I just picked up this balanced tube hybrid for no other reason besides the fact that its $85 on Amazon with Prime Delivery. It’s a small and compact. Sounds alright. Tubes probably need to burn-in for a bit to open up, so will report some impressions later. It has balanced XLR and 1/4 SE out, and XLR and RCA inputs with a digital volume controller which also acts as the power switch and input/output switch.
Also the packaging/box looks like a Massdrop box. haha.
P20 is Loxjie’s first full balance tube amplifier headphone power amplifier!It use the military grade 6N3 tube,Plus the well-designed and calibrated amplifier circuit! Let the amplifier have lower distortion under the premise of ensuring"Tube Style"!And the P20 also has true balanced inputs and outputs!This can maximize the performance of the headphones!
Here’s a 2 hours of burn-in time for the tubes vs the Topping DX7 and MCTH with the Elegia headphones. I left the headphones in the same orientation on the EARS unit and volume matched using REW before testing.
P20: Orange (warmer/fuller and less detailed so far than MCTH)
DX7: Black (baseline - solid-state clean amp)
MCTH: Blue (Cavalli Tube Hybrid - leaner, cleaner, wider presentation)
While I havent taken it apart yet, I did remove the tubes and took a peek inside. The Op Amps used are JRC/NJR 5532D and there are 4 of them on board, as expected. This thing has plenty of power in it, and at least to my ears, doesnt distort at the highest volume setting.
I also just swapped out the stock chinese tubes with GE JAN 5670 tubes. Seems to be more detailed right off the bat with similar warmth but a little more forward sounding.
I’m actually quite impressed with the quality of this balanced hybrid tube amp for a measly $85. The noise floor is lower than my DX7 and comparable if not lower than the MCTH, which is surprising. I just plugged the Campfire Orion into all of them and that’s just based on the discernable hiss I heard at half-volume.
Given my general movement toward balanced setups, I followed your lead and bought the P20 as well. I’d been shopping for a while and this came out at the right time.
The P20 is very high quality, with a good feature set and size. I tested it with the Elex (XLR output) for a couple hours. It does a great job in adding tube character while maintaining more detail, space, and precision than competing amps (e.g., Bravo Audio V2). It takes some of the the sharp edges / penetrating character off the Elex, but the Elex’s general clarity holds up pretty well.
The P20 should cause concern for both Schiit and Massdrop. The MCTH is relatively sterile in comparison (at 2.5x the price and non-balanced). I hear less noise on the P20.
I have some other stuff on the way, so the P20 factory tubes will stay put for now. They sound fine for my usage anyway.
yeah, I’m trying very hard not to buy any new toys right now… too many things sitting around I haven’t given proper attention to, that I’ve recently bought.
Looks good. Now with about 12 hours of run time on the tubes the comfortable listening volume went from -30 to -40 on the digital indicator. The tone hasn’t changed much. These are a really good pairing with the Elex.
