[preauxtip]

Xduoo sure does to put out a lot of similar products.... I wonder how the TA-66 compares to the TA-26s

TA-26s has 500mw of power at 300 ohm, TA-66 appears to have 200mw. Both should be ample power for most cases but that is a notable difference. Interestingly enough the TA-26s has 16db of gain (which I already felt was way too much in my personal uses) and the TA-66 has even more at 18db of gain. I guess they don't want you to turn the knob much. I'd be much happier if my TA-26 had something more reasonable like say 6 or 8db of gain personally.

 

[stevedlu]

lol, well I finally feel like I know the TA-22 after a few weeks. Just discovered that my Focal Clears sound best on Low Gain using Balanced connection. Coax is the best input, USB is not very good. Added a WiiM Pro plus, really cleaned up the Coax input further. This amp loves to be hot, takes about 2 hrs of warming up for the high frequencies to smooth out and the noise floor to drop. Now that all my tubes have burned in, the stocks are the worse. APOS RAYs are amazing, super detailed, neutral, and holographic mid range. RCA 1950's black plates are basically a warmer sounding version of the APOS, close #2. Gold Lions are syrupy/ thick sounding across the board. 12AU7s take quite a while to burn in, like 40hrs. Not used to this tube type.

 

[stevedlu]

Does anybody know if the xDuoo Amps (TA-22) are compatible with any other tubes besides 12AU7? Like 12AX7 for example? Thanks ahead of time.

 

[r3f3r3e]

Does anybody know if the xDuoo Amps (TA-22) are compatible with any other tubes besides 12AU7? Like 12AX7 for example? Thanks ahead of time.

Perhaps you have to email Xduoo team to check on this.

btw a good read if you havent come across this.

https://audiofool.reviews/tube-rolling-the-xduoo-ta-01b-ta-10-and-ta-20-12au7-amps/
https://tubemaze.info/12au7/



Oh btw, what filter are you using? With my current headphone, all the filters i tested among it seems so subtle and i just end up with fast mini, fast line or apodizing.
But then again, last time when I'm using HD650 headphone, there is a difference between apodizing and fast mini/fast line. I guess it varies across headphones.

 

[stevedlu]

Perhaps you have to email Xduoo team to check on this.

btw a good read if you havent come across this.

https://audiofool.reviews/tube-rolling-the-xduoo-ta-01b-ta-10-and-ta-20-12au7-amps/
https://tubemaze.info/12au7/



Oh btw, what filter are you using? With my current headphone, all the filters i tested among it seems so subtle and i just end up with fast mini, fast line or apodizing.
But then again, last time when I'm using HD650 headphone, there is a difference between apodizing and fast mini/fast line. I guess it varies across headphones.

Thanks for those links. So I had the same opinion about the filters until I realized I wasn't listening for the right changes. The filters do not change tone whatsoever. They are affecting the phasing. Transients and decay are what you should be listening for. Filters work differently with different tubes and mostly with different tracks. The Slow filters offer the most decay and can make instrumental music sound more lush but tends to smear/decrease detail for vocals. Fast is the opposite and will be better suited for rock. The differences are easier to pick out over an entire track and switching styles of music as opposed to a tonal change which is immediately apparent. I found Hybrid to be the best all around that works with a wide variety of music, that's what i'm sticking with.

 

[G8torbyte]

Does anybody know if the xDuoo Amps (TA-22) are compatible with any other tubes besides 12AU7? Like 12AX7 for example? Thanks ahead of time.

It probably will not cause any operational issue trying the different 12A series tubes but the gain going from 12AU to AX might be too harsh in output. From what I recall these tubes are used a lot to adjust gain in guitar amps.

Quote from a music production site: "The biggest difference between these power tubes is the amount of gain they will provide. The 12AX7 has a gain factor of 100, while the 12AT7 has 60. The 12AU7 has the smallest, at just 20. The lower gain of the 12AT7 and 12AU7 also allows them to have a higher headroom, which can provide a warmer and cleaner sound."

Thank you for the detailed impressions on the TA-22. I purchased the unit some months ago but have not used it much due to lack of space on my desk. I'll need to revisit and spend more time with it.

 

[r3f3r3e]

Thanks for those links. So I had the same opinion about the filters until I realized I wasn't listening for the right changes. The filters do not change tone whatsoever. They are affecting the phasing. Transients and decay are what you should be listening for. Filters work differently with different tubes and mostly with different tracks. The Slow filters offer the most decay and can make instrumental music sound more lush but tends to smear/decrease detail for vocals. Fast is the opposite and will be better suited for rock. The differences are easier to pick out over an entire track and switching styles of music as opposed to a tonal change which is immediately apparent. I found Hybrid to be the best all around that works with a wide variety of music, that's what i'm sticking with.

Thanks for the detail. After reading your post, i have decided to test again the filter. Previously i was using Fast Mini. However after keep testing the different filters with the same song, i prefer apodizing filter. It feels easier to listen and I tend to hear more background detail compared to Fast Mini.

Btw can refer to this photo. I think I saved it last time from some post in this thread.

 

[stevedlu]

Thanks for the detail. After reading your post, i have decided to test again the filter. Previously i was using Fast Mini. However after keep testing the different filters with the same song, i prefer apodizing filter. It feels easier to listen and I tend to hear more background detail compared to Fast Mini.

Btw can refer to this photo. I think I saved it last time from some post in this thread.

thanks, yea that's chart seems fairly accurate

 

[orbilius]

Thanks for the detail. After reading your post, i have decided to test again the filter. Previously i was using Fast Mini. However after keep testing the different filters with the same song, i prefer apodizing filter. It feels easier to listen and I tend to hear more background detail compared to Fast Mini.

Btw can refer to this photo. I think I saved it last time from some post in this thread.

Please excuse my ignorance, but aren't all these filters impacting the sound well beyond human hearing? Isn't this all happening well beyond 20hkz? Thank you!

 

[r3f3r3e]

Please excuse my ignorance, but aren't all these filters impacting the sound well beyond human hearing? Isn't this all happening well beyond 20hkz? Thank you!

Those different filters affects the transients and reverbs, a slight bit touch of sound as some filter will restore it to warm sound, mellow sound, nature sound.

Like for my example, I'm using fast mini (M-Sharp) inititally. It was very exciting, it feels fast as the reverb is lesser, while the sound is slightly sharper and clearer. It was fun to listen to, but I tend to get fatigue easily after listening for 1-2hours.

I changed to apodizing, It was way more "relax". the sound get a little warmer, more reverb, echoey etc and somehow I'm not sure why I can hear more of some background instruments going on. Perhaps the sound get warmer so its easier to listen? I'm not too sure about it. I tried yesterday and I was pretty much listening for 3-4 hours while surfing headfi forum. It was so much less tiresome to listen to.

Oh I also feel that while using fast mini, the vocal tends to be more forward, tends to stand out more. While using apodizing, the vocal tends to lean backwards. Perhaps the reason I feel tired easily using fast mini was because of the forward vocals? It's like singing infront of ur face haha.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Quick question, I couldn't find it, but is there a reason the TA-22's balanced output volume is slightly lower than the single ended output?

I would assume this amplifier is truly balanced, and wondering if it's just a gain adjustment that makes the volume louder for the single ended even though balanced is supposed to be double the power.

I bought it on a whim (I wanted an all in one and wanted to try tube hybrids again), and concerned about this.

I know XDuoo has some amps that have balanced inputs that are just for connectivity and aren't truly balanced, but shouldn't be the case with the TA-22.

Quite happy with the sound otherwise (less so with how the knob control interface works, but that's not a deal breaker). Just want to make sure I'm getting the full capability its power output.

 

[orbilius]

Quick question, I couldn't find it, but is there a reason the TA-22's balanced output volume is slightly lower than the single ended output?

I would assume this amplifier is truly balanced, and wondering if it's just a gain adjustment that makes the volume louder for the single ended even though balanced is supposed to be double the power.

I bought it on a whim (I wanted an all in one and wanted to try tube hybrids again), and concerned about this.

I know XDuoo has some amps that have balanced inputs that are just for connectivity and aren't truly balanced, but shouldn't be the case with the TA-22.

Quite happy with the sound otherwise (less so with how the knob control interface works, but that's not a deal breaker). Just want to make sure I'm getting the full capability its power output.

Could this be an output impedance difference between the SE and Balanced outputs? What headphone are you using, and can you replicate the issue with headphones of materially different impedance?

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Tried from 20ohm to about 150ohms. SE is slightly louder on all.

 

[stevedlu]

Single Ended is higher gain/louder for me too. Are you using external input?

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Tested both external and internal. If this is expected behavior... it's fine, just wondering why when all other balanced to SE amps I've used have always been louder on balanced connections. I understand power is not necessary the causation of amp loudness. Gain levels used matter, but you'd think it'd be advertised or mentioned. That'd be quite a difference in gain metrics between SE and Balanced output (I assume). To have SE closely match balanced.