Indeed, always needs to be factored in!Make allowance for potential import duties on goods from China too
Looks very similar to the Bottlehead crack and Eufonika H5, I think they'd be better.Spotted this - are these Douk Audio amps worth a punt? This one is quite expensive compared to others - it’s a bit of a minefield! https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/28464729...jTkSSgPTCy&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
I'd give that a miss if I was you, are you after a OTL or hybrid tube head amp?Spotted this - are these Douk Audio amps worth a punt? This one is quite expensive compared to others - it’s a bit of a minefield! https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/28464729...jTkSSgPTCy&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
I had the Monoprice THX 887 before, quite powerful and decent for it's price but I wasn't the biggest fan of it's sonic performance.I’m not quite sure what a want - my latest phones are Beyerdynamic DT990 600 ohm, which take a bit of driving and the amp in my Linn DSM is not the best. I also use Grado 325 and Beyer DT150. I’m also looking at a monolith thx 887, but I have an illogical hankering for a valve amp! Quite fancy the mono thx 887, it gets good reviews.
Spotted this - are these Douk Audio amps worth a punt? This one is quite expensive compared to others - it’s a bit of a minefield! https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/28464729...jTkSSgPTCy&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
I haven't heard Douk Audio myself but they get some decent positive reviews.
For an amp like that it isn't much more expensive from the competition. I've had my eyes on this one for ages:
Amazon product
I have a smaller XDUOO hybrid amp it's a really rather good for the money. There is always the problem when your kit is coming from China with regards to warranty and stuff, it's all a bit of a gamble, but I've bought a few things from Shenzhen Audio and Linsoul Audio and I've had no problems to date, but going over £300 seems to be a little bit of a hurdle for me at the moment. It's ok doing for an £85 amp but £300 odd? hmm more of a gamble.
Some of these tube amps are really very good with some of the higher impedance headphones.
Thanks! I’ve looked up Feliks and they get good reviews, quite hard to find - tasty looking!I've a Feliks Echo mk1, and that worked well with Beyerdynamic DT990 600 Ohm.
I'm a definite fan of valve headphone amps either full valve like the Feliks or hybrid like some cheaper Subaj and DOUK amps I also have scattered around!
I also really like the way the Feliks has stereo outputs so it can be used as a single input valve preamp, at which it excels imo.
Thanks, I’ll look into that!Linking this thread with your post on the hearing aid thread, Brian , I'd advise you to try a tonal equaliser of some sort.
I've found it surprising how just a few db dialed judiciously in at varying frequencies can be very beneficial. A 10 (or more) band digital graphic equaliser would be my recommendation.
I've never really bought into the valve sound whenever I've heard them driving speakers based systems. I understand that OTL amps can be beneficial to high impedance headphones but how often am I listening to my high impedance phones to justify the cost?Yes, I’m with you on that price threshold. I have found a new Little Dot Mk11 for £160 and a uk supplier too which may be worth a punt. It’s a shame the gain switch is inside the casing, which needs to be removed to adjust. I’m still tempted though by a second hand monolith, at nearly double the price of the Little Dot. My concern overall is I’ve never used a valve amp and not sure how it will sound. I know I can change the valves to tailor it a bit, but it’s still a bit of an unknown quantity. They look much better than a plain black box,though!
I'll second that, though I use analogue eq as digital wouldn't work in my set up. Don't want to AD and then DA vinyl.Linking this thread with your post on the hearing aid thread, Brian , I'd advise you to try a tonal equaliser of some sort.
I've found it surprising how just a few db dialed judiciously in at varying frequencies can be very beneficial. A 10 (or more) band digital graphic equaliser would be my recommendation.
I use Bluetooth straight from my phone for headphones, and an equalizer app called PowerAmp.How do you integrate the digital eq into your system?
The Behringer looks really interesting.I use Bluetooth straight from my phone for headphones, and an equalizer app called PowerAmp.
The app has a user defined number of bands from 5 to 32. For me, 10 seems a good compromise between precise control and easy usability.
The app also has Left Right balance control, which I only use occasionally, but is great when needed!
I also have a Behringer DEQ2496 digital equaliser for non-Bluetooth sources.
That's very interesting reading your experiences with OTL amps, at some point I may well end up just giving it a try to see how it sounds.Re. OTL valve amps and high and low impedance headphones. Contrary to many I found it made little difference with my Sennheiser HD6xx @ 300 ohms.
Again contrary to the received wisdom I've had success with a number of low impedance cans using both the Feliks Echo and Elise OTL amps. All of the Audioquest Nighthawk, Meze 99 Clssics, Audeze LCD-2 classics and LCD-2 closed back have sounded better out of these amps than the Senn HD6xx to my ears.
We all hear differently, but it's worth being aware that quite a few lower impedance cans maintain exactly the same fq response regardless of the load i.e. same frequency response across all bands on a 0ohm output as one at 120ohm.
The issue with high out impedance OTL amps and low impedance headphones is potentially bass roll off due to the high output of the amp. If the headphones fq, as mentioned above, remains the same across all frequencies regardless of output ohms then this potential issue doesn't come into play.
There's a lot of myth out there and we all hear differently. As above, my experience has gone against internet lore.