Jazzlike-Broccoli OP t1_jap1cba wrote on March 3, 2023 at 12:42 AM

Reply to comment by bbuky01 in Bought my first setup ever. The vocals sound amazing, thanks for all the advice! by Jazzlike-Broccoli

Yeah, it's been a huge upgrade from my Razer headset. I've read tubes pair well might consider that in the future.

PutPineappleOnPizza t1_jarfznr wrote on March 3, 2023 at 3:03 PM

Don't let yourself get hyped up by tubes. Some tube amps really sound super close to solid state. Imho it can be a real waste of money, but everyone on here just blindly recommends tubes all the time.

Source: I have an Xduoo TA-26. A well received tube amp, swapped a ton of different tubes in and can confidently say that there's maybe a 5% difference at best.

Always try a tube amp next to your solid state amp before buying anything, if you can, because some of them sound so clean that you wouldn't be able to spot the differences. I love my setup, but I could live without tubes if I'm honest with myself.

Jazzlike-Broccoli OP t1_jasfwal wrote on March 3, 2023 at 6:59 PM

Thanks for the info! I looked into it and the hype hasn't really gotten to me honestly. I feel like anything beyond my current setup will require me to spend much more money and time researching for such a small difference that I will probably not notice, it's just not worth it to me.

PutPineappleOnPizza t1_jasoa2v wrote on March 3, 2023 at 7:54 PM

For tubes especially it's so much more expensive for idk, a negligible change in overall audio performance. Of course I can only speak for the Xduoo TA-26 (and the Fosi Audio T3, not a good amp) and well, I do not know how good something like the Bottlehead Crack would perform (and I won't ever find out, because importing things to Europe is such a pain).

I do have heard that tube amps like the Eufonika H5 perform very nicely and I 100% trust that this is true, though I won't try it out. Sure, better capacitors, probably better circuitory too that operates at the tube's limits and such, but I highly doubt this will make a significant difference.

But all that said, reviewers and audiophiles like their beautiful words and fancy descriptions, but in reality everything is a little bit less awesome that most reviews say.

Jazzlike-Broccoli OP t1_jau8iua wrote on March 4, 2023 at 2:45 AM

Damn, now I really wanna try one out. Unfortunately there aren't many places that allow you to test audiophile products by me. I think the only spot I know is Schiit's store in Santa Clarita but that's a few hrs away lol