Funny that this video came out today. I just received my TA66. Using it with the Senheirser 660S2 and Bifrost 2/64 DAC. I'm having a lot of fun with it. For the price I'm impressed. I can listen to it all day. It does get warm though, so good air circulation is recommended.
@@dudeduck mine has a hum that stays the same, disregarding the volume knob. But as soon as music plays, i dont notice it. Not sure if this changes with some runtime on the tubes, maybe someone lese knows more ;)
@@dudeduck The stock Chinese 6N2 tube is pretty noisy. Replaced with the 12ax7 Gold Lion/B759 with low noise. That fixed it. Sounds pretty awesome for the price.
Bought a used 1st Gen Woo WA6 and it's still the best tube amp I've ever used. By far the best build quality in tube amps. The problem is the cost of tubes that are compatible with the Woo.
Just ordered this a couple days ago, was pretty nervous about having chosen this newer unproven amp against the more expensive ta26s but this video makes me feel more excited about my purchase
@@amitsamra1937 honestly I took a leap of faith, mainly after reading reviews on the Ta 26s calling it the most solid state sounding otl. Upon arriving I confirmed that I made the right choice the sound is soooo warm and effortless and it was everything my solid state amps are not (not that ss are bad, they're just different). I'm pretty satisfied with the Ta 66. You need high impedance headphones to really make it sing though, I tried it with beyerdynamic 900 pro x,1990 pro, 770 pro x, meze classic, sennheiser hd 660s 650 600 and 6xx. And the sennys are definetly the ones to match with them (except the 660s since they're 150 ohm)
6N2 tube is a 6AX7 tube equivalent or if you can find a 12AX7 to 6N2 adapter you can get a 12AX7 tube. The 6N5P tube is a 6AS7 tube equivalent which is easily found. Also my DV I’ve had since February of 2017.
@@vrod4178 I have two different tube amps which I use for headphones only. I'm not a pro at this at all, but I can confidently tell you that different tubes offer sometimes radically different sounds. Some sound much wider, some offer more bass, some offer a bit more technicalities, some are softer sounding and are better for classical. Personally I do my homework by reading reviews all over the internet before I purchase... and then I purchase from trusted tube sellers instead of ebay but have in fact bought a few from ebay also but only from legit tube sellers who post the tested numbers. If you haven't tried tubes I would highly recommend it but only if you have respectable headphones, cheaper headphones will not tell you the entire honest story of the tubes. Enjoy and good luck!
I got the ta26. 6as7 and 6sn7 is her equivalent tubes. I'd imagine the higher price is due to the 6sn7, and the pcb. If I'm not wrong, the 66 was made point to point, good savings there and honesty, alot will likely prefer that touch
Googling the TA66, it looks like the amp is broadly similar DV 336, especially in the output side. The output capacitors look similar. The main B+ (High voltage) power board is similar. Unfortunately, Xudoo also followed the 336's bad design by not using twisted wires for the tube heater supply. The most significant difference is that on the TA66, the signal tubes 6N2 are capacitor coupled to the grids (input) of the 6N5P, whereas the 336 is directly coupled. In my opinion this is better for the longevity of the output tube at the cost of adding that cap in. If you want to significantly improve the sound of both amps, all the output caps need to be changed out for a single MKP type per channel. On the 336 (Which I own) that value is 30uf. Once you've done that, replace the gold colored output tube biasing resistors to a non inductive type.
I personally hate mkp capacitors. Their extra wide frequency response brings all of the power supply noise and odd order Harmonics with them + they are a bit microphonic. At least with mylar film & foil you get 2nd order dominant distortion or better yet, something like polycarbonate or the new PPS dielectric are subjectively far better sounding. Metalized capacitors in general are inferior to film and foil type, which I actually don't mind polypropylene if it's discrete film & foil. MKP also shows more of the slight phase issue effect you get from the way they attach the leads in production which is about the equivalent of holding bare speaker wire lightly against a terminal vs clamping it down.
@@HiFiWright I agree film/foil sound better than MKP, but there is no way those will fit inside the DV 336 chassis, so low (and cheap) voltage speaker MKP type it had to be. Still way better than the stock mylars.
Hey Zeos! What tubes are in your DarkVoice? I’ve watched your older videos where you review the amp and another video where you compared tracks with different tubes in the DarkVoice, but I don’t see where you show which tubes your decided to go with. Love the channel! Thank you for the entertainment!
@@JPVegas Not at all. I believe RCA developed the 6080 and there are equivalents with other brands.These NOS tubes are easily available and relatively cheap. Shuguang is a Chinese company. They produce a series of driver valves at reasonable prices and are available on Ali express. The Shuguang are on the bright side and the RCA gives a warm sound to offset the brightness and are very well made. . You can advance from there
@@JPVegas FYI, I have the DV and think it is an amazing amplifier. I have not heard any of the others here. The DV is available at a great price. I believe it is, available on the internet at a good price still.
Im using 6sn7 tubes with my ta-84. Using a converter to 12au7. Doing because i got these NOS sylvania bad boy tubes in a pair that sound incredible but i do still use psvanes standard power tubes. Thinking about an upgrade to RCA NOS tho. Tubes rock!
Looking for a nice Parts Upgrade project so I ordered the xDuoo TA-66 OTL...Thanks. Love working on Point-to-Point gear. Seems a stash of Russian tubes (6N2, 6N5P) have been released lately to why I have been seeing more Russian tubes in gear.
I purchased a TA-66 few days ago and it was good for 1 day.. Next day when turning up the volume Only left channel would play to about 25% volume.. then above 25% volume the right channel would just give 100% ? What could be wrong? .. I can return it but i am hesitant to buy another? I have tried another amp, cables, dac, source. And it is the TA-66.
Great Video! Thanks for the info. Would you recommend a DAC with this tube amp or just tube amp directly into computer/phone? Currently have the hd6xx and a Questyle M15i dac/amp
I am wondering how much tube sound you get when preamping into another headphoneamp. Considering that usually headphone impedance plays a role - right?
@@bendzy169 Its my first tube amp, so i dont have much to compare it to. But so far, in the ~4h split between Hd 6xx and KPH40i, it's great for relaxing songs. Though my unit has a slight hum that is audible when nothing is playing - not so great for watching YT
I used an after market cable I had lying around to plug my ts 66 and it's dead silent, you might want to give it a try. I bought one of those thick ones on aliexpress for a guitar tube amp and it also reduced hum tu a minimum
@@clabbem74 they postponed the shipment date until 05/29, initially i had to get it on 05/17. So i'm a little mad. And there are no rewievs at all, except this one and the other's dude. What i hate is a FUCKING BLUE LED, alredy trying to find the way to remove it or change the colour
Did it work well with the low impedance headphones? I have a pair of zeus elite, and they could be wind powerd if it was a thing. They are super sensitive. I am afraid they wont respond well on tubes
@@ZReviews well🤔 you made me buy them. So you will probably make me buy this as well😂 Not like they are the only headphones i have, just my most used. They are real fun
I don't own any tube amps yet so not super familiar with their limitations. Would getting this amp not be a great idea for me since most of my headphones are 16 ohm? Saw the listing had 60 as the min recommended.
@@ZReviews my grados hemp has low impedance and sound amazing on ta-26... even better than my hd600..(planars awful). using topping d50s dac and muse opa 01 or burson ., however still pref muse01.... im just interesting how the ta-26 sound using a R2R dac as ares ii or draco...
@@ZReviews Hey Z. One of the big selling points of the 84 is that it has a built in dac which you didn't even mention or test. I think a lot of people who are interested in buying it would plan on using it as an all in one. Also, I think you should have spent more time using the 600s since that's one of the most popular cans to use with tubes. You're probably the only reviewer that's going to have all of these at the same time so I guess I was just hoping for more on the pros and cons of each one. Nothing too nerdy, just a little more on they affect the mids, highs and staging or if the bass is loose or tight etc.
Yeah I was really looking forward to commentary on their sound with hd 600 and most of the video was with the jt1 wich are low impedance new headphones that most people don't have
@@EternalLife91 I did it years ago. I remember running it non stop to break the tubes in and that was supposed to stop the audible hum but it didn’t. So I went online reading about how others modded their Darkvoice with some electronic components. So I ordered the stuff they recommended and got to work soldering them into place. It worked. My Darkvoice is now silent/hum free. It was a pain though. IMO this is something that should be done at the factory.
Xduoo TA66 ------------- apos.audio/products/xduoo-ta-66-tube-amplifier/?sca_ref=36221.ouwJgZltO5
🥇 Patreon -------------- www.Patreon.com/Zeos
Darkvoice ---------------- apos.audio/products/apos-specials-darkvoice-336se/?sca_ref=36221.ouwJgZltO5
⚔ SubscribeStar --- www.SubscribeStar.com/Zeos
Funny that this video came out today. I just received my TA66. Using it with the Senheirser 660S2 and Bifrost 2/64 DAC. I'm having a lot of fun with it. For the price I'm impressed. I can listen to it all day. It does get warm though, so good air circulation is recommended.
6xx and 600 drivers sounds better with otl.
How's the noise floor on the ta 66?
@@dudeduck mine has a hum that stays the same, disregarding the volume knob.
But as soon as music plays, i dont notice it.
Not sure if this changes with some runtime on the tubes, maybe someone lese knows more ;)
@@dudeduck The stock Chinese 6N2 tube is pretty noisy. Replaced with the 12ax7 Gold Lion/B759 with low noise. That fixed it. Sounds pretty awesome for the price.
Bought a used 1st Gen Woo WA6 and it's still the best tube amp I've ever used. By far the best build quality in tube amps. The problem is the cost of tubes that are compatible with the Woo.
I have a WA3 and use tube converters to run 6SN7, and sounds great.
Just ordered this a couple days ago, was pretty nervous about having chosen this newer unproven amp against the more expensive ta26s but this video makes me feel more excited about my purchase
Same here
@@amitsamra1937 honestly I took a leap of faith, mainly after reading reviews on the Ta 26s calling it the most solid state sounding otl.
Upon arriving I confirmed that I made the right choice the sound is soooo warm and effortless and it was everything my solid state amps are not (not that ss are bad, they're just different). I'm pretty satisfied with the Ta 66. You need high impedance headphones to really make it sing though, I tried it with beyerdynamic 900 pro x,1990 pro, 770 pro x, meze classic, sennheiser hd 660s 650 600 and 6xx. And the sennys are definetly the ones to match with them (except the 660s since they're 150 ohm)
@@amitsamra1937 I cancelled the order, because the shipping time was always postponed. I'm very angry about apos. I was waiting for more than a month.
6N2 tube is a 6AX7 tube equivalent or if you can find a 12AX7 to 6N2 adapter you can get a 12AX7 tube. The 6N5P tube is a 6AS7 tube equivalent which is easily found. Also my DV I’ve had since February of 2017.
This guy tubes.
Was about to say, you can throw in the 6080 RCA ( which is not a good tube IMO ) - 5998>7236>6AS7 are all better DV power tubes (also brand dependant)
Newbie question, how would these tubes affect sound quality?
@@vrod4178 I have two different tube amps which I use for headphones only. I'm not a pro at this at all, but I can confidently tell you that different tubes offer sometimes radically different sounds. Some sound much wider, some offer more bass, some offer a bit more technicalities, some are softer sounding and are better for classical. Personally I do my homework by reading reviews all over the internet before I purchase... and then I purchase from trusted tube sellers instead of ebay but have in fact bought a few from ebay also but only from legit tube sellers who post the tested numbers. If you haven't tried tubes I would highly recommend it but only if you have respectable headphones, cheaper headphones will not tell you the entire honest story of the tubes. Enjoy and good luck!
@@vrod4178 tubes produce a more warmer natural sound then a transistor
I vote yes to the pre-amp jamboree
Im still rocking the Xduoo 604 😎
I got the ta26. 6as7 and 6sn7 is her equivalent tubes. I'd imagine the higher price is due to the 6sn7, and the pcb. If I'm not wrong, the 66 was made point to point, good savings there and honesty, alot will likely prefer that touch
Googling the TA66, it looks like the amp is broadly similar DV 336, especially in the output side. The output capacitors look similar. The main B+ (High voltage) power board is similar. Unfortunately, Xudoo also followed the 336's bad design by not using twisted wires for the tube heater supply. The most significant difference is that on the TA66, the signal tubes 6N2 are capacitor coupled to the grids (input) of the 6N5P, whereas the 336 is directly coupled. In my opinion this is better for the longevity of the output tube at the cost of adding that cap in. If you want to significantly improve the sound of both amps, all the output caps need to be changed out for a single MKP type per channel. On the 336 (Which I own) that value is 30uf. Once you've done that, replace the gold colored output tube biasing resistors to a non inductive type.
I personally hate mkp capacitors. Their extra wide frequency response brings all of the power supply noise and odd order Harmonics with them + they are a bit microphonic. At least with mylar film & foil you get 2nd order dominant distortion or better yet, something like polycarbonate or the new PPS dielectric are subjectively far better sounding. Metalized capacitors in general are inferior to film and foil type, which I actually don't mind polypropylene if it's discrete film & foil. MKP also shows more of the slight phase issue effect you get from the way they attach the leads in production which is about the equivalent of holding bare speaker wire lightly against a terminal vs clamping it down.
@@HiFiWright I agree film/foil sound better than MKP, but there is no way those will fit inside the DV 336 chassis, so low (and cheap) voltage speaker MKP type it had to be. Still way better than the stock mylars.
Let me see the preamp chain!! Sounds glorious
I just wanna know if they are good tube buffers for stereo speakers
Hey Zeos! What tubes are in your DarkVoice? I’ve watched your older videos where you review the amp and another video where you compared tracks with different tubes in the DarkVoice, but I don’t see where you show which tubes your decided to go with. Love the channel! Thank you for the entertainment!
The power tube looks like a RCA 6080 or equivalent. The driver looks like a new Chinese made Shuguang Treasure or equivalent.
@@sweetwilliam4199 That was very kind and helpful of you! Thank You!
@@JPVegas Not at all. I believe RCA developed the 6080 and there are equivalents with other brands.These NOS tubes are easily available and relatively cheap.
Shuguang is a Chinese company. They produce a series of driver valves at reasonable prices and are available on Ali express.
The Shuguang are on the bright side and the RCA gives a warm sound to offset the brightness and are very well made. .
You can advance from there
@@JPVegas FYI, I have the DV and think it is an amazing amplifier. I have not heard any of the others here.
The DV is available at a great price. I believe it is, available on the internet at a good price still.
For the grace of the devil! Egads another tube amp review !!!
Im using 6sn7 tubes with my ta-84. Using a converter to 12au7. Doing because i got these NOS sylvania bad boy tubes in a pair that sound incredible but i do still use psvanes standard power tubes. Thinking about an upgrade to RCA NOS tho. Tubes rock!
Looking for a nice Parts Upgrade project so I ordered the xDuoo TA-66 OTL...Thanks. Love working on Point-to-Point gear. Seems a stash of Russian tubes (6N2, 6N5P) have been released lately to why I have been seeing more Russian tubes in gear.
I purchased a TA-66 few days ago and it was good for 1 day..
Next day when turning up the volume Only left channel would play to about 25% volume.. then above 25% volume the right channel would just give 100% ?
What could be wrong? .. I can return it but i am hesitant to buy another?
I have tried another amp, cables, dac, source. And it is the TA-66.
Great Video! Thanks for the info. Would you recommend a DAC with this tube amp or just tube amp directly into computer/phone? Currently have the hd6xx and a
Questyle M15i dac/amp
Sorry of topic maybe. Got to say KPH40 with the Xudoo 602 really blew me away.
Also JT1 sold out hours after you posted the review.
I am wondering how much tube sound you get when preamping into another headphoneamp. Considering that usually headphone impedance plays a role - right?
Yes but the RCA outputs do have some characteristics passed along.
This is my first tube purchase. My HD600s will be attached and im curious what it'll do with my kali IN 5s.
18:20 mad science hour is back baby
Great, now which of those budget tube amps drives the tungsten?
The one pre-amping a full fledged Class-AB speaker amp.
That thing is huge. Was surprised when i unboxed it
How does it sound to you with your headphones?
@@bendzy169 need to spend more time with it. So far I had ~2h with Hd6xx with yaxi, which were nice so far. But I want to test other headphones too
@@bendzy169 Its my first tube amp, so i dont have much to compare it to.
But so far, in the ~4h split between Hd 6xx and KPH40i, it's great for relaxing songs.
Though my unit has a slight hum that is audible when nothing is playing - not so great for watching YT
I used an after market cable I had lying around to plug my ts 66 and it's dead silent, you might want to give it a try. I bought one of those thick ones on aliexpress for a guitar tube amp and it also reduced hum tu a minimum
@@dudeduck power, RCA or to your headphones?
Hi, does the Xduoo Ta66 also have hums and tube noises, just like the Xduoo Ta26 ?
Yoo Zeos I have the Drop-ta84 it’s solid use it everyday is the ta66 still worth getting is the sound signature different enough to switch between
There will be a difference but I think you are probably fine with the TA84 for a while.
Hi Zeos, how do you compare TA66 and MT604, I am wondering which one to buy?
Are you supposed to hear white noise when your headphones are plugged into one of these with nothing playing?
How are these for powering record players?
Good review... Zeos, what dac is good to use with those OTL ? The ares ii or any R2R are good option? other optionsnare better ? Thanks.
I think it will be awesome, cuz i'm waiting my TA66 to connect to Denafrips Enyo so bad!
@@MaxKnoxwille great, let me know, i have ta-26 👍
@@clabbem74 they postponed the shipment date until 05/29, initially i had to get it on 05/17. So i'm a little mad. And there are no rewievs at all, except this one and the other's dude. What i hate is a FUCKING BLUE LED, alredy trying to find the way to remove it or change the colour
Thank you Z! The f****man!!
Did it work well with the low impedance headphones? I have a pair of zeus elite, and they could be wind powerd if it was a thing. They are super sensitive. I am afraid they wont respond well on tubes
They may not benefit much. Since they already are the warmer wider version
@@ZReviews well🤔 you made me buy them. So you will probably make me buy this as well😂
Not like they are the only headphones i have, just my most used. They are real fun
do it!!!
link for the keyboard? thanks for what you do, if money wasn't tight (teacher) I'd be patreon...
I don't own any tube amps yet so not super familiar with their limitations. Would getting this amp not be a great idea for me since most of my headphones are 16 ohm? Saw the listing had 60 as the min recommended.
Yeah it will not be a guaranteed improvement with such low impedance headphones.
@@ZReviews my grados hemp has low impedance and sound amazing on ta-26... even better than my hd600..(planars awful). using topping d50s dac and muse opa 01 or burson ., however still pref muse01.... im just interesting how the ta-26 sound using a R2R dac as ares ii or draco...
Would this be good with Hifiman ananda nanos or xs, also zmf bokeh?
I think so
I wish I could get those headphones but their not available 😢
what would be your go to amp to use as a space heater
Xduoo TA30.. Its a hybrid between an amplifier and the sun.
TA-66 vs TA-26s?
Hi Z.
In 6 months we’ll get a new iteration with a 4.4 mm even if its not balanced. The convenience is nice tho.
Can the ta 66 drive beyerdynamic t1 (1st and 2nd generation)?
According to a post on the AposAudio subreddit about the amp it can
I was really interested in learning about the differences in these amps but learned absolutely nothing here.
I mean I went over the way they present sound. Also their power outputs. What are you looking for?
@@ZReviews Hey Z. One of the big selling points of the 84 is that it has a built in dac which you didn't even mention or test. I think a lot of people who are interested in buying it would plan on using it as an all in one. Also, I think you should have spent more time using the 600s since that's one of the most popular cans to use with tubes. You're probably the only reviewer that's going to have all of these at the same time so I guess I was just hoping for more on the pros and cons of each one. Nothing too nerdy, just a little more on they affect the mids, highs and staging or if the bass is loose or tight etc.
Yeah I was really looking forward to commentary on their sound with hd 600 and most of the video was with the jt1 wich are low impedance new headphones that most people don't have
@@dudeduck He said the HD600 sounded the same on both the Dark Voice and the TA66
Where is the WOO?
Tuuuubes
Grundge bands like blink 182 💀
I had to mod my Darkvoice to get it not to hum.
How did you do that?
@@EternalLife91 I did it years ago. I remember running it non stop to break the tubes in and that was supposed to stop the audible hum but it didn’t. So I went online reading about how others modded their Darkvoice with some electronic components. So I ordered the stuff they recommended and got to work soldering them into place. It worked. My Darkvoice is now silent/hum free. It was a pain though. IMO this is something that should be done at the factory.
@@msteele0Alright, thanks for your reply friend.
they are the same pcb design, all difference is in tubes. Change tubes.
toob😀
Man, you need some freakish ear on stick so we can atleast get a sense of the difference. I know it's not perfect, but it does help.
I do perform sound demos but I can't put them on TH-cam if I use real music.
@@ZReviews makes sense
@ZReviews is this would be a good pairing with HD650/Focal Clear? 🥹
HD650, yes. Focal Clear, no.