[HiFiGuy528]

I use WA8 eclipse on my nightstand for my large collection of IEMs.

TUBE mini with POWER BASE on my work desk for Diana MR and Composer headphones.

 

[gadus]

I use with tube mini with dca expanse,
Excellent sound!
I am surprised every time how well this little guy pushes the exspanse and he does it absolutely well.
Waiting to receive the power base to complete the experience.

 

[TheDJHastings]

I just got the Tube Mini and it sounds pretty good. I have a question, though, I read that there may be some power or volume issues depending on the headphones you use with it. Because of this, should I just be taking the standard approach of outputting maxed-out volume from my streaming service and only adjusting the volume via the Tube Mini?

 

[roeschel]

I just got the Tube Mini and it sounds pretty good. I have a question, though, I read that there may be some power or volume issues depending on the headphones you use with it. Because of this, should I just be taking the standard approach of outputting maxed-out volume from my streaming service and only adjusting the volume via the Tube Mini?

The Tube mini has no internal volume, the buttons control the volume of the source. I would‘nt max out the volume, there‘s a risk to destroy the headphone. The mini is very powerful.

 

[Daniel Johnston]

I just got the Tube Mini and it sounds pretty good. I have a question, though, I read that there may be some power or volume issues depending on the headphones you use with it. Because of this, should I just be taking the standard approach of outputting maxed-out volume from my streaming service and only adjusting the volume via the Tube Mini?

I found that it depends.

You'll get finer increments using the DSP volume control from the streaming service, but it may or may not be bitperfect. If you max out the streaming app and use the tube mini, depending on your IEM/HP, you'll get a pretty large jump between volume steps. You can easily go from a little too soft to way too loud.

Edit: Don't max out your tube mini if you are driving relatively sensitive HP or IEM. Go as loud as you can tolerate on tube mini and use the DSP volume on the streaming service. Depending on your program, the streaming app may control the USB volume since the tube mini doesn't have built in volume control (as mentioned below).

 

[TheDJHastings]

Also, to my ears, the single-ended sounds brighter and thinner than I'm used to sources sounding? Is anyone else hearing this from theirs, and/or is it that the balanced output sounds more accurate?

EDIT: Yeah, comparing it back and forth between just my laptop's headphone output and the tube mini, the laptop has plenty of bass, but tube mini has almost none, and sounds more boosted in the treble.