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Gubernaculum69-420 t1_itspe10 wrote

Reply to comment by PutPineappleOnPizza in Sennheiser HD6XX and tubes, a near perfect pairing. by cronus999

That sucks. I have the xDuoo TA-30 and the increased richness in sound was immediately apparent when putting an ebay $50 Sylvania 5931 (from 1957) rectifier tube in to replace the stock tube. Replacing the stock preamp tubes with genalex gold lions was more subtle with probably some more brightness, not sure if detail...

I know nothing about the TA-26, but seems silly to judge tube amps based off a single entry level one. The first review of it I found on google was from headphonesty which concluded it doesn't have that much euphonic distortion often associated with tube amps.

I'm not ever going back to solid state on my current headphones. I'm definitely gonna audition one of the multi thousand dollar ones before I ever upgrade the TA-30.

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headphonesex2 t1_itt0ks9 wrote

the ta30 is expensive af, better sound good, although you re paying extra for the bluetooth,the dac, screen and the extra tube, so not sure how much better it is to a ta26 in a good chain.

how is ta26 level entry？ is my point. its supposed to be a better darkvoice amp, and if anything almost if not on par with your ta30 dac-amp. just saying 350 aint cheap

my ta26 is fine, but i wasnt blown away either. havnt tube rolled yet

edit btw ta30 is hybrid amp, so not otl, should sound less tubey if anything. just saying

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PutPineappleOnPizza t1_ittwdhg wrote

I agree on the TA-26 being fine, but not more. It's comfortable to use, it looks super cool, it maybe changes sound by a tiny amount, most notably dynamics and sub-bass, but not by much. My 6XX can also sing when hooked up to my FiiO K5 pro.

The TA-26 is definitely entry, I know, it's ridiculous, but some headphone amps cost more than a thousand dollars.

However and thank God we have audio demos on YouTube: between a few tube amps, cheap and expensive, I could mostly not hear any difference and if there was one, then it was so subtle that it makes no sense at all to spend hundreds more for a slightly different sound (different, not better, very important). So that's why I will continue being a sceptic and stay away from chasing minimal improvements. It's really not worth it.

What I'm curious to experience is to hear how my tubes will change once a lot of time has passed. I don't believe in any burn in stuff, but tubes definitely change, some even stopped humming after I let them run for a few hours and I'm pretty sure some infamous vintage tubes are only desperately searched for because some people heard tubes close to the end of their lifespan, adoring how soft they sounded.

But I'm done for now. Enough headfi snake oil reviews, enough overexaggerations on YouTube. I listen to music and not to my headphones.

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headphonesex2 t1_ittwoa3 wrote

deff agree with you brother, so much snake oil running deep in this industry, a hobby for people with more money than brains or ears for that matter. idk

deff listen to music more than chase that 1％ improvment of technicality , its so easy to lose sight of why we are in this hobby in the first place haha

im also done with my purchases, i grabbed an hd800s on the cheap and a ta26, im done too

cheers

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PutPineappleOnPizza t1_ittxzl3 wrote

It's definitely super confusing. I crawled out of a different rabbit hole just to fall into this audio trap. But I'm done for now, the next thing would be speakers or a pair of ZMF after I'm done with uni and that is in the distant future.

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PutPineappleOnPizza t1_itttllt wrote

Well, you can basically read all over the internet that the TA-26 is a better Darkvoice and that it has tube sound, according to some people.. I mean it does sound different, but not much different. Like max. 5% as I wrote in one of my previous comments.

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