[califmike33]

Because of the low price and it got decent reviews it never got stellar reviews but it got decent reviews I got to admit I thought it was pretty cool looking and the low price got me. But I've kind of learned that in life you get what you pay for not saying it's a terrible amp it's not a terrible amp I'm sure plenty of people are happy with it. Just for me it's it just doesn't get it done.

I was going to use it as a tube amp and a preamp but it sounds a little too clean sounding I don't know I don't even know how to describe I'm not good at describing sound but I just don't like the sound signature of this amp. Believe me I was very hesitant to buy it I was on the fence for a while about buying it I think in the end the low price got me.

The musical Paradise is $150 more but that's a single ended class a tube amp going to be a completely different sound and it has 7 watts of output to feed speakers that has several threads you can find on that item and that was my initial thing I was going to buy that but I thought if I could save $150.

That's kind of what this whole audio thing's about we're never happy we're always chasing that Bliss sound that we can never seem to achieve. I would love to roll a few tubes in it but I really don't want to spend the money on it because I don't think a few tubes are going to dramatically turn this amp around then I'm going to be stuck with tubes and the amp trying to sell I think I'd rather just buy a better amp out the gate.

Don't have a lot of experience with tube amps so when I find the sound I'm looking for I'll know it.

 

[marekm]

The trouble with OTL amps is that no matter how expensive an amp might be, there will always be people, telling you that stock tubes suck and that you need to replace them pronto, if you want to unleash the amp's full potential.

So, You start tube rolling, spend a ton of cash on new / NOS tubes and before you know it, you have spent more on tubes than the amp itself

The sad part is that you never know when to stop

In other words, OTL amps are never cheap in the long run, irrespective of how cheap they may have been on day one

 

[califmike33]

I agree with you 100% a $300 amp turns into a $500 amp. That's why I'm going to buy a class a single end amp.

You're right though people always say the stock tubes are holding it back and then you start rolling and rolling and rolling and there goes your cash next thing you know you got a $600 amp in front of you that you may still not be happy with.

There is also class a headphone amplifier on eBay that is a kit a DIY kit looks very interesting looks to be very solid you can choose to have the capacitors and everything come with it or you can order your own. Always kind of like the DIY route. Whereas with the xduo ta26 there's nothing you can do internally it already has high-end components inside pretty decent stuff is inside there's really no way to improve it but roll tubes.

I think even if you buy a more expensive amp you can get caught up in the tube rolling you got to watch yourself and realize that you're never going to achieve audio Nirvana it doesn't exist. At some point you have to just tell yourself this is good enough which is not easy to do.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2645080757...ar=564215758613&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

 

[ShenaRingo326]

Just got a used TA-26 and some tubes to pair with my HD600.. tube rolling can definitely cost more than the amp itself!

 

[Gymboy]

Just got a used TA-26 and some tubes to pair with my HD600.. tube rolling can definitely cost more than the amp itself!

Default tubes are already very good, so no need to roll immediately. Z reviewed it..

 

[InsanelyConfused]

From my experience tube rolling makes not enough difference to justify the amount of money it will cost. I am still, after using this thing for more than a year, trying to swap out tubes regularly just to check if there are any differences and I honestly usually can't tell. It takes too much time to roll to be able to compare, state of mind, how my day has been and what time of the day it is impacts how I perceive the audio quality.

Settled on some yellow font Sylvania 6SN7GTB and a JAN Sylvania 6080 as a powertube after my Tung-Sol broke, can't really tell a difference, this amp sounds good with anything.

 

[bagwell359]

There are no upgrades to make in this amp, it has very very good parts already in it Elna caps etc, tube rolling is all you got.

Never say never. From post #12: Those orange drop caps are probably +/- 10%, so one could test them and get a closer match. Elna caps are very good but may also not be matched as well. Like the tube sockets - nice.

It's a very fine choice for a budget OTL amp. It's built better than the DV. For non tweakers looking to drive 300+ ohm headphones it's fine.

 

[ostewart]

From my experience tube rolling makes not enough difference to justify the amount of money it will cost. I am still, after using this thing for more than a year, trying to swap out tubes regularly just to check if there are any differences and I honestly usually can't tell. It takes too much time to roll to be able to compare, state of mind, how my day has been and what time of the day it is impacts how I perceive the audio quality.

Settled on some yellow font Sylvania 6SN7GTB and a JAN Sylvania 6080 as a powertube after my Tung-Sol broke, can't really tell a difference, this amp sounds good with anything.

Tube rolling is great fun, and I never spend more than £30 per tube for example.

I managed to pick up untested Mullard and GEC 6080, all 3 work in my TA-26 with no noise.

As for the 6SN7 - I managed to find some nice Sylvania ones, RCA grey glass and Japanese Hitachi 6SN7GTB for good prices, again all excellent in the TA26.

GEC 6080 + RCA Grey glass is a nice smooth combo, or Mullard 6080 + Hitachi 6SN7GTB is also another favourite of mine.