What headphone amp to buy-Sennheiser HD 600?

Holy guacamole! "only" 240 clams, for a pair of TUBES?? Just how long can these tubes be expected to LAST (I'm reeeaaally hoping you say at LEAST a year or more)?

Well, yes, they should last at least a year. I don't know about the Svets, but the WE's are rated for around 10,000 hours. But if you think the $240 price tag is pricy, you don't wann'a go there! The Svet's are aiming to be, at least structurally, a copy of the very popular WE's. In terms of sonics they sound different indeed on my amps. The Svets have a crystalline mid-range, striking in that effect...almost etched. The WE's give up a bit of that kind of sharply focused clarity for a better overall balance throughout the range (IMO and in my amps) reaching a bit more into the lower registers and delivering better detail there as well as in the highs. But that Svet midrange is pretty amazing...I was very impressed with them.

I forget how you got into 300B amps...was it you or someone else suggesting a Cary? This started out as a headphone amp thread....now if you are still looking at headphone amps that utilize tubes you don't have to worry as much about dropping that kind of coin on tubes, as most use smaller, less expensive tubes. If you are listening to your headphone amp to supplement your main system then I'm quite sure your tubes there will likely last you several years before having to change them. My MicroZotl takes 2 12AT7's and two 6SN7's. Total cost to retube is about $80 for some nice NOS stuff. You could spend more, and you could spend less depending on what you're satisfied with. Kind of like buying wine in a way. The tubes definitely have different flavors which can be more or less accentuated by the actuall circuit/component they are going into. There are tube amps that just use two tubes as well...even cheaper to retube, and not necessarily better or worse than amps using more tubes, bigger tubes or different tubes. Certainly they'll all sound different...but it is really up to you to decide which you prefer.

Marco

Marco,

It's beginning to look like I'll be using a Stax SRM T1 headphone amp to drive a pair of Stax Lambda Signatures, {{{{{although I now understand what Swampwalker meant about the "head sweating" problem!! }}}}}. I haven't read the manual yet, but they sounded better this morning after the amplifier, which has a vacuum tube output stage, was allowed to sit overnight plugged into my system with the "power" switch turned off, but the "pre-warm" switch turned on. I don't even know what kind of tubes it uses.

Stax questions:
--How expensive are these to get serviced, particularly with respect to the diaphragms?
--Given what I said (in the post before the tube sticker shock post) about their sound, does this seem like a reasonable way to go? {{Swampwalker?? Others??}}

I don't even know what kind of tubes it uses.

I believe it uses 6CG7 (also 6fq7) - fairly common and not expensive. My preamp uses (only) two of those tubes and I like it very much.

No experience with the Stax stuff to comment on.

Marco

Md- Only you can decide about the ergonomics. The 6fg7 aka 6cg7 tube the stax uses is inexpensive. the SRM-T1 amp, IIRC is an older amp as are the Lambda pros and you should know that b4 you buy; also that service is provided on properly imported Stax cans by an outfit in Canada that provides good service, but occassionally they have to go back to Japan which as you might guess is expensive and slow. Gray market goods have to go back to Japan. If the amp works on 110 VAC w/o a transformer, it is most likely an authorized US import.
The 300b tubes came into the conversation via my recommended amp for the AKG-K1000s which are a very high impedence, unusual form factor hp that requires a speaker level signal of 4-5 watts or more.

Swampwalker:

As for the "gray" areas of the Stax marketplace, the pair I'm coveting are offered from the original owner, who purchased them from an authorized US dealer, so that won't be a problem. It's a great heads up in general, though. Price of repairs still COULD be a problem, and that's why what you said about the 404's is so interesting.

You said:

I can't remember why, but I think I preferred the Lambda Pros to the newer 404 series phone.

How big of a difference did you discern, if you can remember? The 404's appear to be the successor in the Stax line to the Lambda Pro Signature, although maybe that's wrong. In any case, the 404's can be had NEW for $499 at AudioCubes. So they could be an alternative if the price tag for repair of the Lambdas gets out of hand in the future, UNLESS you can remember something really bad about them......which is why I so selfishly ask you to jog your memory.
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Robm321 and Swampwalker:

It sounds like both of you, and many others, are impressed with the AKG 1000's. Do you think they'd work with the Odyssey amplifiers I have? What about the bass response of these?

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Marco:

You said (and Swampwalker too, but these are your words quoted):

I believe it uses 6CG7 (also 6fq7) - fairly common and not expensive. My preamp uses (only) two of those tubes and I like it very much.

Not to sound like TOO much of a cheapskate, but how much is "not expensive" from your perspective? Also, what about "tube rolling" with THESE tubes???
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EVERYBODY:

Thanks a lot for sharing your knowlege and experience and your patience in doing so! Every single post to this thread has been helpful in some way! (See optional footnote, if you want to...)

{{{{OPTIONAL footnote: This thread is fun--at least for me, maybe not for some of you (!!!)--but also it's demonstrating to me how little I know about tubes, and it's a strange feeling to confront my own ignorance on this topic: Marco, your kind words regarding my confessed "tubal retardation" are very much appreciated.}}}}

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