mikejr83
New Member
Hello everyone,
I decided to use this thread as my intro and to talk about my system. I've been mainly a lurker on many audio forums such as Head-Fi and after to make a tube amp purchase found this forum through the reviews of an amp. Seeing the enthusiasm for the amp I was considering I joined.
I listen where I spend most of my time, at work. Till recently this was through headphones. About six or so years ago I decided that spending 8 or so hours a day with junk over my ears wasn't going to cut it. I did some research and settled on JDS Labs O2 Amp + Objective DAC combo that came from NwAvGuy. At the time I also bought a pair of lower end Beyerdynamic headphones. After a year or more of frustration with the plastic band on those cans I stepped up to my great sounding DT 990's.
I pretty much stuck that way for a while.
Over the last year I'd been seeing the cheap Chinese tube amps pop up on Amazon. I started looking at them and doing due diligence on why they were so cheap. I did this on and off till about a month ago when I stumbled across this forum and the review thread for the Musical Paradise MP-301. With its price lower than the Yaquin brand I had been researching I decided to pull the trigger. With that order I decided to put some Shuguang KT88's on the power side and Kenrad 6SH7 on the preamp (I've been going between those and the Shuguang 6J8P that came with it).
To hook the MP-301 to my computer I need a DAC with line out. My JDS Labs is all internally wired so it's pretty much just for headphone only use. I decided to go back with JDS Labs and go to their Element line for their amp + DAC again. The element has a set of line out that are active when the headphone amp portion is turned off.
I recently also started working from home. This now lets me listen without headphones on if I so desire. I picked up a pair of ELAC Uni-fi UB5 3-way bookshelf speakers. While not the most "audiophile" type purchase the reviews put them in an area where I could use them for listening and then transition them over to home theater if I desired.
I'm lucky to have a relatively nice HiFi shop in town, Sound Ideas. They deal primarily with very high-end setups and custom installs. However, they're probably one of the best small businesses I've ever had the pleasure of doing business with. I purchased my first set of Beyer's from them and when I the band broke they replaced it twice. On the third time the owner credited me the price of the cans towards the 990's. I have my eye on the T1's and will probably head there.
All in all I'm pretty happy with my setup. I'm new to the world of hi-end hifi and maintain a good amount of skepticism of many audiophile claims. What this means is I end up doing a ton of research before purchasing. At said HiFi shop I've been given the opportunity to bring in parts of my gear and test out various cans.
This opening post turned out quite long! Hopefully, this works good as an introduction and idea of my listening space.
I decided to use this thread as my intro and to talk about my system. I've been mainly a lurker on many audio forums such as Head-Fi and after to make a tube amp purchase found this forum through the reviews of an amp. Seeing the enthusiasm for the amp I was considering I joined.
I listen where I spend most of my time, at work. Till recently this was through headphones. About six or so years ago I decided that spending 8 or so hours a day with junk over my ears wasn't going to cut it. I did some research and settled on JDS Labs O2 Amp + Objective DAC combo that came from NwAvGuy. At the time I also bought a pair of lower end Beyerdynamic headphones. After a year or more of frustration with the plastic band on those cans I stepped up to my great sounding DT 990's.
I pretty much stuck that way for a while.
Over the last year I'd been seeing the cheap Chinese tube amps pop up on Amazon. I started looking at them and doing due diligence on why they were so cheap. I did this on and off till about a month ago when I stumbled across this forum and the review thread for the Musical Paradise MP-301. With its price lower than the Yaquin brand I had been researching I decided to pull the trigger. With that order I decided to put some Shuguang KT88's on the power side and Kenrad 6SH7 on the preamp (I've been going between those and the Shuguang 6J8P that came with it).
To hook the MP-301 to my computer I need a DAC with line out. My JDS Labs is all internally wired so it's pretty much just for headphone only use. I decided to go back with JDS Labs and go to their Element line for their amp + DAC again. The element has a set of line out that are active when the headphone amp portion is turned off.
I recently also started working from home. This now lets me listen without headphones on if I so desire. I picked up a pair of ELAC Uni-fi UB5 3-way bookshelf speakers. While not the most "audiophile" type purchase the reviews put them in an area where I could use them for listening and then transition them over to home theater if I desired.
I'm lucky to have a relatively nice HiFi shop in town, Sound Ideas. They deal primarily with very high-end setups and custom installs. However, they're probably one of the best small businesses I've ever had the pleasure of doing business with. I purchased my first set of Beyer's from them and when I the band broke they replaced it twice. On the third time the owner credited me the price of the cans towards the 990's. I have my eye on the T1's and will probably head there.
All in all I'm pretty happy with my setup. I'm new to the world of hi-end hifi and maintain a good amount of skepticism of many audiophile claims. What this means is I end up doing a ton of research before purchasing. At said HiFi shop I've been given the opportunity to bring in parts of my gear and test out various cans.
This opening post turned out quite long! Hopefully, this works good as an introduction and idea of my listening space.
