For me, part of the appeal of the Mogwai SE was the layout of the tubes and transformers. I get a ton of bang for the buck with the amp and still I am able to fit a 27 inch iMac comfortably between the High Z and Output transformer… Bigger Ben isn’t much wider, but the transformer and tube locations make it impossible for my desk setup.
Here’s a shot of my setup that shows the iMac overlap:
Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s perfect, little more compact than the Bigger Ben and excellent sound and a great price point. You can’t go wrong with it. My desk is packed, macbook air, matrix x-sabre, nautiluys and 48" lg thin screen (xbox series x on a lower shelf). Funny to think with the nautilus and lg, that’s over 110lb’s.
it’s messy right now, listening to music playing an old game.
Totally, I am just sharing in case that helps inform anyone who is trying to figure out what to consider to make an A&S amp work in their space.
As for the Nautilus, wow! It’s more compact than the Big Ben? What are the width x depth dimensions?
No, not more compact, definitely longer, wider and deeper. Here is the Bigger Ben in the same area as the Nautilus
your blank walls made me think Justin should have a couple of schematic posters made up in a nice blueprint fashion for framing.
It is really blank in here. Never really been a wall art person. We’ve got pictures of our dogs in the other rooms but this is the least decorated. A cross between storage and my study.
How is it owning the BB AND the rebel? Does the rebel offer a different enough signature?
Lucky you to have that much space! This is coming from someone with two unplanned COVID home offices. My audio equipment is mostly integrated into other stuff, and not photographable.
This setup is definitely borderline
No heat issues with your Mac screen next to the power tube?
My Mogwai SE tubes have about 2-3" to the wood shelf above it, and at least 4-5" on the sides. Yet a thermocouple on the wood shelf above it says it’s about 60C. This is KT88. Maybe cooler w/ 6550 or 6L6?
It does actually run a lot cooler with the 6L6s than with KT88s. I have rolled KT88s though and it hasn’t been a problem. No spinning fans or high running CPU. Here is a top down look where you can see that even with the overlap, the iMac is never touching the amp which definitely helps.
@Roikyou @Earmuffs By the way, what DAC did you guys use? Did you use XLR or SE inputs on the Nautilus?
@PaisleyUnderground Has anyone compared XLR vs SE?
It looks like there’s a version on the website with XLR outs.
I used the Matrix X-Sabre dac which is a balanced dac with higher voltage out and lower noise than RCA, so yes, I’ve been using XLR. I remember Justin saying that the Nautilus will benefit from a balanced dac. I keep meaning to try the RCA vs XLR but keep forgetting.
When we were testing the Mogwai and Bigger Ben against the Nautilus, the Nautilus was on the XLR on the dac at the same time the Mogwai or Bigger Ben was on the RCA from the Matrix. The Nautilus of course was the better sounding amp, so it’s kind of an unfair comparison.
Honestly, I might be such a fine improvement that you might not hear it off the bat and I think that is kind of the reason I’ve been putting off testing RCA vs XLR and just sticking with XLR.
Given the design of a balanced dac, you aren’t getting the same output power from RCA outputs as you would from XLR, which is why Justin sells the XLR to RCA converter box with the built in transformers.
Personally, on the RME ADI dac, I have found the sound great from the RCA output anyway (despite it being a balanced DAC) and even have preferred the line out voltage set to +7db (1.7Vrms) vs the highest +13db (3.5Vrms)
I haven’t tried the converter box of course, but maybe will pick one up used at some point to give it a try.
I’m going to add @ampsandsound to this and see when he has a chance to explain this better. I don’t want to second guess what would be better, an additional XLR to RCA converter or does the Nautilus already do this without an additional option in the mix.
Hey Guys,
The Nautilus has input transformers to provide for xlr to rca conversion.
The XLR on the outputs was a special order and the customer knew the outputs weren’t balanced but didn’t want to replace his headphone cables.
I tried a new configuration today. Qutest 1V > LTA MZ2 tube preamp for volume control with 12AU7 low gain input tube > Mogwai SE with lowest powered tube roll 5U4G 6L6GC 12AU7 > 32 ohm out > HD6XX. I don’t think these headphones have sounded better.
I then came across this link. The forum made it @ktc.
Nice!! The LTA preamp sounds intriguing. If you do ever try this exact setup without it, I’d be curious how you describe the differences.
Also, for the HD6XX being a 300ohm headphone I suggest you give the High Z another shot too. The 12AU7 / 6SN7 lowers the noise floor to almost zero on High Z and really makes my 300ohm ZMFs shine.
Also congrats @ktc 
