What is your experience when deciding between the two technologies? Or do you own amps of both types and use them for different things? Are they really different?
For me they very sound different, and since the first time I heard a tube headphone amp I was enchanted by its rawness. I had been driving my Abyss AB1266 Phi TC with a solid state amp (off-brand with Chinese components) and it sounded great but I had read these headphones really need a good amp so I went to a store to see what can drive them better, and tried a tube amp from Germany. 10 seconds in I was able to tell this is what I needed. Might be a matter of taste? Yes, but to each his own, I have read people who hate the Abyss and also others like me who love them.
I’d like to know your opinions too.
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I have both, use them for different things and can definitely hear the difference.
Solid state main: Ferrum ERCO DAC/Amp. Solid state secondary/portable: Chord Mojo 2. Tube: Feliks Audio Elise MKII OTL
I use the tube to bring warmth or lushness to a listen when it’s right for the genre (for me). Sometimes it’s to change up the listen, and sometimes I wouldn’t use the headphone without it a tube or EQ.
For example - the Focal Utopia or Meze 109 Pro with EDM or hip-hop. I can use these headphones SS or tube and enjoy, but sometimes I like more prominent warmth.
Second example would be Sennheiser 660S2 and HD800S. The only way I will use these is with a tube or by adding a bass shelf with EQ. In these cases the tube is filling an actual void (for me) by both adding warmth / bass and taking a bit of bite off the highs.
I have not had great luck with planers and my tube, will be testing the Meze Empyrean on it soon.
I think your way of approaching a listening session is similar to mine. I had the Elites before changing to the AB 1266 Phi TC and would really recommend them so good luck with the Empyreans, also there is the 2nd version coming soon, Empyrean II seems to be the name. For acoustic guitars or voices or very detailed drum patterns planar magnetics on tube (I’m using an AudioValve amp) always leaves me in awe!
Thanks! It was my typo. My Empy II’s arrive Monday. I’m giddy lol.
I never had the first ones because they seemed to be a little too extreme, but after trying the 109 Pros and enjoying them so much, plus reading about the refinements in the sequel, I’m taking the dive.
Sounds amazing!! I would be giddy too! The sound and comfort on those Meze’s are amazing, had mine for over a year!
My only experience with tube amp is with Xduoo TA-26s, OTL tube amp which I managed to get quite cheap. I am running it with HD6XX currently (I have also tried it with other hight impedence dynamic headphones like AKG K240 Monitor or DT990 250Ohm). Frankly either I am completely deaf or there hardly is any difference compared to Topping L70 (at least to my ears). I mean the base rolled off very slightly but overall this is NOT what I was expecting from tube amp, especially OTL one. It is extremely clean, in volume matched blind test I would have hard time picking it out compared to solid state. Maybe just stock tubes are very clean. I tried some cheap replacement tubes but they were just buzzing more but in terms of tonality I could not really tell much of a difference.
At this point I still do not really know what “tube sound” is but my experience is far from what people usually describe. But it glows pretty and catches the eye of guests ;)
I understand, yeah I cannot explain what does it. Maybe you can visit a store and see if something has that wow factor
That is a good suggestion. I am only afraid I will realize that to achieve this “tube nirvana” I will need to put some serious money on it ;). But hey, we are in this hobby for the journey and the fun of it all ;)
A planar magnetic headphone that has a linear impedance curve will sound almost the same with SET amp and a Class A Solid State amp. I have the Susvara and I use my SET amp drive them and got a chance recently to plug them in to Schiit Mjolnir 3. Honestly I’d be had pressed to them them apart on a blind test since they sound 99% identical to me with the extra 1% for the SET amp a tiny bit brighter than Mjolnir 3 with Susvara
Welcome to the realm of Distortion!
Yes, I owned a Little Dot IV at some point, rolled a serious bunch of tubes on it before I finally admitted to myself that it wasn’t doing anything for me. At no point did I hear anything that I could point to and say ah, look there’s the tube sound. But then people say oh you need this or that tube amp to REALLY get the tube sound. Which is audiophile speak for You didn’t spend enough. Yeah. Thanks I’ll pass. I also wasn’t very happy with having the hot tubes running, the fact tubes wear, and all in all micromanaging the tube amp to fit with dedicated listening sessions rather than just having it run 24/7 next to my pc. Went back to a proper solid state, never looked back. That’s over ten years ago.
i have the bottlehead crack. i also have a darkvoice and a popular hybrid tube amp in another room. my main solid state amp is usually the a90. could i tell the difference between a crack and the a90? yes.
the tube amp wasn’t meant to be as clear or clinical, but rather colorful and warm. i can tell right off the bat the tubes are not as clear, it has a slight haze to the treble but in exchange the sound is slightly wider like the sound fills the space a little bit more. the mids and the bass is slightly more dynamic and it’s just more appealing to listen to for pop/dance/r&b and a few other bassy types of music. it’s more of a chill listening experience rather than the analytical and pristine sound of a solid state which can sometimes sound a little sterile. it all depends on the genre and the recording and then what mood i’m in. for ease of use, i usually just use solid state as it doesn’t heat up enough to warm up my room or become a fire hazard, potentially. the novelty of tubes and the fun it brings is something everyone should try but in my opinion, don’t waste your time with hybrids. if you want the full tube experience, try otl. try it. yes, don’t buy it just find someone who has it and demo it because it’s not for everyone. and at least if they’re already down that rabbit hole of tube rolling, they can show you the extremes of going tube to solid state so you can decide for yourself if there’s a difference.
In the price range I move in, having a FiiO K5 pro and a Xduoo TA-26, I would say that tubes are more of a placebo and comfort thing than a drastic change in sound that’s actually there. Maybe there are implementations that measure much worse but sound interesting in return, but I haven’t heard those yet.
There could be better stuff out there, but I haven’t heard anything that does this “magic” everyone is talking about. You just hear that high impedance + tubes is great, but no one can explain why, except for telling you that you will have a tad more bass.
But I’ll stick to high impedance headphones in the future, if possible. That way I can try anything new on both solid stats and OTL amps.