Same....I only wanted to understand why my klipsch x12i with 50 ohm weren't loud enough using them through my phone....here I am trying to know which headphones and DAC/amp combination do I start with 🙄🙄 well there were no traveling this year anyway 🤷🏻♂️
The reason the volume dropped on the Darkvoice when you plugged the mad dogs in is because it's an OTL amp. This means that the amount of power it is able to output goes UP with higher impedance where as solid state would go down. So if you plug in a headphone with low impedance but high power demands, the OTL will output less power. Mad Dogs are orthodynamic and have low impedance and heavy power requirements so OTL is about the worst amp you could pick for driving that kind of headphone. OTL is best with high impedance dynamic headphones like the HD6x and HD8x. Headphones you would want to avoid with an OTL would be your orthos like HE4x,HE5x,HE6x, LCD's, Fostex etc.
the little dot I+ is a hybrid amp which means it's basically a transistor based amp with a tube for a small sound change/coloration (and for looks:D). It's good for low impedance and he-400i are easy to drive. Not all tube amps are OTL. There are amps that are OTC (output transformer coupled) like the WOO WA6/WA6SE/WA22 and others.
I specifically bought the Little Dot 1+ because it is made to output high with low imp headphones. Like a solid state amp, the amount of mW output is highest with lower ohm headphones, and lower with high ohm headphones. After tons of research I ordered the Mullard M8100 tubes to go with it, just saying.. for a good warm tubey sound supposedly. :)
It's refreshing to see an honest appraisal of tube amps and even vinyl records by someone for whom the pastime of listening to music hasn't transcended into something that is more dependent upon faith than his own ears and for whom primitive and/or arcane equipment is more important to the aesthetic experience than the sound of the music itself. Well done. Edit: I have gone onto Patreon and I am now going to patronize you.
yes! solid state has been designed to emulate the tube sound. The examples I'm thinking of are the old school CARVER TFM series of amplifiers, which to this day, are remarkable! The TFM means TRANSFER FUNCTION MODULATION. They're solid state amps designed to sound like tube amps.
With the DarkVoice, is there a need for pre-amp if the receiver being used doesn't have one, and/or would one help? If the receiver has a phono input would the line from the DarkVoice go into a regular line-in input and not the phono input?
The remark about the tubes almost adding a slight reverb is quite interesting to me. I've spent quite some time trying to make my soundcard sound as close as possible to another one that sounded somehow "better" to me, had a smoother, "glassy" kind of sound compared to a slight "harshness" of my other soundcards (because the one I liked had other issues that made it kinda unsuitable for my use). I tried everything, including changing opamps (didn't really do much). Eventually I figured out how to get very close to its sound - simply add a very slight hint of reverb. It somehow smoothed everything out and warmed it up. It seemed the soundcard with the sound I liked was kinda adding a bit of reverb to its sound as well.
Can you record the tube amp and solid state amp in AB test, with your headphone sound demo equipment? That would at least give people idea, whats the difference. Would be thankful if you can do that :)
To comment on the perceived reverb, that's the even order harmonic distortion you're hearing. It's slightly delayed, but it is enough to be noticed, and all tubes do this. Fantastic and honest review!
+Z Reviews If you replace the Chinese tubes with comparable German or American counterparts, this Even and Odd order harmonic distortion will decrease significantly. Hope this helps, thanks for making these videos!
If you want female vocals and violins to sound natural and pleasant then go with a tube amp. If you want the bass to be tight for hip-hop then get a solid state amp.
After watching this video I went and assembled myself Laconic Lunchbox Pro. It's a triple tube 20W Russian amp that you can buy made or make buying from the company the complete componentry for it. Mine actually increases low end. Using Fiio E10K I had +3db on bass in VB-Audio Voicemeter, now I have +1,5 on tube and it's still seems to be louder or punchier, or deeper probably because tube sound is softer to the ear and allows for higher volume without noticing it (I wish I had AB switch similar to your's). Moreover, I found that it's not high impedance headphones that are usually the problem on tube, it's low ones. That amp is rated 32-150 Omh on low-gain and 150-600 on high but my headphones currently are 16 and they just sounded like badly EQed on low-gain mode and struggling with volume while they were fine on high-impedance mode. Obviously I couldn't just use it on high setting because it actually makes abnormal load on power circuit of the amp. Transformer gets slightly hotter which puts longevity under question. I had to change couple of resistors to allow more power on the output while in low-impedance mode to make things work with my beyerdynamics until I get at least 80 Omh version. Temp is still not perfect (~46,5°C on it's metal box in a hardly ventilated summer heat), but that workaround should be healthier for the transformer. In other words tubes are perfect for fucking around with hardware. They are like custom PC builds compared to consoles (solid state amps). There's always headroom for improvement. Some people think (and I'll probably agree) that one should ideally make tube amp for particular specific headphone pair. And although you understand that what you hear on tube differs from the way track is meant to be, there is still a shock of how dead solid state sounds after tube even though definitely more accurate.
I can tell you why I like listening to amps for hours before making any decision on them. It's because when I am picking what amp I like, I want to know how it makes me feel after hours of listening. When I pick an amp to use while sitting on the couch and reading a book, it's different from what I want when I pick an amp for my desktop to listen to games and youtube videos. If I'm picking a couch listening headphone amp, I want it to be warm and fluid with a wider sound stage. When I am sitting at the computer playing games and watching youtube videos, I want it to be forgiving and accurate.
The bass drops because tube amps are capacitor coupled which doesn't allow any DC, this can affect low bass frequencies. A lot of solid state amps are DC coupled which means you can have a flat response down to 1Hz.
The real reason why most amplifiers are capacitor coupled is because DC voltages on the voice coil of a speaker creates nothing but heat. Heat + voice coils= dead speaker!!!!. While there are OCL (output capacitor less) amplifiers, you run the risk of burning out the voice coils if you drive the amplifier into clipping or if an output transistor shorts and stays switched on... In that case your speaker driver's will vaporize instantly.... Capacitors are an amazing passive device, depending upon where you place them in a circuit, they will perform different functions for example: if used in a power supply after the voltage has been rectified from Ac to Dc in parallel then it acts like a storage device that can accommodate fast delivery of power to what ever it's connected to... It also has the side effect of smoothing out fluctuating voltage ripples. If you were to say... Place the capacitor in series in the same power supply, your device will not function... So! That being said... A capacitor can store Dc and give it back for when it's needed, kinda like a battery (except that the battery has high internal resistance which = the inability to provide all of it's current instantly). But.... The capacitor can pass Ac voltage straight through it almost like it wasn't there... If there's a Dc voltage coupled with an Ac voltage and it's on it's way to your speakers, the Dc component of the voltage hits a brick wall when it gets to the capacitor... Remember that the sound that you hear from your speakers is because they are receiving Ac voltage. The signal that is fed into your amplifier is an Ac voltage but the amplifier is being powered by Dc voltage.... If Dc coupling went to the speakers then that would be like connecting a 1.5v AA size battery across the positive and negative wire's on a speaker or headphones... Try it sometime and you will either see the magic smoke come out or in the case of the headphones... See your hair transition into a form of magic smoke LoL... Although... I really don't recommend that you try it unless you are outside in a well ventilated area where you can't set anything else on fire LoL... Anyway, I hope that I have cleared up the topic of output capacitors... They are there for a reason and if the amplifier is really old like 20 years or more... You might want to get the capacitors replaced with new ones because they dry out or leak electrolyte and eventually take out the next device in line till magic smoke appears...
I’m really liking the sound from your review on the dark force 336. In your opinion dark force 336 vs Schiit Valhalla 2 for your sub $400 250ohm headphone amp? I’m torn after watching a few of your videos.
The darkvoice will give you a more tube amp sound and the Valhalla 2 has a more solid state sound if that helps. I don't own both but I ordered the darkvoice off drop formerly massdrop and I have schiit products so either way I'm sure you will be very pleased.
What tubes did you end up upgrading to for this amp? also, if you've tried it with the HD598, HE400i, 712Pro or X2's do you have thoughts on the pairing?
so.... bout a moth ago timmy decide to push in the speakers and tweeters at my house. next time he come visit iwill have one of this waiting for him on a table... merry fucking xmas timmy !
ROTORHEADPR Damn! Thats why I don't let timmie's go near my audio equipment. I had a timmy flip the ear cup of my sennheiser headphone backwards, destroying them...
vinyl doesn't have a left and right needle like you're describing here. There is up and down and left and right motion captured that translates to the left and right channel. As far as mono bass, well some records are pressed this way, some are not, it depends. I have many records that do not have mono bass below 150hz. others have mono bass below 200hz. There is a lot of variety in vinyl. Its fun for those of us that enjoy that kind of thing, but generally speaking, vinyl is mastered better, and CAN sound better than digital... but for the most part, I agree that great digital sounds better than very good vinyl simply because you eliminate the physical medium that's susceptible to dust and wear and all kinds of stuff.
Would there be any gain in sound quality or any other possible benefits to adding a dac or dsp to the line out from a music recording interface then to a headphone tube amp. ?? Chain= Recording Interface -- DAC -- Headphone tube amp.?
Zeos can you buy an audiophile grade fuse for the darkvoice I have read a on a few forums out there that say there is a difference being made they range form 40-70 dollars. Also could you compare it to a decent Littelfuse brand ceramic fuse they range for a few dollars on ebay.
remember the transistor radios? those came around in the 60's. at the time tubes were light years ahead of transistors in sound quality, but we got our first transistor based radios in the 60's.
i was about to buy this today, but you said it doesn't really do the role of "pouring honey on your music" - thats exactly what i want though :( is the littledot mk3 more warm? what tube amp would you recommend for honey warmness?
Lol i like how they called that article "audio woo" - perhaps a shot at woo audio (not a fan of that company, or any company that charges 3 times the price for stuff and spread misinformation and BS. I agree with the article for the most part, most tube amps out there don't exactly have the tubey warmth and lot of tube amps even over a thousand sound identical to an o2!! however, I got the little dot mk3 and I put NOS mullard m8100s on it, and it is a noticeable difference, I even used it on friends and family with an A/B switch (blind test) and you can tell right away that with the tubes the sound is richer and fuller and softer and very pleasing. In all honesty though, the LDmk3 is one of the FEW tube amps i seen these days that actually have that tubey sound...i got the darkvoice but the QC on them is quite iffy, and mine started smoking after 2 weeks :/ (returned it) - imo the ldmk3 is much better than the darkvoice. Basically if you want a tube sound, the ldmk3 is the only amp i can recommend today unless you can find a vintage mcintosh amp or something. because everything from schiit is schiit, and sounds identical to solid state - and the woo firefly sounds identical to solid state for over a thousand, though the woo wa3 has a tube sound, i see no reason to spend that much when you can get a ldmk3 at a fraction of the price. I can't reommend the mk3 enough, i'm very happy with the sound and the build quality is exceptional! and it's byotiful too! in general though to get the most out of a tube amp, you want to avoid all "hybrid amps" you need OTL tube amp with high impedance headphones.
To really get technical, what tubes do is compress the signal and add harmonics: most strongly odd-order harmonics, but even-order harmonics to a reasonable degree (which things like tape don’t do). It’s essentially distortion, but also makes them sound “richer” and “warmer”. The bass dropoff isn’t exactly bass dropoff (although I suppose it depends how you look at it) but everything else going up in volume. If you imagine everything in the signal is now producing a harmonics series above it, you’re actually getting a mids and treble boost.. which kind of equates to a bass drop.
I thought you review was pretty on spot, for the most part. I try to tell folks who ask me about tube vs ss, that most are better off with ss. I myself, almost always prefer a tube preamp with a good ss amp. I have a blue circle tube preamp that does every thing a ss can do, only better. Of course it was $1600 15 years ago. These days there is less difference between tube & ss the better they are made. A good tube amp should not be overly warm or have soft bass . That was my grandfathers tube amp in the 1950's. However to get these qualitys they do not come cheap.
I have a very silly question. I know there are rca outputs at the rear. So what if I have speakers connected to the rca output when I plug in headphone? Will it stop playing sound via the speaker and output the sound via headphone, like a pc?
really interesting looking at tube headphone amp reviews as a guitarist. i love playing through a tube amp and have for 15 years professionally. It seems like the same buzz words apply the only difference with guitar being the tactile element to the experience. Tubes feel as everyone says "warmer" and "real" but i think that's down to a level of imperfection and almost human error in a way. Tubes also sag though I honestly don't know know the technical reason for this, only the practical limitations. I'd be interested it hear if anyone could shed some light on valve sagging..?
I'm debating picking one of these up to compliment my Schiit Asgard 2 but I am worried it won't give off enough power for my Audeze LCD-2. I know the OTL design is made for high impedance.
this is a great system you got going man being able to switch between different stuff. The problem is when testing headphones you cant do this switch system this is really only meant for amps/dac. For headphones you have no choice but to listen to them for hours and then listen to something else for hours and then decide.
Hey Z, serious question that's bugged me recently and I'm honestly curious. You've reviewed a few tube amps since getting this one and a few times I've noted you saying "this sound tuby-er than the darkvoice" etc. etc., but after all that you still own the darkvoice. So I'm wondering - have you not heard anything in the price range of the darkvoice, especially once in a blue moon when it's on massdrop, that makes you wanna upgrade your seemingly reference tube amp?
+Eduardo Queiroz I couldn't detect any discernible advantage to using that as the pre. I think the major changes occur with the amplifier being the tube component.
I know valves (tubes in the US) are nice to look at they should really be in some sort of chimney, because they a 'microphonic', sound waves, say from nearby speakers, can vibrate the valve/tube and this modulates the output signal (slightly) which is noise.
Just curious if I used this as a preamp into a topping a30 pro would sound good or is using it as a pre amp to just tune up my current setup a waste of money?
Hello, I bought myself a pair of Beyerdynamic T1' s . I have a HK 970 amp. My question would be, would it be worth chaning the amp? Budget is not unlimited; in the price range of the Darkvoice. Other options other than Darkvoice? I was looking at the Schiit Valhalla 2, but ended up considering is not worth it. Thanks!
I have found that studio tracks that have isolated recorded tracks then layered and masters sound best through the solid state amps. Unprocessed vocals and recording of an entire ensemble sound better with the Darkvoice to my ears.
Hahaha! Thanks for the reply! I felt the urge to comment specifically because I'm not european(I'm brazilian, mind you) and I would still benefit from the temps in celsius. But thanks again! You're a god! ^^
@@ZReviews you mean you continue to not want to use an ISO standard? You can't be a part of the international community and ignore international standards, that's just showing absolute arrogance on the US' part.
Have you tried tube rolling on this heard it changes the sound some. I was wondering if it actually changes the sound noticeably if you could throw some different tubes in there and let us know if it's worth the price of buying more tubes.
Just found your channel today, could not be more happier that I did. I love it and probably will watch all of your back catalog. Keep it up, just might have to become a patreon.
Could you please make a video on how to bias or if you can bias a DarkVoice 336 or 337 dual mono headphone amp. There isn't 1 video on this. I don't see any ports to bias my 337???
Idk if anyone pointed this out but when you did the temp readings you mixed up C and F I think. No way that thing is 296C. I looked really closely at the display and I'm pretty sure it said F as well.
did u have any hum problems with DV? i ve been solid state guy(O2, Magni, DC1). Last week i got WA2 and it gives out hum thru headphones. I disconnect all inputs and hum goes away. When i connect my DAC(modi,DC1,Fiio X3ii) hum comes back. There is hum even when dac is not powered on.
+mahee The splitter I use to A/B can add a hum but if I wiggle the wire a bit it grounds and goes away. This can happen with any amp and can be hard to track down.
I just bought a Sennheiser Hd800 for 690€ . I know you are not a fan of it but this is my first High End Headphone ...would you suggest the DarkVoice 336 Tube Amplifier for the Hd 800 ?
+Webb H Video game Diablo was said to have a secret cow level - it didnt, other sayings might be ;The cake is a lie';, and ;All your base belong to us'.
+D Paignall Oh, of course. I'd forgotten entirely about that. Wasn't there actually a cow level in Diablo 2? I'm sure I remember seeing something like that.
You should revisit this review with some tube rolling. NOS American Manufactured Tung Sol 6SN7 tubes change the sound signature of the DV quite a bit. I have a Vintage Silvertone 6SN7GTB driver and an GE 6080 6AS7 power tube and the difference from the Chinese stock tubes is night and day on Senn HD-6XX.
i am planning to go tube too. was considering the little dot mk2. could you review if possible? also, i heard that there is slight distortion of you use a low impedance headphone on tube amps, is this true? i use the ad700x
+Anirban Bhattacharjee I haven't played too much with low impedence cans and the cheaper tubes. They can get bit unwieldy since they are just skimming the power that the tube produces.
You got this one right, hope you end up with some more tube reviews (find a bottlehead crack + speedball to pair with your painted 600s!). I've got an old school OTL tube amp (ASL MG-Head_OTL) with some incredibly rare and expensive NOS tubes and it continues to amaze me with it's sound and temperament. I prefer the HD600s on when it's just barely "warmed up", and HD650s when it's fully warmed up (6hrs+!!!!). You can't explain that -O'Reilly. It's black magic, and I think I'm finally ok with that.
+Z Reviews Say u wanted to compare portable dacs that don't necessarily have rca ports but only usb. I assume then it would be difficult to run an ab test using the sescom device.
I like how you say the sound is "different". My experience is that tubes and SS do sound different and both sound amazing considering good quality amps. I however seem to like the tube sound better. it seems to engage me somehow "differently" than SS and that's what I like better about it. So one is not "better" than the other, they just have different characteristics. Some people will prefer one over the other but both can be very good!
Very informative and enlightening facts there Z! That's why you're the best. Merry Christmas! Tubes/valve amplifier would definitely be my next must-buy. Remember when I was a kid when our b/w television and sound system was driven by tube/valves.
Transistor's tend to create distortion all over the audible spectrum. Tubes; although they may create more distortion than solid-state devices, tend to distort at harmonic intervals of the input signal. So, the output just doesn't sound as inorganic to the human ear.
The problem with analysing tubes is the fact that every single component from transistors to capacitors to resistors and the tube itself, which is why emulating it well is damn near impossible to do, but in the market of guitar amps there's things going on where people have done just that to make a transistor amp sound nearer to the vacuum. And that's why we are still master-race'ing all over the place about tube amps still
I spent a ton of time and money and i finally found my end game. Sennheiser hd650 with Littledot mk3 with 1962 mullard tubes. the mk3 with mullards truly give music the HONEY feeling and its just pure sweet warmth being pumped into my brain. I got the darkvoice too, and i agree with z, it doesn't really do that. i can put my 650s on anyone's head and have them close their eyes while i flip a switch and they can instantly tell when i'm using the o2 and when i'm using the mk3. but like when i had the vallhalla 2, i couldn't tell much of a difference, and i put it on other peoples heads and had them close their eyes, and nobody could tell with their eyes closed which one was the o2.... but this mk3 is amazing, i kept it at the factory gain but i noticed a lot of times id have the volume knob at max and im just pumping honey into my brain, but i'm just like "come on baby, just give me a little bit more!!" so now i set the gain to 4 with the jumper switches, and it literally makes my head vibrate at max volume - the thing about these mullard tubes is that they take away all the bite from treble so its just pure honey being pumped into my head and even though the music is LOUD AS HELL and i can probably rupture my ear drums, it just feels SO GOOD. the music is so much more FULL and more sound stage, more softness, its just pure bliss one a whole new level. Z if you lived closer i would totally want you to review this setup, and i would mail them to you, but im scared that if the tubes break or something and i get another one and it doesn't sound the same, i would get depressed enough to end my life lol.
Z Reviews yeah but it seems a lot of manufacturing companies in russia and ukraine are making tubes that are identical to their nos counterparts, some say its because they are preparing for a nuclear holocaust where transistors will be come useless, but i like to think they want to make the world an audiophile heaven for everybody with ebay
It’s now the end of 2021 and you have forgotten that you left a question. I have just reminded you that your post hasn’t been answered and I will answer for you. Darkvoice 336se for tube rolling adventures.
Will it be an improvement in sound quality if i use the audio out from Aune X1S to audio in to Darkvoice 336SE ? or should i just use a coax to aux cable like the Supra Y-Link 2RCA - 1RCA, straigt in my pc motherboard with my Darkvoice 336SE ? (my motherboard is a MSI Z170A GAMING M3, Socket-1151)
+Z Reviews Dude, I love your channel and videos, please keep them coming. Plenty of haters on RUclips, thought I would just share my appreciation. Great stuff. Thank you! Happy New Year!
hi Z, i own a pair of grado rs2 headphones and was looking for a dac under 200 in my country the odacs are very expensive so thats not an option, any advice?
you are right :) I have a really nice ss guitar amp and 7 Marshall tube amps for that reason. Tube amps produce imperfect sound that are hard to reproduce.Nice review and happy holidays.
Do you have a recommended amp/dac combo for under $300 ish ?? I have a pair of AKG 7xx and Senn HD598s. I have an alright onboard amp/dac combo on my high end mobo but I know external will always sound better so it's time to upgrade!
That why im INLOVED to Z. Despite the fact that he is a typical audiophile. He does everything right using switches and blind tests. Unlike all other reviewers, who only know how to chat into the empty, with their audiophile terms.
In the 1940s the invention of semiconductor devices made it possible to produce solid-state devices, which are smaller, more efficient, reliable and durable, and cheaper than thermionic tubes. From the mid-1960s, thermionic tubes were then being replaced by the transistor. However, the cathode-ray tube (CRT) remained the basis for television monitors and oscilloscopes until the early 21st century.
Wow man, umm I just found you by streaming through diferent amplifier reviews. I'm hooked, you have my subscription and likes, such good reviews!!! O by the way I hate tube amplifiers just for the reason you stated. Awesome job man, I'm off for 3 days and look forward to watching many more of your videos!! Fantastic!!
Not all tubes sound all the same FYI! Try put a TungSol 5998 and a Tung-Sol CTL-6SN7GT tubes in your DarkVoice 336SE. IMO and 22 others, it sounded wayyyy better than WooAmp in stock form. You'll be in audiophile heaven with those tubes. All was blind tested and they all thought it was the Woo Amp that sounded better, using Sennheiser HD800S. The chinese tubes that came with the dark voice is crap, for an guy that love audio that much should at least get some decent tubes for it.
Enio Nery I just got one from Ebay, it will arrive soon. However, I am a total noob and the seller broke the small tube when packing. I was forced to search for another tube and just realised wtf I got myself into.... hundreds of pages on the forums related to the Darkvoice and tube rolling.... if you want to have funn with the Darkvoice, buy several diffrent tubes for it. Even the same model of tube from the same manufacturer, diffrent production dates, sound diffrent. like: get the RCA 6as7g gray plate, not black plate or another incredibly rare tube from the '40 era, you will be transported directly to HiFi heaven. Well, until the Darkvoice arrives I will shop for tubes
Mickxal yeah... I am in europe, the US tubes cost much more here. I got lucky to find several old repair shops or retired workers who still have plenty of NOS. On the positive side, most NOS Russian tubes cost between 1.5 to 15 USD and they have hundreds of them. I even found some fuckedup Russian army tubes used on planes and in radar systems for 15-30 USD (did not try them).
+Z Reviews What you said about vinyl sounding different I have turntable from 1970 and I like to listen some records on vinyl like this turntable -> Pre-Amp Pro-Ject -> RCA 3.5mm -> O2+ODAC -> Headphones I've same album as digital and vinyl some records I might hear slight difference and in some records I might not hear anything..but my point is that some of my friends go "ohh vinyl is far better than digital" but idk man..i think both are good. But I also don't have "audiophile" headphones yet..I've to get ones.
It all started when Linus tech tips didn't review the hd800's and I started searching RUclips for a Review, Now my wallet is fucked.
Ditto
Same....I only wanted to understand why my klipsch x12i with 50 ohm weren't loud enough using them through my phone....here I am trying to know which headphones and DAC/amp combination do I start with 🙄🙄 well there were no traveling this year anyway 🤷🏻♂️
I feel ya! I’m about to buy a pair of lcd 2c rip wallet
Lol....such a relatable comment
Linus is mad he didn't get your money instead
To save some fellow Europeans the long trip to Google.
300°F = 149°C
Yeah, this thing gets pretty hot.
and fellow asian
+Harry creasian and fellow everyone else in the world
+Aiden Gilmartin Wrap it in Bacon!
I think you mean the rest of the world!!
It seems way to dangerous this way.... They are secured in guitar amps for a reason
The reason the volume dropped on the Darkvoice when you plugged the mad dogs in is because it's an OTL amp. This means that the amount of power it is able to output goes UP with higher impedance where as solid state would go down. So if you plug in a headphone with low impedance but high power demands, the OTL will output less power. Mad Dogs are orthodynamic and have low impedance and heavy power requirements so OTL is about the worst amp you could pick for driving that kind of headphone. OTL is best with high impedance dynamic headphones like the HD6x and HD8x. Headphones you would want to avoid with an OTL would be your orthos like HE4x,HE5x,HE6x, LCD's, Fostex etc.
Noted.
Will the Darkvoice cope ok, with 32 ohm Grados?
It wont output as much power as it would with a 600 ohm but its personal preference as to whether its enough.
the little dot I+ is a hybrid amp which means it's basically a transistor based amp with a tube for a small sound change/coloration (and for looks:D). It's good for low impedance and he-400i are easy to drive.
Not all tube amps are OTL. There are amps that are OTC (output transformer coupled) like the WOO WA6/WA6SE/WA22 and others.
I specifically bought the Little Dot 1+ because it is made to output high with low imp headphones.
Like a solid state amp, the amount of mW output is highest with lower ohm headphones, and lower with high ohm headphones.
After tons of research I ordered the Mullard M8100 tubes to go with it, just saying.. for a good warm tubey sound supposedly. :)
a 26 minute zeos review, is a christmas gift in itself.
+Lucky Dane I went in on this. His long videos are the best.
that romantic tube glow and that fucking blue LED lol
Same complaint I have with my xduoo TA20. I'm thinking about cutting out a square of dark window tint to try to dull it down a bit
I didn't know what to make of you at first but not only have you grown on me but I now hang on for your entire review. Awesome stuff.
A single ended triode tube amplifier is the most beautiful thing you could ever hear.
Zeos why haven't you ever reviewed the bottlehead crack? If you've used it, darkvoice vs bottlehead? Which one's better
It's refreshing to see an honest appraisal of tube amps and even vinyl records by someone for whom the pastime of listening to music hasn't transcended into something that is more dependent upon faith than his own ears and for whom primitive and/or arcane equipment is more important to the aesthetic experience than the sound of the music itself. Well done.
Edit: I have gone onto Patreon and I am now going to patronize you.
+Dr. DAC Who doesn't?
yes! solid state has been designed to emulate the tube sound. The examples I'm thinking of are the old school CARVER TFM series of amplifiers, which to this day, are remarkable! The TFM means TRANSFER FUNCTION MODULATION. They're solid state amps designed to sound like tube amps.
tube rolling now that's a rabbit hole to go down.
So I should not get one hahaha. Should I get a Vali 2 😋
With the DarkVoice, is there a need for pre-amp if the receiver being used doesn't have one, and/or would one help? If the receiver has a phono input would the line from the DarkVoice go into a regular line-in input and not the phono input?
The remark about the tubes almost adding a slight reverb is quite interesting to me. I've spent quite some time trying to make my soundcard sound as close as possible to another one that sounded somehow "better" to me, had a smoother, "glassy" kind of sound compared to a slight "harshness" of my other soundcards (because the one I liked had other issues that made it kinda unsuitable for my use). I tried everything, including changing opamps (didn't really do much). Eventually I figured out how to get very close to its sound - simply add a very slight hint of reverb. It somehow smoothed everything out and warmed it up. It seemed the soundcard with the sound I liked was kinda adding a bit of reverb to its sound as well.
Can you record the tube amp and solid state amp in AB test, with your headphone sound demo equipment? That would at least give people idea, whats the difference. Would be thankful if you can do that :)
+qwertyrewtywyterty Possible with this new one.
Z Reviews Thank you very much, im looking forward for the video
+Z Reviews Yes please do this
poor Timmy
timmy gon' learn today!
NOT a guitar player.....
Fuck Timmy
Finally someone that actually does a proper review. Well done.
To comment on the perceived reverb, that's the even order harmonic distortion you're hearing. It's slightly delayed, but it is enough to be noticed, and all tubes do this. Fantastic and honest review!
+Lord Byron Yeah I am not crazy!
+Z Reviews If you replace the Chinese tubes with comparable German or American counterparts, this Even and Odd order harmonic distortion will decrease significantly. Hope this helps, thanks for making these videos!
If you want female vocals and violins to sound natural and pleasant then go with a tube amp. If you want the bass to be tight for hip-hop then get a solid state amp.
Recreating the tube sound is like playing fake engine noises through your radio. Sure, it sounds similar but it lacks the magic of the real thing.
well said... faking something isn't the same as the real thing.
It’s so good you need to buy solid state amps.
After watching this video I went and assembled myself Laconic Lunchbox Pro. It's a triple tube 20W Russian amp that you can buy made or make buying from the company the complete componentry for it. Mine actually increases low end. Using Fiio E10K I had +3db on bass in VB-Audio Voicemeter, now I have +1,5 on tube and it's still seems to be louder or punchier, or deeper probably because tube sound is softer to the ear and allows for higher volume without noticing it (I wish I had AB switch similar to your's).
Moreover, I found that it's not high impedance headphones that are usually the problem on tube, it's low ones. That amp is rated 32-150 Omh on low-gain and 150-600 on high but my headphones currently are 16 and they just sounded like badly EQed on low-gain mode and struggling with volume while they were fine on high-impedance mode. Obviously I couldn't just use it on high setting because it actually makes abnormal load on power circuit of the amp. Transformer gets slightly hotter which puts longevity under question. I had to change couple of resistors to allow more power on the output while in low-impedance mode to make things work with my beyerdynamics until I get at least 80 Omh version. Temp is still not perfect (~46,5°C on it's metal box in a hardly ventilated summer heat), but that workaround should be healthier for the transformer.
In other words tubes are perfect for fucking around with hardware. They are like custom PC builds compared to consoles (solid state amps). There's always headroom for improvement. Some people think (and I'll probably agree) that one should ideally make tube amp for particular specific headphone pair. And although you understand that what you hear on tube differs from the way track is meant to be, there is still a shock of how dead solid state sounds after tube even though definitely more accurate.
I can tell you why I like listening to amps for hours before making any decision on them. It's because when I am picking what amp I like, I want to know how it makes me feel after hours of listening. When I pick an amp to use while sitting on the couch and reading a book, it's different from what I want when I pick an amp for my desktop to listen to games and youtube videos. If I'm picking a couch listening headphone amp, I want it to be warm and fluid with a wider sound stage. When I am sitting at the computer playing games and watching youtube videos, I want it to be forgiving and accurate.
The bass drops because tube amps are capacitor coupled which doesn't allow any DC, this can affect low bass frequencies. A lot of solid state amps are DC coupled which means you can have a flat response down to 1Hz.
The real reason why most amplifiers are capacitor coupled is because DC voltages on the voice coil of a speaker creates nothing but heat. Heat + voice coils= dead speaker!!!!. While there are OCL (output capacitor less) amplifiers, you run the risk of burning out the voice coils if you drive the amplifier into clipping or if an output transistor shorts and stays switched on... In that case your speaker driver's will vaporize instantly.... Capacitors are an amazing passive device, depending upon where you place them in a circuit, they will perform different functions for example: if used in a power supply after the voltage has been rectified from Ac to Dc in parallel then it acts like a storage device that can accommodate fast delivery of power to what ever it's connected to... It also has the side effect of smoothing out fluctuating voltage ripples. If you were to say... Place the capacitor in series in the same power supply, your device will not function... So! That being said... A capacitor can store Dc and give it back for when it's needed, kinda like a battery (except that the battery has high internal resistance which = the inability to provide all of it's current instantly). But.... The capacitor can pass Ac voltage straight through it almost like it wasn't there... If there's a Dc voltage coupled with an Ac voltage and it's on it's way to your speakers, the Dc component of the voltage hits a brick wall when it gets to the capacitor... Remember that the sound that you hear from your speakers is because they are receiving Ac voltage. The signal that is fed into your amplifier is an Ac voltage but the amplifier is being powered by Dc voltage.... If Dc coupling went to the speakers then that would be like connecting a 1.5v AA size battery across the positive and negative wire's on a speaker or headphones... Try it sometime and you will either see the magic smoke come out or in the case of the headphones... See your hair transition into a form of magic smoke LoL... Although... I really don't recommend that you try it unless you are outside in a well ventilated area where you can't set anything else on fire LoL... Anyway, I hope that I have cleared up the topic of output capacitors... They are there for a reason and if the amplifier is really old like 20 years or more... You might want to get the capacitors replaced with new ones because they dry out or leak electrolyte and eventually take out the next device in line till magic smoke appears...
which power amp for speakers would you suggest to be connected to the darkvoice? (source: macmini>>DAC>>darkvoice)
Knowing it gets so hot is a deal killer for me. Good info. Thank you!
Don’t you like hot things, big boy?
Are you kidding? I swear people have become such pussies. It's not 300° on the outside the damn tube smart dude
I’m really liking the sound from your review on the dark force 336. In your opinion dark force 336 vs Schiit Valhalla 2 for your sub $400 250ohm headphone amp? I’m torn after watching a few of your videos.
The darkvoice will give you a more tube amp sound and the Valhalla 2 has a more solid state sound if that helps. I don't own both but I ordered the darkvoice off drop formerly massdrop and I have schiit products so either way I'm sure you will be very pleased.
What tubes did you end up upgrading to for this amp?
also, if you've tried it with the HD598, HE400i, 712Pro or X2's do you have thoughts on the pairing?
so.... bout a moth ago timmy decide to push in the speakers and tweeters at my house. next time he come visit iwill have one of this waiting for him on a table... merry fucking xmas timmy !
ROTORHEADPR Damn! Thats why I don't let timmie's go near my audio equipment. I had a timmy flip the ear cup of my sennheiser headphone backwards, destroying them...
vinyl doesn't have a left and right needle like you're describing here. There is up and down and left and right motion captured that translates to the left and right channel. As far as mono bass, well some records are pressed this way, some are not, it depends. I have many records that do not have mono bass below 150hz. others have mono bass below 200hz. There is a lot of variety in vinyl. Its fun for those of us that enjoy that kind of thing, but generally speaking, vinyl is mastered better, and CAN sound better than digital... but for the most part, I agree that great digital sounds better than very good vinyl simply because you eliminate the physical medium that's susceptible to dust and wear and all kinds of stuff.
Would there be any gain in sound quality or any other possible benefits to adding a dac or dsp to the line out from a music recording interface then to a headphone tube amp. ??
Chain=
Recording Interface -- DAC -- Headphone tube amp.?
Zeos can you buy an audiophile grade fuse for the darkvoice I have read a on a few forums out there that say there is a difference being made they range form 40-70 dollars. Also could you compare it to a decent Littelfuse brand ceramic fuse they range for a few dollars on ebay.
In terms of sound alone (not portability or anything else)would you rather have a dark voice or the Oppo HA-2?
remember the transistor radios? those came around in the 60's. at the time tubes were light years ahead of transistors in sound quality, but we got our first transistor based radios in the 60's.
If there was any vid to do a sounddemo on, this would be it. Not sure how it would translate to video but I'd be curious to hear the difference.
+JellyD I may attempt it but I had a time constraint.
Yup... Agree!
whats a good recommendation for a beginner like me. need a good soilid state amp for headphones and computer minitor.
i was about to buy this today, but you said it doesn't really do the role of "pouring honey on your music" - thats exactly what i want though :( is the littledot mk3 more warm? what tube amp would you recommend for honey warmness?
I haven't sampled enough to know 100%
read... rationalwiki.org/wiki/Audio_woo
Lol i like how they called that article "audio woo" - perhaps a shot at woo audio (not a fan of that company, or any company that charges 3 times the price for stuff and spread misinformation and BS. I agree with the article for the most part, most tube amps out there don't exactly have the tubey warmth and lot of tube amps even over a thousand sound identical to an o2!!
however, I got the little dot mk3 and I put NOS mullard m8100s on it, and it is a noticeable difference, I even used it on friends and family with an A/B switch (blind test) and you can tell right away that with the tubes the sound is richer and fuller and softer and very pleasing. In all honesty though, the LDmk3 is one of the FEW tube amps i seen these days that actually have that tubey sound...i got the darkvoice but the QC on them is quite iffy, and mine started smoking after 2 weeks :/ (returned it) - imo the ldmk3 is much better than the darkvoice.
Basically if you want a tube sound, the ldmk3 is the only amp i can recommend today unless you can find a vintage mcintosh amp or something. because everything from schiit is schiit, and sounds identical to solid state - and the woo firefly sounds identical to solid state for over a thousand, though the woo wa3 has a tube sound, i see no reason to spend that much when you can get a ldmk3 at a fraction of the price. I can't reommend the mk3 enough, i'm very happy with the sound and the build quality is exceptional! and it's byotiful too!
in general though to get the most out of a tube amp, you want to avoid all "hybrid amps" you need OTL tube amp with high impedance headphones.
To really get technical, what tubes do is compress the signal and add harmonics: most strongly odd-order harmonics, but even-order harmonics to a reasonable degree (which things like tape don’t do). It’s essentially distortion, but also makes them sound “richer” and “warmer”.
The bass dropoff isn’t exactly bass dropoff (although I suppose it depends how you look at it) but everything else going up in volume. If you imagine everything in the signal is now producing a harmonics series above it, you’re actually getting a mids and treble boost.. which kind of equates to a bass drop.
I thought you review was pretty on spot, for the most part. I try to tell folks who ask me about tube vs ss, that most are better off with ss. I myself, almost always prefer a tube preamp with a good ss amp. I have a blue circle tube preamp that does every thing a ss can do, only better. Of course it was $1600 15 years ago. These days there is less difference between tube & ss the better they are made. A good tube amp should not be overly warm or have soft bass . That was my grandfathers tube amp in the 1950's. However to get these qualitys they do not come cheap.
So should I buy this or the a-100 for myself for Christmas? Akg712. They're both on the list
I have a very silly question. I know there are rca outputs at the rear. So what if I have speakers connected to the rca output when I plug in headphone? Will it stop playing sound via the speaker and output the sound via headphone, like a pc?
It passes through without stopping.
really interesting looking at tube headphone amp reviews as a guitarist. i love playing through a tube amp and have for 15 years professionally. It seems like the same buzz words apply the only difference with guitar being the tactile element to the experience. Tubes feel as everyone says "warmer" and "real" but i think that's down to a level of imperfection and almost human error in a way. Tubes also sag though I honestly don't know know the technical reason for this, only the practical limitations. I'd be interested it hear if anyone could shed some light on valve sagging..?
Valve sagging…
I'm debating picking one of these up to compliment my Schiit Asgard 2 but I am worried it won't give off enough power for my Audeze LCD-2. I know the OTL design is made for high impedance.
this is a great system you got going man being able to switch between different stuff.
The problem is when testing headphones you cant do this switch system this is really only meant for amps/dac. For headphones you have no choice but to listen to them for hours and then listen to something else for hours and then decide.
Hey Z, serious question that's bugged me recently and I'm honestly curious. You've reviewed a few tube amps since getting this one and a few times I've noted you saying "this sound tuby-er than the darkvoice" etc. etc., but after all that you still own the darkvoice. So I'm wondering - have you not heard anything in the price range of the darkvoice, especially once in a blue moon when it's on massdrop, that makes you wanna upgrade your seemingly reference tube amp?
You said the Darkvoice has a preamp. Have you tried and used the tube pre in your solid state phone amplifier? If so, what are your impressions?
+Eduardo Queiroz I couldn't detect any discernible advantage to using that as the pre. I think the major changes occur with the amplifier being the tube component.
+Z Reviews thank you!
I know valves (tubes in the US) are nice to look at they should really be in some sort of chimney, because they a 'microphonic', sound waves, say from nearby speakers, can vibrate the valve/tube and this modulates the output signal (slightly) which is noise.
Just curious if I used this as a preamp into a topping a30 pro would sound good or is using it as a pre amp to just tune up my current setup a waste of money?
Hello,
I bought myself a pair of Beyerdynamic T1' s . I have a HK 970 amp. My question would be, would it be worth chaning the amp? Budget is not unlimited; in the price range of the Darkvoice. Other options other than Darkvoice? I was looking at the Schiit Valhalla 2, but ended up considering is not worth it. Thanks!
I have found that studio tracks that have isolated recorded tracks then layered and masters sound best through the solid state amps. Unprocessed vocals and recording of an entire ensemble sound better with the Darkvoice to my ears.
"I could switch to Celsius for my european fans." You could switch to Celsius for THE REST OF THE WORLD!
Nope. We are a proud race. We want to hold onto our cultures and traditions.
Hahaha! Thanks for the reply! I felt the urge to comment specifically because I'm not european(I'm brazilian, mind you) and I would still benefit from the temps in celsius. But thanks again! You're a god! ^^
Everyone should use Kelvin.
@@ZReviews you mean you continue to not want to use an ISO standard? You can't be a part of the international community and ignore international standards, that's just showing absolute arrogance on the US' part.
@@davepastern Yeah, try to exclude us and see what happens. We'll be fine, you on the other hand...
Have you tried tube rolling on this heard it changes the sound some. I was wondering if it actually changes the sound noticeably if you could throw some different tubes in there and let us know if it's worth the price of buying more tubes.
Well that is the question. How much is different worth.
Just found your channel today, could not be more happier that I did. I love it and probably will watch all of your back catalog. Keep it up, just might have to become a patreon.
Will Do
Could you please make a video on how to bias or if you can bias a DarkVoice 336 or 337 dual mono headphone amp. There isn't 1 video on this. I don't see any ports to bias my 337???
Idk if anyone pointed this out but when you did the temp readings you mixed up C and F I think. No way that thing is 296C. I looked really closely at the display and I'm pretty sure it said F as well.
It is in freedom units.
Would love to see a comparison between this and Little Dot MK2 MKII 6J1 X2 6N6 X2.
Any plan on doing a review of Little Dot MK2 MKII, Zeos?
did u have any hum problems with DV?
i ve been solid state guy(O2, Magni, DC1). Last week i got WA2 and it gives out hum thru headphones. I disconnect all inputs and hum goes away. When i connect my DAC(modi,DC1,Fiio X3ii) hum comes back. There is hum even when dac is not powered on.
+mahee The splitter I use to A/B can add a hum but if I wiggle the wire a bit it grounds and goes away. This can happen with any amp and can be hard to track down.
I just bought a Sennheiser Hd800 for 690€ . I know you are not a fan of it but this is my first High End Headphone ...would you suggest the DarkVoice 336 Tube Amplifier for the Hd 800 ?
do you think you will ever do videos talking about components like crossovers and theory or even one going over your foobar setup?
+drawersystem Foobar setup for sure. The others would be very convoluted``
Does that desk mat say "There is no cow level"? That sounds like the description of an item on Aliexpress or something.
+Webb H Video game Diablo was said to have a secret cow level - it didnt, other sayings might be ;The cake is a lie';, and ;All your base belong to us'.
+Webb H Its a cheat on StarCraft.
+D Paignall Oh, of course. I'd forgotten entirely about that. Wasn't there actually a cow level in Diablo 2? I'm sure I remember seeing something like that.
+Webb H yes there was.
@synical13
That’s hilarious
- Timmy
You should revisit this review with some tube rolling. NOS American Manufactured Tung Sol 6SN7 tubes change the sound signature of the DV quite a bit. I have a Vintage Silvertone 6SN7GTB driver and an GE 6080 6AS7 power tube and the difference from the Chinese stock tubes is night and day on Senn HD-6XX.
i am planning to go tube too. was considering the little dot mk2. could you review if possible? also, i heard that there is slight distortion of you use a low impedance headphone on tube amps, is this true? i use the ad700x
+Anirban Bhattacharjee I haven't played too much with low impedence cans and the cheaper tubes. They can get bit unwieldy since they are just skimming the power that the tube produces.
You got this one right, hope you end up with some more tube reviews (find a bottlehead crack + speedball to pair with your painted 600s!). I've got an old school OTL tube amp (ASL MG-Head_OTL) with some incredibly rare and expensive NOS tubes and it continues to amaze me with it's sound and temperament. I prefer the HD600s on when it's just barely "warmed up", and HD650s when it's fully warmed up (6hrs+!!!!). You can't explain that -O'Reilly. It's black magic, and I think I'm finally ok with that.
Can an a/b test be done with between dac/amp with no rca ports? What would be needed to split the source?
Thnx
+MrBorderman01 Not sure. Can you give a specific example of the things being compared?
+Z Reviews Say u wanted to compare portable dacs that don't necessarily have rca ports but only usb. I assume then it would be difficult to run an ab test using the sescom device.
I like how you say the sound is "different". My experience is that tubes and SS do sound different and both sound amazing considering good quality amps. I however seem to like the tube sound better. it seems to engage me somehow "differently" than SS and that's what I like better about it. So one is not "better" than the other, they just have different characteristics. Some people will prefer one over the other but both can be very good!
Very informative and enlightening facts there Z! That's why you're the best. Merry Christmas! Tubes/valve amplifier would definitely be my next must-buy. Remember when I was a kid when our b/w television and sound system was driven by tube/valves.
would you recommend that solid state over a mayflower ODAC/amp? trying to get a first dac and pair of cans for my setup
+SuburbanDisposal I would.
Transistor's tend to create distortion all over the audible spectrum. Tubes; although they may create more distortion than solid-state devices, tend to distort at harmonic intervals of the input signal. So, the output just doesn't sound as inorganic to the human ear.
rip timmy
The problem with analysing tubes is the fact that every single component from transistors to capacitors to resistors and the tube itself, which is why emulating it well is damn near impossible to do, but in the market of guitar amps there's things going on where people have done just that to make a transistor amp sound nearer to the vacuum. And that's why we are still master-race'ing all over the place about tube amps still
Thanks, you sold me on Solid. Trying to push my HiFiMAN HE-400i's to be a bit more clean.
Coolmfn Steve what did you end up going with? I have the same cans. Looking to drive them better.
I spent a ton of time and money and i finally found my end game. Sennheiser hd650 with Littledot mk3 with 1962 mullard tubes.
the mk3 with mullards truly give music the HONEY feeling and its just pure sweet warmth being pumped into my brain. I got the darkvoice too, and i agree with z, it doesn't really do that.
i can put my 650s on anyone's head and have them close their eyes while i flip a switch and they can instantly tell when i'm using the o2 and when i'm using the mk3. but like when i had the vallhalla 2, i couldn't tell much of a difference, and i put it on other peoples heads and had them close their eyes, and nobody could tell with their eyes closed which one was the o2....
but this mk3 is amazing, i kept it at the factory gain but i noticed a lot of times id have the volume knob at max and im just pumping honey into my brain, but i'm just like "come on baby, just give me a little bit more!!"
so now i set the gain to 4 with the jumper switches, and it literally makes my head vibrate at max volume - the thing about these mullard tubes is that they take away all the bite from treble so its just pure honey being pumped into my head and even though the music is LOUD AS HELL and i can probably rupture my ear drums, it just feels SO GOOD. the music is so much more FULL and more sound stage, more softness, its just pure bliss one a whole new level.
Z if you lived closer i would totally want you to review this setup, and i would mail them to you, but im scared that if the tubes break or something and i get another one and it doesn't sound the same, i would get depressed enough to end my life lol.
So all we need now is a time machine to go back and get some more vintage tubes for everyone.
Z Reviews yeah but it seems a lot of manufacturing companies in russia and ukraine are making tubes that are identical to their nos counterparts, some say its because they are preparing for a nuclear holocaust where transistors will be come useless, but i like to think they want to make the world an audiophile heaven for everybody with ebay
+TheRoshan89 im looking between the mk4 and the mk3, is there any difference between the two because the mk4 has more tubes?
Zach Salehe i heard the mk4, it sounded identical to an o2, didn't have tube sound - mk3 is infinitely better
Not the beeeeeesssssssss
What do you recommend?
Darkvoice 336
or
Little dot mk3
It’s now the end of 2021 and you have forgotten that you left a question. I have just reminded you that your post hasn’t been answered and I will answer for you. Darkvoice 336se for tube rolling adventures.
@@Rsalmond83 Some time has past since then but thank you :)
Need to talk about Op-Amp switching at some point. I would love to hear your two cents on it.
Will it be an improvement in sound quality if i use the audio out from Aune X1S to audio in to Darkvoice 336SE ? or should i just use a coax to aux cable like the Supra Y-Link 2RCA - 1RCA, straigt in my pc motherboard with my Darkvoice 336SE ? (my motherboard is a MSI Z170A GAMING M3, Socket-1151)
You want a clean source. The Aune would be better.
Do i also get the benefit of keeping the 32 bit/384 DSD out of the Darkvoice when combined together?
Hey big Z! would you recommend the dark voice for the HE 400i's ?
Yeah they soak up tubes pretty well.
The cool thing about using a tube amp is that you can tube roll which is fun!
Is that switch one way? I.e. Can I have two headphones plugged into the sides and switch between them when i flip the switch?
Yes
+Z Reviews Dude, I love your channel and videos, please keep them coming. Plenty of haters on RUclips, thought I would just share my appreciation. Great stuff. Thank you! Happy New Year!
Have you had any dealings with neuhaus labs. Mainly there T2 tube amp/dac
hi Z, i own a pair of grado rs2 headphones and was looking for a dac under 200 in my country the odacs are very expensive so thats not an option, any advice?
+gwan yu tjiook The SMSL Sanskrit if you can.
+Z Reviews thanks for the quick reply! ive never heard of this product but it looks great, why is this on beter IYO than for instance a e10k or d1?
you are right :) I have a really nice ss guitar amp and 7 Marshall tube amps for that reason. Tube amps produce imperfect sound that are hard to reproduce.Nice review and happy holidays.
Do you have a recommended amp/dac combo for under $300 ish ?? I have a pair of AKG 7xx and Senn HD598s. I have an alright onboard amp/dac combo on my high end mobo but I know external will always sound better so it's time to upgrade!
Id grab the Aune X1s [amzn.to/29Pa3Cs] for that budget and those cans.
That why im INLOVED to Z. Despite the fact that he is a typical audiophile. He does everything right using switches and blind tests. Unlike all other reviewers, who only know how to chat into the empty, with their audiophile terms.
hello zeo i have a asus gaming laptop about 7 yrs old. i just bought a k7xx headphones what a good dac amp combo for gaming laptop?
there's so many tube amps available how did you settle on the darkvoice?
It was the first big one on massdrop. The end.
"But Timmy isn't afraid of audio gear." "He WILL be!"
In the 1940s the invention of semiconductor devices made it possible to produce solid-state devices, which are smaller, more efficient, reliable and durable, and cheaper than thermionic tubes. From the mid-1960s, thermionic tubes were then being replaced by the transistor. However, the cathode-ray tube (CRT) remained the basis for television monitors and oscilloscopes until the early 21st century.
Wow man, umm I just found you by streaming through diferent amplifier reviews. I'm hooked, you have my subscription and likes, such good reviews!!! O by the way I hate tube amplifiers just for the reason you stated. Awesome job man, I'm off for 3 days and look forward to watching many more of your videos!! Fantastic!!
Not all tubes sound all the same FYI! Try put a TungSol 5998 and a Tung-Sol CTL-6SN7GT tubes in your DarkVoice 336SE. IMO and 22 others, it sounded wayyyy better than WooAmp in stock form. You'll be in audiophile heaven with those tubes. All was blind tested and they all thought it was the Woo Amp that sounded better, using Sennheiser HD800S. The chinese tubes that came with the dark voice is crap, for an guy that love audio that much should at least get some decent tubes for it.
you've convinced me into buying this, and im sure im not the only one. they should pay you for doing them a favor.
Massdrop now. They are now up
Enio Nery I just got one from Ebay, it will arrive soon. However, I am a total noob and the seller broke the small tube when packing. I was forced to search for another tube and just realised wtf I got myself into.... hundreds of pages on the forums related to the Darkvoice and tube rolling.... if you want to have funn with the Darkvoice, buy several diffrent tubes for it. Even the same model of tube from the same manufacturer, diffrent production dates, sound diffrent. like: get the RCA 6as7g gray plate, not black plate or another incredibly rare tube from the '40 era, you will be transported directly to HiFi heaven. Well, until the Darkvoice arrives I will shop for tubes
Bolda Sebastian Mullard tubes are the best imo :) Old and great.
Bolda Sebastian They cost though
Mickxal yeah... I am in europe, the US tubes cost much more here. I got lucky to find several old repair shops or retired workers who still have plenty of NOS. On the positive side, most NOS Russian tubes cost between 1.5 to 15 USD and they have hundreds of them. I even found some fuckedup Russian army tubes used on planes and in radar systems for 15-30 USD (did not try them).
By the way, thanks for the videos. You're quite entertaining and informative.
Would you want to try some NOS tubes I have for the darkvoice? I could send them to you.
Im down. Message me on reddit. It is easier to keep track of people and messages there.
+Z Reviews messaged you on Reddit.
Do you think the WA6 is worth 2 times+ price?
Would anybody happen to know what the song playing at 10:04 was?
Gerald L Postmodern Jukebox Seven nation army ft. Haley Reinhart
can you try to get your musty hands on the Schiit vali 2? ☺
What its better the dark voice or the massdrop cavalli tube hybrid?
Merry Christmas Z....Cheers from BC Canada.....
Thats why records sound so good , powerful & stable
Are tube amps really second to solid state in the head phone world?
Dear Zeos, could you review some gaming sound cards? I'm heard that the Creative Sound Blaster AE-5 is really good.
+Z Reviews
What you said about vinyl sounding different I have turntable from 1970 and I like to listen some records on vinyl like this turntable -> Pre-Amp Pro-Ject -> RCA 3.5mm -> O2+ODAC -> Headphones I've same album as digital and vinyl some records I might hear slight difference and in some records I might not hear anything..but my point is that some of my friends go "ohh vinyl is far better than digital" but idk man..i think both are good. But I also don't have "audiophile" headphones yet..I've to get ones.