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Tube amps on PC. [message #96794]

Mon, 12 June 2023 21:23

gofar99
Messages: 2018
Registered: May 2010
Location: Southern Arizona

Illuminati (5th Degree)

Hi Everyone. Just on a lark I decided to try some tube amps on my PC. Quite a difference. Now to be sure the previous set up was really high quality. Marantz 2265 driving Martin Logan Motion 4s and ML D300 sub. Just kind of massive and not quite as nice as my all tube main system. I won't get into the argument as to which is best. I figure they are just different. I prefer the tube sound. Anyhow since I design and build a lot of stuff of both types I have lots of prototypes to choose from. I settled on a pair of mini-amps. Class A ultra linear EL84 push-pull amps. 5 watts each. The ones I used are upgraded with SMPS DC on the driver tubes, Audyn True copper caps, extra B+ filtering and carefully matched tubes (presently IH El84s and NOS JAN Phillips 5751 from 1944). The rest of the gear is my OMEN I7 PC, a SMSL DAC, and the same speakers. I built a stand alone "passive preamp" for it. Lovely sound. I use only uncompressed audio files (storage is cheap now). Most are .wav versions. The PC player is Groove Audio Media Player. I have about 5 others loaded but this one seems to do best what I want. /forum/index.php?t=getfile&id=3336&private=0

/forum/index.php?t=getfile&id=3336&private=0

Attachment: Mini amp.jpg
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Good Listening
Bruce

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Re: Tube amps on PC. [message #96795 is a reply to message #96794]

Tue, 13 June 2023 08:24

Wayne Parham
Messages: 19025
Registered: January 2001

Illuminati (33rd Degree)

Wow! That's so cool!

Nice lookin' and more power than I would expect from that size.

Mighty Mouse!

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Re: Tube amps on PC. [message #96796 is a reply to message #96794]

Tue, 13 June 2023 12:45

Barryso
Messages: 215
Registered: May 2009

Master

That's a nice looking little amp!

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Re: Tube amps on PC. [message #99329 is a reply to message #96794]

Sat, 04 April 2026 21:03

Kurt
Messages: 13
Registered: December 2025

Chancellor

These look absolutely gorgeous!

I like using tube amps on my PC because of how it improves the sound quality when I play games on the PC, making it fun while giving that better sound. I would want to know if you've used any of the other ones since then?

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Re: Tube amps on PC. [message #99363 is a reply to message #99329]

Thu, 23 April 2026 09:53

gofar99
Messages: 2018
Registered: May 2010
Location: Southern Arizona

Illuminati (5th Degree)

Thanks for the good words. I have been off line for a while (see Tower for the reason) Those amps are some of the ones I like best. Great sound and really nice looking. They play louder than they would seem and work well with nearly any source. I occasionally swap them into my main system to feed the Martin Logan ESLs (spl about 90 db/w). As long as the source is modest in level they are really sweet. The design is quite similar to the Poddwatts, particularly the Dual Mono version so if you one of them you will know what I mean. Super on high sensitivity speakers (vintage Altec, Klipsch etc)

Good Listening
Bruce

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