Hello everyone,Not sure if this is the best place to post this but would love to hear your opinion about some nice tube amps on a budget. I am looking for a nice robust entry level tube amp for low impedance headphones to try and round them out.Budget - $500Source - PC-Questyle cma600i / Schit Modi 2 UberPreferred tonal balance - Warm tubey sound (doesn't hae to be by default, will want to try my hand at rolling tubes). I am trying to make my more airy headphones sound more musical and softer, to reduce some of the peaks in the highs.Current headphones -.Audeze LCD-X.Audio Technica AD100x & m40x.Philips Fiddelio X2 & SHP9500.Monoprice RetroFuture Headphones (possible): 1. Mr.Speakers Aeon Closed 2.

1. Bottlehead Crack Dac
2. Darkvoice 336se Vs Bottlehead Crack 1

Focal Ealear or Clear 3. Audeze LCD-2c 4. Senheiser HD600 or HD6xx form MassdropPreferred Music - Listening to a wide variety of music, no specific preference.Considered options:.Garage 1217 Project Ember 2 or Sunrise 3.Schiit Lyr 2.DarkVoice 336SE.Woo Audio WA6 (a bit over budget but if really worth it might consider).Bottlehead S.E.X. 3.0 kitLocation - USANotes: Currently leaning towards something form garage 1217, either the ember or the sunrise, since i have heard the tubes for the amp are very easy to find, are cheap, it offers a wide range of customization and works well with low ohm headphones.Anyone have experience with Garage 1217 stuff?Any other recommendations?Thanks in advance!

I'd probably agree with the Crack amp suggestion with the Speedball upgrade. Was thinking about getting this one, and from what I've heard and read it may pair well with your LCD-X.

Unfortunately, I haven't heard any of the Schitt products.For an entry level tube amp, I've owned the Little Dot MK iii. This Little Dot amp has very good clarity when paired with decent DAC. But, if a person were to get this amp they'd probably want to upgrade the output tubes to the Electro-Harmonix 6H30Pi Gold for more authority. They may be a bit pricey but well worth the purchase ($35.00/tube I believe). A person would also want to swap the 5654 driver tubes with something like Sylvannia JAN's or GE 5-star's. In terms of sound the Little Dot, with the tube upgrades, has excellent detail, but might lack a bit of the bass 'body' like what I get from the Audiotailor Jade. This isn't to say it's tighter bass doesn't have good depth, just not as prominent as my Jade.

The Audiotailor Jade isn't available anymore.I'm actually thinking of getting another Little Dot MK III. I listen with either the Sennheiser HD650 or the HD600. I occasionally listen with the Monoprice Monolith M1060's but these can be a bit bright and unbalanced to my ears. I'd love to get a pair of LCD-X though. Anyway, that's my two cents. YMMV, but I hated the Little Dot Mk3. It belongs in the trash. I wasn't hearing any of the clarity or bass of the HD650s.

The bass was gooey and muddy, overwhelming the mids and the tube haze was really bad with the HD650s. Even the onboard headamp powered it better. My suggestion: Get the Valhalla 2, tube roll it to your choice.

Here are a few choices you can look at:- Russian 6n23ps-Western Electric 396A + 6922396a adapter-Electro harmonix 6922Can you make the Valhalla 2 sound like a tube amp that is warm and musical, or is it like most of schiit's stuff aiming for neutral? And what tubes could help with that?

And i have herd that OTL amps dont work well with planar headphones and I have a few of those. YMMV, but I hated the Little Dot Mk3. It belongs in the trash. I wasn't hearing any of the clarity or bass of the HD650s.

The bass was gooey and muddy, overwhelming the mids and the tube haze was really bad with the HD650s. Even the onboard headamp powered it better. My suggestion: Get the Valhalla 2, tube roll it to your choice.

Here are a few choices you can look at:- Russian 6n23ps-Western Electric 396A + 6922396a adapter-Electro harmonix 6922Oddly, that wasn't my experience with the Little Dot MK III with the HD650's. Mine actually sounded a bit sparkly before tube rolling. Quality control issue perhaps? But, I do recall that using any of the Mullard 81xx tubes made the amp sound muddy and washed out. The Mullards were a poor pairing with that amp.

. is a community for discussion around all topics related to headphones and personal audio.If this is your first visit to our community, please familiarize yourself with the all content in this sidebar - as it will make your stay more pleasant. You are also encouraged to check the menu at the top of the screen, containing links for further learning, past discussions, and to a number of audio-friendly subreddits.Before posting, please consider using the search function. A lot of questions have already been answered in the past, often comprehensively.Enjoy your stay! Rules. Be most excellent towards your fellow redditors. And by 'be most excellent' we mean no personal attacks, threats, bullying, trolling, baiting, flaming, hate speech, racism, sexism, or other behavior that makes humanity look like scum.

Purchases requests are required to be asked in, please read our before seeking advice as you may find what you're looking for there. Comparison posts will be allowed as per moderators discretion. Image posts must be headphone related.

The. program will print to the LPT port and Windows will automatically redirect the job to the USB printer port. However, I don't know if COM. The solution is to plug a USB to serial adapter into a USB port and set it to act as COM1. Installing the Adapter. Insert your adapter's driver CD when you see a 'Found New Hardware Wizard' window appear on your screen. Click the box next to 'Locate and install drivers software (recommended).”. Configuring Windows USB Virtual COM Ports. The various USB interface modules made by Technological Arts are based on the popular FTDI chip. How to create virtual com port from usb in windows 10.

If you're showing off your gear, the image must show the actual equipment, no solo pictures of boxes. A description of the headphones must be included, including thoughts on sound, build, and fit. Other headphone related images such as memes and wallpapers are allowed at the discretion of the moderators. Low-effort posts will also be removed at the discretion of the moderators. We do not allow: direct affiliate links, links to affiliate farms, links to external websites that use affiliate links, pirated content, NSFW/NSFL content, market research, surveys, sweepstakes, giveaways, spam or self promotion.

No selling or buying Please use. No loudspeaker-related content. Please use. No tech support or frequently asked questionsPost questions about tech support and frequently asked questions in the. You can also find what are considered frequently asked questions in this post. Quick questions that don't necessitate a post also go there.Moderators may remove posts at their discretion. If you made a post to that is in accordance with our rules as listed above, and it doesn't seem to appear on the front page, please.Additionally,.

Hey.So I've been looking forward to stepping my game up, and after a month of research, I found that the 650's are exactly what I want.However I'm struggling with the selection of a tube amp to drive them before I order them.I have always thought that I preferred bright sound, by recently I've wanted to try the warm sound of a tube amp.I'm looking for a neutral but fun to listen sound. Prioritizing fun over clarity. I'm not looking for an analytic soundI've heard they are both great, but I would like to hear everyone's opinion on both of 'em or how do they pair with the 650'sOne pretty big point to consider is that the Crack is currently on a pretty decent sale. Meaning that I could get the Crack + Speedball for the same price than the Valhalla 2.Thanks again every one:). I just built the Crack 1.1 and giving it due time before upgrading to enjoy the differences.

I finished it last weekend and I didn't have one issue. I can tell you that the build process was truly enjoyable in and above itself. The instructions are superb. It looks far harder than it is.All I know is that HD6X0 is synonymous with Bottlehead Crack Speedball combo. Do what's tried and true:O.

I've read more than my fair share of comparisons on the two. It's a no brainer from what I've gathered. From 's post:Worth pursuing if you want a warm, dynamic, bassy, and fun sound that will give you shits-and-giggles. Pop in a Tung Sol 5998, a fairly neutral 12AU7 tube, good quality output caps, a PSU choke, and a better volume pot, and it's competitive and worth considering over some amps on this list. Once you 'max' it out with mods, it only really suffers from a close-up small stage, lack of bass definition and tautness, and lack of ultimate resolution. Fully pimped out, the Crack is worth consideration over the Elise, MicroZOTL, Lyr 2, Valhalla 2.It rules.Speedball is kind of a must-have for the crack.The Valhalla is way more neutral than the Crack, it has that tubey sound but it's not as warm, sluggish and yeah, tubey, as the Crack.I think it depends on what you want, the more tubey amp is the Crack and if you like it then go for it.

But beware that it has an output impedance of like 100 ohms which means that your headphones should be at least 250 ohms, the 650 will be fine ofc.Do some research on other websites like superbestaudiofriends.com or other subs. You sound exactly like myself just a few weeks ago. I thought I wanted neutral and super detail oriented. Then, I returned my 600's for 650's. I knew I wasn't doing them justice with the 2i2 I was running it with. I considered many options. Schitt Stack.

Bottlehead Crack Dac

And I kept hearing Crack. Crack Crack.I'm glad I listened ultimately. I'm running it with a Modi 2 Uber at the moment in it's stock form.

Another great feature of the Crack is that it's highly moddible and will grow with you.This is a great combo; tried and true. And I haven't even gotten to the good part yet: Speedball:D. I should have been clearer, sorry about that.A high audio impedance impacts the sound that your headphones will output. A big part of the crack sound comes from its output impedance. Most modern amplifiers/electronic devices aim for very low output impedance, often. For the next three weeks I have the HD650, then I'm going back to my HD600.I use the original Modi/Magni stack, which is a bit too powerful for the HD650. I wish I had a gain switch, which they introduced in the Modi2/Magni2.

Darkvoice 336se Vs Bottlehead Crack 1

It was a perfect match for the T50RP, but I gave them to a good, broke friend of mine.If my Magni breaks down one day (which will never happen), I'd probably replace it with a Vali 2, since the pairing is very popular over at SBAF, and the Canadian dollar isn't what it used to be. Tube rolling would also be cheap as chips, since you only have to grab one at a time. Reference tube is clean, so you can add distortion with later tubes.I do prefer the HD600 over the HD650 though, so we might simply be looking for something different from our gear. Good luck in your search!EDIT: measurements for the Valhalla 2:.