Its really transparent or i would say neutral.
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I’m loving the Feliks Echo
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I regularly use an Amp&Sound and Decware HP amp as pre-amplifiers for some variety in some of my system set-ups. Both companies make very good quality pieces with secondary options built in for your use and offer excellent follow up service in case any issues arise. Pieces will be well over your $1k limit but you get 2 for one which is actually a good value. Good luck
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Its not a hybrid. There are no circuit boards or transistors. Just tubes, a few caps, point to point wiring. There are a few reviews on line in different forums, in my system it drove, my HD-650, HD800s, LCD-3. Focal Clear and a friends HE1000. I found the amp fast, nice bass, engaging mid-range with clarity. I wish I still had it at the house.
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I didn’t see a rectifier tube so I assumed hybrid. Perhaps our definitions are different. No transistors is a good way to classify.
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I always assumed a hybrid would be a “solid state” with tubes" . This amp uses tubes for both input and output stages.
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I’ll give a huge Thumbs Up to the earlier mentioned Hagerman Tuba. I simply love this amp! Its synergy with Focal Clears is truly special. But, that aside, I have found it sounds really, really good with, essentially, every headphone in my collection. Having both a high and a low impedance output brings the Tuba’s “detail, life and musicality” to headphones as diverse as the Focal Clear, Elear, and Elegia, the Beyer T1.1 and DT1990, the Senn HD650 and HD700; and finally it made some Grado 325’s and Nighthawk Carbons that were headed out the door sound so enjoyable that I decided to keep them around - both have never sounded this good powered by anything else I have owned.
One last point… The Tuba does not color the sound like I have experienced with my Darkvoice OTL or tube amps in my past two channel set ups. It seems to be a very accurate and detailed sound. I know NOTHING about mixing music but it might just hit that sweet spot for you between work and pleasure listening.
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Forgot to mention why the Echo has been good. This is a copy/paste from another PM so sorry if I posted the same thing in another thread.
The Echo is a warm, relaxed amp. It has this moderately spacious, atmospheric stage drawing the listener into the music. Found the upper mids to lower treble has most of the euphony it can dish out. Jsim puts it like this.
“Imagine playing a C note on a piano The 2nd order harmonic is an overtone caused by a “ripple” effect at double the frequency of the fundamental tone (the C note). So the overtone sounds in euphony with the music, because it’s the same tone.”
Bass has a slight lift. I find it to be clean, always present without bloat, and a little expansive. You are not going to find a thunderous EDM monster of an experience here. Everything about the amp resonates a politely gentle appeal. It is very well separated from the rest of the spectrum doing justice to percussion instruments needing their own space.
Midrange is naturally placed. I was left wanting a little more in the lower mids as I have a strong preference for girthy male vocals and cellos. Texture is thankfully great presenting live performances like they’re in front of you rather than cramming the energy of their playing down your throat. I was listening to Moon River in the album American Standard by James Taylor just now. The presence of his voice was absolutely incredible. Michael from Headfonics calls it one of the cleanest sounding amps for mid range and bass fidelity in the price range. Upper mids absolutely fantastic. Taking headphones like the Focal Elex or any of the Sennheiser 6X0 series, you’ll find the forwardness of their tonality has become completely tamed. Not withdrawn or reduced in any way; just effortlessly organic in timbre. Let me tell you it annoys me a bit when people say things like ‘I’ve never heard my headphones until trying X gear’. This was one of those moments for me. Like it the headphones were totally robbed of anything with a risk of coming off as offensive. Easily the best part of the listening experience to me.
Treble is wonderfully silky free of grain, glare, or fatigue. It feels weird being able to turn my Elex’s volume up a bit. Upper mids to lower treble has some sort of fairy dust magic when it comes to moderately bright headphones in my case, I swear. Looooaads of euphonic character. Very open feeling treble gliding over the music but I wouldn’t say it’s got a ton of impact despite having a well formed, decent body.
Using the Focal Clear I noticed the tonality of the headphone thicken a bit. Bass got a really good kick in energy and vocals became fuller. Metallic edge practically vanished making for a smooth yet engaging listen.
The 6XX Opened way up sounding uber organic. Hands down the most chilled out I’ve ever been listening to music. Forward mids became very spacious. Transients greatly improved, too! Loved it.
The ZMF Atticus is a warm headphone that can easily sound overbearing in bass if you’re not careful. Happy to say it is not over done here but it may be a little bit much for those considering the 6XX to be a bassy headphone. Slightly recessed mids became more coherent, stage opened, and I overall felt it was a very enjoyable, musical experience making me feel like I was at a rock concert. Already my favorite headphone and this took it to a new level.
On the Focal Elex I ended up preferring this synergy the most. Zero glare, hints of brightness, or fatigue. EVERYTHING in the upper end got super charged with euphony. I felt as though there was a never ending happy feeling lacing each song regardless of the mastering. Super excited to see how the Aeolus compares here as that has better extension and more forward lower mids than the Atticus.
What am I forgetting? Uhhh. Oh right, soundstage was much wider than deep still having satisfactory layering. All aspects of the Echo can be considered moderate. That being said, expect songs optimized for speakers to come alive! No exception here so don’t expect to feel like you’re in a stadium. Still the most open I’ve ever heard music, and especially wider than the Lyr 3.
Edit: Let me throw out a big disclaimer here. Echo is relaxed, but still the most dynamic amp I’ve heard compared to the Lyr 3, CTH, etc. The hybrids sounded more.intimate only having small hints of tube color in comparison. Mostly solid state sounding.
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I also want to promote the Hagerman Tuba. I absotively love it. If you can, buy one
Then buy 2 Ei tubes and call it a day
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I wonder if this amp is kind of forgotten about with the dominance of Schiit products and mass drop tube amps. It sits in a weird price range where folks might find it too expensive or not expensive enough. Maybe the 4 tubes scare people off as they dont want to tube roll that many, which is apparently an unwritten rule of tube amp ownership.
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This!!! 
Stock tubes sounded very good. The Ei’s just take it up a notch.
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Out of 100% transparency the only real tube amp under $1k that I’ve listened to consistently is the Cayin HA-1A MK2 since it sits on my desk and other tube amps under $1k we don’t carry. I think it’s a fun little tube amp but it doesn’t quite have that “euphonic” tube sound that others give you. It’s actually fairly transparent with a touch of warmth. I really liked using it with the Focal Clears as it just took a tiny bit of edge off the treble region. Although I don’t have any issues with the Clears normally, some days I want to listen to them with a little bit more of a laid-back presence.
It certainly doesn’t give you what I would call a traditional tube sound though.
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I’m in a somewhat similar boat to the OP. I have a limited budget and with very little tube experience. I have a Verite Closed on order and believe my current amps won’t get the best out of it. I have the JDS Labs EL Amp II and Emotiva BasX A-100. Both work great with my current headphones, Modhouse Argons (a popular Fostex T50RP mod).
Obviously the Verite closed will be a big step up. I keep reading everywhere that ZMF’s sound their best with tube amps. I’m not sure how much to spend on my first tube amp to be honest. I’ve researched a lot of the amps discussed so far in this thread. I’ve been trying to decide between a used higher end amp or a new lower end amp.
The new choices I’ve focused on have mainly been the Tuba, Echo and Quicksilver. I’ve considered all kinds of used stuff like the ZMF Pendant, LTA MZ2 and all the way up to an Eddie Current ZDS. For whatever reason I can’t shake my curiosity about the Quicksilver Headphone Amp. It gets ridiculously good reviews from everyone that has tried it or owns it. I’d actually love to see a slightly critical review of the thing so I can temper my expectations with a dose of reality.
As the fates would have it, I found an amp shop within driving distance that carries the Quicksilver. I’ve corresponded with the owner, and he said he just sold his last one, but he will have a few more coming in soon. He is happy to let me come demo it in person. Considering the fact that I live in Alabama, it was entirely surprising to find a shop like this even remotely near me. I’m going to bring my EL Amp II and Verite Closed along with me so I can do an amp comparison. To be perfectly honest, I hope I find my JDS amp “good enough”. I really don’t need to spend any more money!
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I emailed Zach asking for recommendations on tube amps under $1000 and he recommended the Feliks Audio Echo. It has been amazing for the four months I’ve had it. Let me know if you have any questions on the amp. Surprisingly like the Clears and Elex through it as well.
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Get the VC, break it in, listen to it for a good while after that, and then figure out if there is anything the El amp isn’t doing for you that you want to improve on. Unless you’re just into collecting different amps, that is.
I’m not saying don’t go try the quicksilver; experience is the best teacher after all. I just found the best way to avoid buying sprees that are full of regret is to have an understanding of what you’re after before you depart from your money.
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That is very wise advice. I think I’m suffering from what so many have experienced before me. When in that waiting period after buying a ZMF, you get the itch to upgrade amps, dacs, cables etc. I think I will follow your recommendation and use the VC with the amps I have and see how it goes for a while. I’m sure the VC will be such an upgrade from the Argon that I may be oblivious to what I might be missing in a tube amp.
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@SleepyRhythms Do you have a Verite Closed you’re using with the Echo? If so, what amps have you compared it to with the VC?
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Only the Atticus and Aeolus. Sorry.
I agree with @ProfFalkin’s advice but here’s something to ponder.
I have a sneaking suspicion that the Verites (maybe ZMF phones in general) like amps that have a richness in their sound signature, whether the amp is solid state or tube, and that they don’t do as well with a neutral “analytical” amp.
I have a VO, which sounds similar enough to a VC for the purpose of this discussion, and have been using it to test a bunch of amps. It sounds fine on my Lyr 3, which is the most neutral of the bunch (the Treasure Globe tube I’m using may be contributing to this) but in my opinion, it sounds better on my solid state Asgard 3 and even better on both the solid state Burson Soloist 3XP and the tube Pendant, all using the Bifrost 2 DAC. I was actually quite surprised at how good the Bifrost 2/Asgard 3 combo sounded with the VO.
It’s all about synergy, for instance I had the opposite reaction with my Focal Stellia, which I preferred on the Lyr 3 over the Asgard 3 and Soloist.
[Edit: Corrected where I had a brain cramp and called the BF2 an amp instead of a DAC 
]
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Thanks for all of those impressions with your VO. It’s very helpful to remember that it’s not a clear cut solid state vs tube issue. Certain combinations are going to synergize better than others, and sometimes it will be surprising what works best for a particular headphone.
I have been quite tempted by the Pendant myself, but alas, it’s just too expensive for me, even at the $1799 discounted price when purchasing as a combo with one of their headphones. I almost convinced myself to get one with my VC when I heard Zach say it will be going up to $2499 as of January 2021. I wonder if the amp is changing in any way or if the price is just going up.
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