MUSE Class A Hybrid Tube Headphone Amplifier 6N11

[M.Beier]

Hey guys, I've seen this on ebay, and I am fairly tempted...
At the moment, I use my XFi Tits directly with HD280 pro (64 Ohm), but thinking this might do a little something!

What say you? Is this a good starters tube amp? The price is what tempt me here
MUSE Class A Hybrid Tube Headphone Amplifier 6N11

[EniGmA1987]

It will change the sound, but you are limiting yourself from your X-FI anyway and I dont think this little tube amp will make any magic happen, just alter it one way or another.

This is a good STARTING tube preamp:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Little-Dot-M...item3cbb4cbfbc
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Little-Dot-M...item1c1fc458c4


But again, your going into it analog via your xfi titanium...

[Andrew LB]

But again, your going into it analog via your xfi titanium...

And that IS typically a problem. Computers are notorious for dirty power and line noise, even if you have a very expensive low ripple power supply. I'm currently experiencing a faint buzz only during 3d Gaming heard through my Sennheiser HD580's powered by a Little Dot MK III tube amplifier, via my X-Fi Titanium HD RCA outputs. I do not get this buzz while playing music, or while running all CPU's @ 100% while rendering. It does it to a lesser extent when running the render test on fullscreen in the latest GPU-Z.

So far I've tried drivers, switching PCIe slots, powering the amp off a separate circuit, unplugging fans, etc but to no avail.

I read on head-fi that it may be due to a ground-loop problem increased by heavy power draw while gaming. A cheap test would be to use a 'cheater plug' on my amp which converts the 3 prong to a 2 prong. Ground loop isolators are typically bad news and hurt sound quality unless you get a very high end one. Better would be to get a proper power-conditioner like for home theater setups. But before I go spend that kind of cash, I may go with the $30 option and purchase a FiiO D3 DAC and run a toslink cable to it to ensure it's not coming from the PCIe Bus.

[M.Beier]

The PSU is AX1200, one of the PSU's on the market with least ripple.
That FiiO D3 DAC followed by the MUSE, would that work?

[EniGmA1987]

The PSU is AX1200, one of the PSU's on the market with least ripple.
That FiiO D3 DAC followed by the MUSE, would that work?

Yes those would work. I dont think anyone will be able to tell you if it will sound good or not. That MUSE unit is just a generic DIY tube amp board from some guy in China and not anything special or high end. Usually cheap tube things like that hurt more than they help but who knows, it may sound really nice. You could go with that as a VERY cheap starter setup.
The FiiO D3 is a fairly well known super cheap DAC unit that has a bit better than average performance
Dont forget to have an optical or coax cable (depending on which your soundcard has for outputs) to go from your computer to the tube amp
http://www.amazon.com/Mediabridge-To..._bxgy_e_text_b


If you want to upgrade to some much better equipment in the future but still maintain a low budget then you should look into these:

DAC:
http://schiit.com/cart/index.php?mai...&products_id=7

Tube amp:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Little-Dot-M...item27b325ea97

[Andrew LB]

http://schiit.com/cart/index.php?mai...&products_id=7

Now those guys make some outstanding Schiit!!! (yes, it is pronounced like you think)

When I finally purchase a solid state amp, it will definitely be the Schiit Asgard.

http://schiit.com/cart/index.php?mai...&products_id=1

Best of all, they're made by a group of sound engineers with 30+ years between them in the industry AND they're made 100% in the USA.

[STEvil]

Damn, I might just have to pick one of those up.. and a Bifrost to go with it.

[Donnie27]

Yet, Mike's biggest problem is just like it was one year ago, 280 Pro suck for anything other than absolutely flat recording. Any kind of Bass or anything with more than 10 instruments will make them strain. Why would you want to amp them in the first place? Hell, an iPhone can make them distort?

[EniGmA1987]

To be fair, an iPhone can make anything distort. It isnt capable of doing anything else. lol

[Bobsama]

Damn, I might just have to pick one of those up.. and a Bifrost to go with it.

There's also the new Cambridge DacMagic Plus for $600. It can do 24/192 over USB.

[EniGmA1987]

There are plenty of DAC units that can do 24/192 over USB, it isnt some amazing feat these days. My Audio-GD FUN can do that even and Ive had it for over a year now. The Bifrost though has a 32-bit DAC and is modular so you can upgrade the DAC and USB inputs at a later point when something even better comes along. I dont know about the DacMagic Plus, but the Bifrost also doesnt upscale anything but preserves the exact bit for bit as the input.

[Bobsama]

There are plenty of DAC units that can do 24/192 over USB, it isnt some amazing feat these days. My Audio-GD FUN can do that even and Ive had it for over a year now. The Bifrost though has a 32-bit DAC and is modular so you can upgrade the DAC and USB inputs at a later point when something even better comes along. I dont know about the DacMagic Plus, but the Bifrost also doesnt upscale anything but preserves the exact bit for bit as the input.

No; the amazing feature is for it to do it well enough to note. Plus, it's a pretty new feature--it wasn't so common when I got my DAC in late 2010.

[Donnie27]

No, an iPhone can't but you still don't amp 280 Pro's. They can't hand a lot over Voices or Bass. They're made for very flat music and or voice recording. So why in heck would you amp it?