Most of my headphones are low impedance other than my LCD-3. I’m interested in the ZMF Bokeh. I understand tube amps are recommended for ZMF even though the Bokeh is easier to drive. I don’t want to break the bank for a tube amp for one headphone when the majority of my headphones don’t need a tube.
I should Caveat that I have a Schiit Lyr+ hybrid tube amp. So, I guess my question is, would a ZMF Bokeh benefit from a OTL or other pure tube amp over my Lyr?
The perceived “value” of a tube amp varies dramatically per the person and specific equipment combination. There are numerous discussions of tube amps on this site, many dating back several years (see examples below). Some people split tube amp quality between $500 to $1,000 hybrid or entry-level OTLs vs. the $2,500+ price class.
I own a Lyr 3 ($500 when new) and a $3K Decware Zen Taboo Mk IV. I also built a Bottlehead Crack ($500 value), and have experience with quite a few others.
Is the Decware better than my other amps? Absolutely, and very very obviously better. Is it worth it? To me, yes.
I lump tube amps into three rough buckets:
Street price <$250. As likely to disappoint as impress. They cut many corners but do provide a taste of tubes. They can have strange artifacts or be flat out weird.
Street price of $500 to $1,000. These often sound decent until you move up. If you won’t try better products you may not notice, but if you do go up you may not willingly return. My Lyr 3 has a relatively narrow stage, limited frequency range, and it doesn’t reveal much detail. But, I honestly liked it back in the day.
Street price >$2,000. The builders start spending real money on esoteric materials, and they use premium transformers and capacitors. They have a budget for QC and item-by-item testing/component matching. IMO, the quality differences in this tier follow from using better parts and QC as much as being “fully tube.”
Sample discussions:
Mostly what @generic said. I also have a Lyr3. My OTL is the Eufonika H7M – just under a grand on ETSY from Poland, with better tubes so it probably would be about $1500. I use it with ZMF Auteur Classic.
I suspect some of the small boutique brands like Eufonika form an additional tier that is clearly above the $500-1k class and may scrape the bottom of the high end category.
Thanks for the responses, but they don’t really answer my question. I’m a “regular person”. When I look up the cost of some of these amps, I literally burst out laughing. It’s my way of giving the middle finger. The Brokeh is a $1,000 headphone. Spending substantially more than the cost of the HP makes no sense to me. All I wanted to know was, will the Lyr+ be sufficient to getting enjoyable sound vs getting a pure tube amp. Clearly, for a $1,000 HP, I’m not going to take out a loan and spend upwards of 20K. That’s absurd. That, and my wife would leave me LOL. @pennstac, I appreciate the price point you posted. While, I’ve not spent $1500 on a standalone amp, it’s a reasonable amount not requiring taking out a second mortgage.
I picked up mine slightly used for about $750. The previous owner had played with the tubes and did not have the originals, I wrote to the manufacturer and got recommendations for an upgrade over stock, but NOT what it came with to me. I think the previous owner thought he knew more than he did. The stock tubes aren’t bad, and there are good choices for improvement.
If you look at Eufonika , there are a number of similar looking models - check the website for what you want. The H7M is a true dual mono design, and a step up from the base model. There are other brands - mostly small import shops in this price range. I’m very pleased with what I have, and don’t want to move higher.
I did some refinishing on the wood, looks very nice in the office next to the ZMFs. My wife bought me the Hawiian Mango Auteur Classics for my 70th birthday.
I answered your question in my first sentence:
No one can answer but you, and it requires direct experience. There are thousands of possible combos.
My $3K amp is twice the price of my most expensive headphones, the Sennheiser HD 800 S. I’ve demoed the $4K Utopia, $6K Susvara, the similar Auzeze LCD-5, a $9K Stax setup, and a $40K Warwick setup. I DID hear value in upgrading my amp, but NOT in upgrading my headphones! While the top-tier models are routinely technically superior, I have to pay close attention to notice when run from a good DAC and amp.
I happily spent more on the amp than headphones. The drivers receive their input from upstream and can never transcend a bad source. The amp cannot transcend a bad DAC. The DAC cannot transcend a bad recording made on bad equipment, only reprocess and smooth records. A compressed 128kbps MP3 file can never sound very good.
Some headphones will utterly transform with a different amp, and some don’t do much.
Demo for yourself. Judge for yourself.
I’ve demoed hundreds of stereo setups at audio shows. There can be little or no difference between a $20K and $200K setup. Sometimes the expensive ones are worse. Sometimes they are fashion statements and meant to impress visitors rather than perform.
Demo for yourself. Judge for yourself.
No one can answer for you. Your Lyr is a good example of a middle range amp. You can side grade to a “regular person” tube amp but perhaps not make a meaningful upgrade in that price tier. You could also spend a fortune and be severely disappointed.
Demo for yourself. Judge for yourself.
I would also add that the ZMF 300 ohm dynamics will potentially benefit from a OTL tube amp more than the Bokeh, but as @generic points out only you can determine that in the end. I don’t have a tube amp at the moment, so I can’t say…
As already mentioned, the Crack/Speedball amp is very good. You can also get them built (check Etsy) if you don’t want to do it yourself. Or used.
Schiit also has the Valhalla 3 out now, which is getting very enthusiastic feedback from users. Both options are relatively “affordable”, or at least not budget killers.
Tube amps are a whole other rabbit hole to go down. 
That… will be up to you actually trying it out on that amp. For some people it can be sufficient, for others it’s not. But from the zmf that I’ve tried, they are forgiving relative to other headphones. So I don’t think you’re immediately gonna start disliking it.
I collect amps. Most are solid state but about 30 of them have tubes. Here is an old photo showing some of my favorite tube amps from my collection but I also own a bunch of hybrid amps not pictured. I would not go hybrid but would go OTL if going cheap entry level able to only run dynamic driver headphones.
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Best $300 deal is the Little Dot MK III (plus extra $ to upgrade tubes)
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Oh, and I realized that I didn’t directly answer your question fully.
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Should you get a entry level OTL tube amp? No
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BTW, I own both ZMF Bokeh closed and open but not sure which you have. If I read correctly that you are wanting to go entry level just for just that one headphone, I would not go entry level nor would I upgrade since you already have the Lyr+. I too have a Lyr 3 and feel it will do just fine at entry level performance and you already have it.
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However, if you are speaking for all headphones jump back to my other post about the Quicksilver.
@Markm, you’ll be fine. My first 2 headphones were a ZMF Verite and a Focal Stellia and I drove them both with a Lyr3, and they sounded great.
I don’t own a Bokeh, but I have borrowed one before and as you say, it’s easy to drive and will sound good on a variety of amps.
Is there anything that will sound better than a Lyr? There’s always going to be something better than what we already own, no matter what equipment we own, but oftentimes the difference is incremental. The secret to this hobby is being happy with what we have and enjoying the music. It took me several years and a lot of money to learn that lesson LOL.
That Quicksilver looks sweet. How would you compare the open to closed? I’m trying to up my headphone game a bit. I have a LCD-3 and just picked up a LCD-X and Focal Clear. I was thinking the Bokeh closed would substantially upgrade my Meze 99. Looking in the $1,000 range more or less for a generalist HP but one that can do rock, punk and metal, and generally is fairly forgiving of less than stellar recordings in addition sounding good for audiophile friendly acoustic music.
I don’t think you will get much better than the Lyr+, unless you want something more ‘tubey’ sounding. If you do want to scratch that itch, I would look for a Darkvoice 336 SE. Many here may disagree, but I think the Darkvoice sounds a lot better than the very popular for beginners- Bottlehead Crack. I had a beautiful Bottlehead crack that was professionally built with upgraded caps, top tier tubes, wiring et al and I still preferred the Darkvoice ( had swapped in some Tungsol tubes) with my ZMF’s by a mile. Tread lightly, as you are already on the threshold of the slippery slope!
If you want much more of the tube sound than your getting from the Lyr+, what I would recommend which won’t break the bank is to buy the XDuoo TA-66 (>$300) and use it as a pre-amp for the Lyr+. I use the TA-66 as a preamp to the Violectric v222 solid state amp. My low impedance LCD-XC’s are plugged into the v222 and it sounds amazing. Much better with the TA-66 added than without. The TA-66 provides a highly tubey, euphonic sound. It’s not the most powerful amp, but that’s where the Lyr+ or a more powerful SS amp comes in. You get your tube sound from the pre-amp and your power from the SS/Hybrid amp.
Another benefit of the TA-66 is that you only need 2 tubes. You will want to replace the stock tubes, but there are excellent replacements that are not expensive (budget $50-75).
I can’t speak to the Valhalla 3, but I did previously own the Valhalla 2 and it sounded more like a solid state amp than a tube amp, so I wouldn’t recommend that as a budget tube amp option if you’re trying to get a tubey/euphonic sound.
Interesting idea. I’ve been using the Lyr+ lately to preamp my Jotunheim to good effect, so I can see the value in this idea. It retains the upfront clarity of the Jot, but warms it up a bit, softens the edges.
