAL output - it was not a subtle difference. To my ear, the hiss is still minimal enough to ignore, and the improvement in the bass was enough to make be want to stick to BAL. Can anyone else confirm this behavior, preferably with an SE and BAL variant of the same cable?

While I no longer have it now, but I can second your findings.

 

[texx2818]

As long as you monitor your volume, it can be quite a IEM monster of an amp.

 

[roeschel]

As long as you monitor your volume, it can be quite a IEM monster of an amp.

It gave my EE Odin a new life. I listen through Audirvana and iEMatch, it's a dream for me.

 

[texx2818]

It gave my EE Odin a new life. I listen through Audirvana and iEMatch, it's a dream for me.

Oh I know! On the Odins it is AMAZING. Hell, for poops, I plugged my new Dunu Falcons in and it's immense.