UPGRADE your xDuoo TA-20 Plus with tube rolling!

[@dangerzone007]

I find tube rolling much easier than Op amp rolling. Tubes have a nice round shape.

[@jerryhilario9787]

Lachlan, I just got my TA-20 plus and I have to agree with you, the stock tubes (Both the rectifier and the 12au7s) that come with it are brilliant! I'm actually shocked how good they are. I originally changed them out to a Brimar 5Z4G NOS and Philips Vintage tubes and hated the sound that it produced. Very grainy mids on my Auteur Classics. Changed the 12Au7s back to the stock leaving the Brimars and it improved a lot adding the smoothness and some clean dynamics back. Then I went back to full stock and preferred it even more. The fun of tube rolling. Sometimes chasing that rainbow isn't all it's cracked up to be when it might be right in front of you already.

[@PassionforSound]

So true! I'm glad you're enjoying it so much. I think there's actually some significant variance in the tube quality of the stock tubes so you might have scored a good batch!

[@pickcick1580]

Really interesting. Thanks for this nice insight on the tube rolling.

[@PassionforSound]

I'm glad you liked it.

[@mickouzz]

Thanks! haha the end was cherry on top :)

[@PassionforSound]

Glad you liked it! 😂

[@johnsoriano3812]

Wow! This is great content, Passion for Sound.

[@PassionforSound]

Glad you liked it, John!

[@NeilBlanchard]

If you are going to keep the TA-20 Plus for a period of time, I would appreciate to hear how the volume pot works over that time? The xDuoo headphone amps I have (MT-601, MT-602, and MT-604) all of the volume pots have fair bit of oxidization noise. Though it seems to have gotten much quieter as time has gone by. The rectifier tube is part of the power supply - and the power supply of any audio device is key to how it sounds.

[@PassionforSound]

I do plan to good onto the TA-20, Neil, but it won't be much help because I'm pretty sure that it's a very different volume implementation given the digital readout. The MT-60_ series are very cheap so it makes sense that they'd have lower quality pots in them, but that's still a shame.

[@audiorick841]

I cannot speak to this particular amp, but I run a Decware SET and the rectifier tube makes lot of difference.

[@PassionforSound]

I think the "it doesn't make any difference" crowd are speaking based on assumptions rather than experience. 😉

[@audiorick841]

@@PassionforSound I agree, or they have poorly resolving gear so they can’t hear it

[@PassionforSound]

Yes, that's actually very common too. It's amazing how often people judge a flagship headphone from a budget system and wonder why it doesn't impress. (I'm not knocking people for the gear they choose to own, just that every part of the chain contributes to the maximum sound quality available, as you clearly know)

[@masterazlan6999]

My best upgrade tubes is just 1956 vac tubes which older then us yup 403B western electric. Old stuff quality just out of this worlds.. N its NOS.. Peace!

[@sli8800]

I have replace 5U4G tube rectifier on my 2A3 Tube Amp with several brand and other types, the best sounding so far is Brimar 5Z4G/CV1863 bought from LANGREX, UK, might be a good one to try

[@PassionforSound]

Thanks for sharing that!

[@HAL-ij8xx]

Hi Lachlan, nice vid! are you planning to revisit the mt-604 on tube rolling in the future? I have one and I get very similar experience as the ones you described here for the ta20plus as well. Like, in my exp 6j1>rtc6ak5>6j5p>6j1p-ev>6j38p-ev in order of very thick sound to very lean sound. I agree with the fact that you can get this wide a variety just by swapping tubes, is like what you said, allowing the amps to punch above their price point

[@PassionforSound]

Glad you liked the vid! I love the MT-604 and still own it, but I don't have any plans for further videos on it. Thanks for sharing your tube experiences with it!

[@masterazlan6999]

Just try 403B frm western electric.. Peace!.. Yup u needs 4...Peace2!

[@HAL-ij8xx]

@@masterazlan6999 oh yes I've been trying to get my hands on those as well, but as you said, getting 4 of them has proven to be impossible right now where I am haha

[@masterazlan6999]

Naa.. NOS still available here in singapore.. U want it?.u r buyin an atiques.. I mean history. Peace!

[@mangs9940]

I would want clarity ,dynamics with smoothness. the problem i have found with previous tube experiments - little dot Mk2 , is that some tubes like Mullard colour the sound so much to a warm veiled unexciting syrup sound. I am after a subtle change , rather than a major one. looking at the PSVANE 274B MARKII Vacuum Tube. sales pitch : Sound Quality: The new coating materials offer an even better music presentation in terms of minor 3D imaging improvement, layering and clarity. You will not lose anything in terms of sound by going for the latest and newest TII series. - lets see if this true! but also this is a hybrid amp , so the effect will probably be different

[@carminedesanto6746]

GM ☕️..yes, I’m back for part 2 “ The Rolling!”

[@PassionforSound]

Welcome back! I hope you liked it.

[@shawnpwatsons1]

Great job. Thanks.

[@asan1050]

Passion for Sound , Thanks Much !.......

[@Cristhian-Cortes]

Hello, can I use it as preamplifier? I mean, if I connect in balanced in and out in RCA, this also use the Tubes and can I use the potenciometer?

[@PassionforSound]

From memory, the outputs are pass-through only and not pre-amp out.

[@Cristhian-Cortes]

@@PassionforSound Thanks!

[@brianliu522]

Wonderful review. Could you recommend a DAC for this amp driving the HD 800S? Thank you.🙏

[@PassionforSound]

Glad you liked the review. What's your DAC budget?

[@brianliu522]

@@PassionforSound thank you. Under USD 250.

[@PassionforSound]

Either the Topping E30 II or the SMSL SU-6 will both be great

[@brianliu522]

Thank you so much ☺️

[@heeku_]

have u tried the wa7 3rd gen? if so, would u recommend apos tubes over the stock wa7 tubes? :)

[@PassionforSound]

I haven't tried it, but the Apos tubes will be an upgrade over almost all stock tubes, I expect. It was a real shock to not hear a big leap with them in the TA-20 Plus

[@carminedesanto6746]

Great End Gag Reel 😊

[@PassionforSound]

😁

[@johncallaghan3097]

Srboljub at IiWi reviews disagrees with you on the comparison between the Xduoo native and Apos Ray tubes. He suggests you may have got some sub par native tubes supplied with the amp. For him, the Apos Rays are clearly better. Just thought I'd let you know...

[@PassionforSound]

I think the opposite is true and the xDuoo tubes might be better. It's quite possible that there could be significant product variance in the xDuoo tubes of they're not paying for tightly matched tubes from the factory. I think the Ray tubes are outstanding and I was shocked when they had little to no impact on the TA-20 Plus. Another viewer has also commented on here saying that they found only a small difference (more than what I heard) between the stock xDuoo tubes and the Rays so I'm assuming product variance in the xDuoos.

[@johncallaghan3097]

@PassionforSound Sorry. I wrote in a hurry and got it the wrong way round -- you're quite correct. Srboljub speculated that it's the *native* XDuoo tubes supplied that may be a bit of a lottery and you may have got some of the better ones. He wasn't aware of your review when he did his, and didn't criticise you at all, just sought an explanation in response to a comment someone made to him about your review. I think you both reported honestly about your findings, so it could have been something different about tube quality. With the best will in the world on both sides, I don't suppose one can always rely on product consistency.

[@PassionforSound]

Absolutely. I trust Srboljub and find that I generally agree with his take on things. It's actually got me wanting to go back and retest the Rays. If I hear anything different second time around, I'll be sure to share a correction to my first video.

[@johncallaghan3097]

@@PassionforSound That would be very interesting if it turned out to be the case!

[@PassionforSound]

I went back and tried them again and there's a VERY subtle shift in the staging I think (the Apos tubes being slightly better), but it's so close that I wouldn't want to guarantee it at the delay in switching - it could be expectation bias. I'm pretty certain there's product variance.

[@maciejpfs2631]

hello, do You know xduoo ta10r ?

[@PassionforSound]

I haven't tried that one - sorry