i’m trying an Ananda, Focal Elegia, HD800s, and LCD-XC
the xduoo ta-03s tube amp only has the 1/4" plug and my xduoo xp-2 pro has the 3.5mm but it has been sometimes flaking out or running out of battery
so i considered Schiit Magni or Magni Heretic
and i’m wondering for now until i get an adaptor to plug the 1/4" from the Sennheiser and Audeze into the portable amp
how i can test them properly, and consider an integrated amp
because this OTL tube is giving low volume and the bass is wonky maybe until it heats up
and more so because these are low impedance except for the…Sennheiser?
how much does an LCD-XC with Creator’s package case go for? and the stock pads are good enough, no need for ZMF or Dekoni?
haven’t managed to find ZMF headphones to try yet. there’s a few A-letter names that tend to go under $1k USD (the name of the headphones start with A for a few of them).
The main thing today is there’s no way to properly test these LCD-XC until I find an adaptor for the portable amp or use a desktop amp. Or mini-xlr headphone cable with 3.5mm plug.
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6.3 and 3.5 mm (or the inch equivalent) connections are electrically identical. Adaptors are very common and should be easy to find.
Classic tube amps like this usually have a high output impedance, which affects dynamic driver headphones but not planars, and relatively low current output, making them unsuitable for low efficiency headphones. Although that varies.
In short, they are most suited to high impedance dynamic driver headphones like the HD800. The Elegia might be a poor match.
I would personally take a JDS Atom amp over the Magnis due to it having slightly better components, and JDS’ support being stellar.
Remember that all these are only amps, while your TA-03s has a built-in DAC.
Third party pads are often a lottery since pads are absolutely integral to the tuning of the headphone and need to be more or less a perfect match to sound good.
OTL tube amps are generally best with high impedance dynamics.
I have the Xduoo TA-26, the only headphones I like it with are the HD600/HD6XX. Those, it warms up just a touch and improves on their terrible soundstage.
The low imepdance planars it just distorts. The Ananda at least doesn’t need much, it’s not as bad as more power hungry planars, but it’s better off a dongle.
The Focal Clear it makes muddy, it’s too low impedance and it boosts the bass too much.
LCD-X… just not very good, fuzzy, distorted, soft.
The HD800S is 300Ω pairs OK with it but it’s just a bit fuzzy and low-res, its qualities are better with solid state.
thanks
maybe i sell the tube amp
Or how does 6xx compare to 660s Or the 800s The 660s seemed very plastic and treble overall Or a 58x I might just sell the amp