Show your headphone amplifier

So here is the full list of tubes for the replacement of the 6j3's that can go into the amp. The preamp can take the 5654's and I do have a set coming.
6J1, 6ж1П, 6AK5, 6BC5, 403A/B, 5654, EF40, EF95, CV850, 6J2, 6ж2П, 6AS6, CV2522, EF11/732, CV4011, 6J3, 6ж3П, EF96, CV848, 6BC6, 6AG5, 6J4, 6ж4, 6136, 6BX6, 6AC7, EF94, 6AU6, 6J5, 6ж5П, EF80, CV2521, 6F36, 6AH6, 6AN5, 6K4, 6K5, 6K4П, 6BA6, 6DA6, EF89/93, 5749.
So I do still need to do more research on this to see if someone has any suggestions. My hope is to use something other than a second set of 5654's to bring out a bit more from the setup. Something that will help the preamp with bass and treble output and separation. If that possible.
Be sure to check the pin out. Lots of tubes can have subs that will work, but the pin out might be different. Like the 12ax7 and 6eu7. Same tube internally, but the pins are connected differently so the socket would have to be rewired. That's tuff to do with a printed circuit board.
 
Yes, it is a seven pin. Here is a picture of the 6J3 close up of the tube itself. The 5654's came in today. They look fine and are 7 pin. I have not had a chance to try them bit will tonight. In the instructions it states they are a replacement for the 6J1. Funny that it does say that it would replace the 6J3 but in the listing from nobsound they say it will. Hhhhmmmmm.
 

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Some nice gear shown here.

Have a couple of Woo's WA6 amps. One in black & one in silver. Guess I like them. ;) Does a great job with my LCD-3, Clear & 650 headphones. Will be selling the Bryston BHA-1 as I prefer tubes for headphones, which is too bad (for me) as I was trying to go all solid-state.
WA6.jpg
 
Some nice gear shown here.

Have a couple of Woo's WA6 amps. One in black & one in silver. Guess I like them. ;) Does a great job with my LCD-3, Clear & 650 headphones. Will be selling the Bryston BHA-1 as I prefer tubes for headphones, which is too bad (for me) as I was trying to go all solid-state.
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Whenever I have a lot more money, the Woo WA6-SE is the next amp I want to get.
 
So I bought a Fx-Audio Tube-03 to see if it would help between my phone and my amp. It lasted like four minutes before the power supply sent out. When it was working the tubes it came with, 6j4's, sounded like crap. I used one off my headphone amp but the whole thing has quit. So back it goes for one more try. Plus going to use a pair of 5654W's. We shall see if the next one is any better. Maybe I will try it between my chromecast and amp.
 
Do you want just a headphone amplifier or does the amp need to also drive a power amplifier?
 
Do you want just a headphone amplifier or does the amp need to also drive a power amplifier?
I have a nobsound headphone amp and preamp already. This one is not a headphone amp. It's more like a preamp that gives some tube color to what you run through it. It does add some output volume but not alot. It has both bass and treble controls along with volume. It does not have a ground on it. So it works for CD players, Dac's, tape decks and phone as long as you run it to a phone input. You can use it as a preamp into an amp to give it a volume control also.
 
So the Fx-audio replacement showed up yesterday. Got it set up today. First, the tubes they sent looked used. The pins were bent. Some quite badly. When I tried the unit the left channel did not work at all. Tried different cables, different setups and no difference until I changed out the tubes to a set of 5654W's. Works nice now and sounds really great. I tried it as a preamp for my Marantz 1090. Added some nice effects to the whole system. And yes, it did add volume too. I have it now in between the phone and the phone input. No hum at all either way I set it up. Its nice to have the extra bass and treble controls. But this one two the power supply is a piece of crap. I am going to switch it out first chance I get. Other than that nice unit for the money.
 
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I recently finished the Pete Milletts NuHybrid headphone amp. I made no modifications at all, just made it the way Pete specified. I should note my soldering skills are average at best and I struggle to understand and read a schematic. So I approach any project like this with a certain amount of trepidation. Pete though, made this project as easy as possible. You can just link to the project on Mouser and add the parts listed to the cart. He was quick to send the PCB and Nutube. It went together with no trouble at all. So following his directions I powered it up. The Nutube lit up with a cool light blue glow and the green led lit up. I adjust the bias to the 11 volts recommended by Pete. Plugged in my headphones, turned up the volume, started the CD player and...silence?? So check everything again and discovered I had not soldered two pins of the K1 relay. Okay, solder those and try again. This time music. How does it sound? Well I think it sounds very good. I use a pair of Sony MDR-V6 headphones I have owned since they first came out in the early 90's. I played Boston, the Berlin Philharmonic, "The Planets" Alison Krauss and The Dave Brubeck Quartet. The NuHybrid handled them all easily and made listening enjoyable. It is also quiet, no hiss evident. I also plugged it into the amp section of an old Sanyo receiver. It did well there also. The Dave Brubeck Quartet was suddenly in my room through the ADS L9E speakers. I then used it as a pre for the Millett DCPP Engineer's amp going into Klipsch KG3.5's. Again terrific quality and very enjoyable to listen to. A worthy and fun project.
 

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I recently finished the Pete Milletts NuHybrid headphone amp. I made no modifications at all, just made it the way Pete specified. I should note my soldering skills are average at best and I struggle to understand and read a schematic. So I approach any project like this with a certain amount of trepidation. Pete though, made this project as easy as possible. You can just link to the project on Mouser and add the parts listed to the cart. He was quick to send the PCB and Nutube. It went together with no trouble at all. So following his directions I powered it up. The Nutube lit up with a cool light blue glow and the green led lit up. I adjust the bias to the 11 volts recommended by Pete. Plugged in my headphones, turned up the volume, started the CD player and...silence?? So check everything again and discovered I had not soldered two pins of the K1 relay. Okay, solder those and try again. This time music. How does it sound? Well I think it sounds very good. I use a pair of Sony MDR-V6 headphones I have owned since they first came out in the early 90's. I played Boston, the Berlin Philharmonic, "The Planets" Alison Krauss and The Dave Brubeck Quartet. The NuHybrid handled them all easily and made listening enjoyable. It is also quiet, no hiss evident. I also plugged it into the amp section of an old Sanyo receiver. It did well there also. The Dave Brubeck Quartet was suddenly in my room through the ADS L9E speakers. I then used it as a pre for the Millett DCPP Engineer's amp going into Klipsch KG3.5's. Again terrific quality and very enjoyable to listen to. A worthy and fun project.

Thats awesome thank you for sharing :thumbsup:
 
Hi all
I was just looking and couldn't find a thread where we have pictures of everyone's dedicated headphone amplifiers.
I am pretty new to headphones only just getting a set through necessity at the end of last year.
I haven't got anything expensive only the jvc HA-RX700 & the 900, I bought the 900 because I liked the 700 so much they are very comfortable.
After reading this forum and seeing. So many people using dedicated amplifiers I decided a few month ago to buy one for my JVC's. Again being on a tight budget it's nothing expensive but I am enjoying the hell out of them.
I would love to see what all you guys are using.
Tube / solid state / DIY /
Please show them all. Here's mine now fitted with Russian tubes set up with a sony CD player.
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On it's own
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I use an Advent 300 as an amp for my M1060C headphones...the M1060C's sound incredible!
 
When listening to CD's, I drive my HiFiMAN/Massdrop HE-4XX's with an SMSL T1 DAC/Amp and an Aiwa portable CD player. Takes about 20-30 minutes for the SMSL to reach optimal sound. When listening to the local PBS station, WCVE-FM 107.3, I use a vintage Allied (Pioneer) 495 receiver. The HE-4XX sound awesome and I prefer them to my Sennheiser HD-580's and my Sennheiser/Massdrop HD-6XX phones. The HE-4XX are an incredible buy!

SMSL T1.JPG
 
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I've been messing around with an Fx-audio tube 03 as a preamp. My first time with tubes and I'm hooked.

This lead me to this little unit.

IMG_20190829_112240.jpg

Very subjectively it's quite a step up.
Hooked up to my power amp it helps drive some 5 way speakers to levels more than sensible with authority, warmth and detail.

I've never been much of a headphone listener but on a whim I tried it out with some buds that came with my phone.
I was more than pleasantly surprised.

I have some Russian 6s2s tubes on the way. The stock 6j5s sounded pleasing enough, so am anticipating an improvement and now will have to find some headphones to do the unit justice dammit.

I like it for its versatility. It has tone controls which are able to be bypassed, which is my preference.

The dac in it is decent enough and I can hear little difference between that and the separate dac I bought to feed the tube-03.

I think I'll sell the fx-audio and dac and reinvest in better cans and/or tubes.
 
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