Funny, we have a 6 mo old and it’s very difficult to get any night listening time. Hence thinking Stax for evenings.
He seems to like speedy and transparent sound since he is using Spectral amp.
Having a young child and Covid-19 lock down did it for me. I learned to appreciate headphone listening. I may be one of a few using an Aesthetix Io phono pre to a headphone amp. I will start looking into stats and other amps if I spend more time listening. Currently my set up is satisfying.
The OTL headphone amp only has 3 tubes. It’s the Aesthetix Io phono preamp that has 24 tubes. I will say LP’s sound great on the headphones. Time will tell.27 tubes? That's a nice collection to haveWhat is the model of the OTL amp?
Impressive set! No wonder, why you don't want to look at other gear. Have considered tuberolling?
Trying to stay away from tube rolling. Its a rabbit hole that goes quite deep. If I do roll, it would be the first tubes in the Aesthetix Io. Problem being NOS 12AX7's are getting rare and pricy. We have several discussions on the Aesthetix Io thread on WBF.
The RSA stuff is quite good. He makes a phono stage that is under $1k (or used to be) and is very good. I also had the RSA B52 that I used with headphones. Very nice headphone amp, as well.
Yes, it is a rabbit hole. If you are not interested in going there, I understand. It takes a lot of nerve!
Well, most tubes prefer higher impedance headphones. On the other hand with 2A3 you have enough power to drive anything anyway.
The DNA Stellaris is a great amp, I owned it for a while. I wouldn't call it the best HP amp, but it is right up there with others. At the same time when I owned the Stellaris I also had the Riviera HP amp, which was different, but just as good. Depending on HP connected to it. However in one respect DNA in my opinion is the best, when it comes to customer service, Donald North is second to none.
Interesting. I haven't sampled anything that's out there in the land of HP amps for about 5 years. I've never heard of Riviera. There was a Woo Audio amp that I thought was almost as good as the Stellaris with copper OPTs. But the Stellaris with silver OPTs, I thought, stood alone. Donald is a great guy too, as you say. I've met him a couple times. He's in Southern Cal.
I have never met Donald in person, since I live in Europe. Woo Audio has some nice amps, but they were never my cup of tea.
Most Woo amps aren't mine either. The WA33 is excellent though. The base model is better than the "upgraded" version from what I recall.
Heard it. Haven't owned it. Very good. Maybe a bit on the lean side, but that was just a quick takeaway.
