$149 Monoprice Tube Hybrid Amp

New $20 off coupon on frontpage of Slickdeals...today only (Friday) however.

 

$20 code (fri20) excludes this amp. Just tried it and no sale unless you have another code that works.

 

Check the Excluded list #13194 Tube Hybrid Amp is listed, Buuuumer..........

 

Damn, just tried to help out. Only one I know of is on Slickdeals. Looking for more positive reviews before I bite on this or something similar. Wish it had usb/otg dac rather than bluetooth...

 

Thanks for trying. I was about to jump, until the code wouldn't work. I'm happy with just the amp, to go with my Little Bear T10 PreAmp. We'll keep looking.

 

I got one of these a few weeks back and finally hooked it up, using some old Infinity speakers that I had in the closet. Sound is remarkably rich for an amp in this price range. Bluetooth works flawlessly, too. I have three different devices linked to it by Bluetooth (my phone, my wife's phone, and my iPad), and it recognizes any one of them and plays back quite well. Here's a link to my review on my blog: http://cliffbig.blogspot.com/2016/01/tube-time.html

 

Nice review. I'm on the fench about this amp, too. I've had my eye on the Nobsound MS-10D Tube Amplifier, as I don't really need Bluetooth. I plan to connect my Little Bear T10 Ver. 2.5 to the amp, and run my Yamaha YP-701.

 

Honestly, for the price I was very happy (apart from the awful name). If you have the budget for it, pull the trigger.

 

Since the weather was so crappy yesterday here in Jersey, I finally got around to hooking this up.
The amp fairly well packaged, double boxed with stiff foam in the inner box.
Visually it looked pretty good with no marks or scratches of any kind.

I placed it in my main stereo rack next to the Bluesound node.
I decided to hook it up to the turntable, a Music Hall Ikura with Ortofon Blue cart.
Speakers are Pinnacle Classic Gold Towers.
The room is moderately sized.

After some futzing around with the connections, I turned it on and watched the tubes light up.
The VU meter is a nice touch with nearly the same color as the tubes.
There was some humming from the speakers which died down to some crackling after a few minutes.
It's only noticeable from about a foot away from the speaker, so no big deal.

First up was my go to copy of Steely Dan Aja. I really wasn't expecting much but it did sound pretty good, but not quite as good as going through the Nad 326Bee and Adcom GFA-555.
I also have a Klipsch sub attached there so maybe I'm just missing that.
Turning up the volume around halfway produced some distortion as well as using the tone controls when turned most of the way up.

I then moved on the Eagles Hotel California, Blondie Parallel Lines and CCR's Revival Chronicle album.
I did not use the Bluetooth.

Basically, the amp sounded good but not great, a little thin.
Possibly, there needs to be a break in period on the tubes and it will get better.

In general, for the money, it works fine. Probably much better on a small system in a smaller room.
It looks like I'll be keeping it and finding a place for it somewhere, probably as a stand alone system connected to the NAS using a Raspberry PI and Schiit Modi I have laying around.

This is my first piece of tube gear, so If anyone knows the best place to get some upgrades and what kind, it would be appreciated.
There seems to be some confusion as to what kind of tubes this thing has.
The printed documentation states 6N2 and 6P15. Others have said 6N1 (Not sure of the difference)

 

"Good for the price" is a remark that I often read about this amp... but how much does one really expect for a mere $150? Does it sound good??

The Andrew Jones Pioneer speakers, for example, sound better than one would expect for the low price. Would that same description apply here, or is this merely a novelty item with just OK performance?

 

There seems to be some kind of translation loss on tube requirements. The following is the tube compliment:
Chinese spec 6N1. (T's are the higher quality "military" grade)
Chinese spec 6P1.
Russian equivalents are 6N1P (EV's for military)
And Russian 6P1P (same EV applies)

I never had any crackling nor hum issues with the stock tubes. In fact I was amazed how quiet the thing was. But adding the russian tubes really made a jump in SQ. I'm not going to go into an audiophile speak definition but suffice to say, It blows the doors off of my old Sony "executive" bookshelf systems of which I considered to sound "pretty good for their pricepoint"

I just recently picked up a Yaqin MS-30L (fistpump) and have been playing side by side. I'm here to tell you, this little amp really hold it's own. I think I'll keep it in the chain for a fine little A/V unit.

 

I must apologize for that mis-info. After pulling up a closer look at the Monoprice on Google images, it indeed had a 6P15 installed. "That" auction site is the place to find those in Russian equivalencies and are relatively inexpensive.

So from my understanding, the 6n2 closely resembles a 12ax7 (aside from heater pins)? Jealous now

 

Wow, ran across this little gem of a review (the term review is an understatement) on the Nobsound tube hybrid line up. If you are in the market for the Monoprice or something similar, I implore you to check it out...
http://www.amazon.com/gp/review/R2ROJQRIWUSNFN?ref_=glimp_1rv_cl

 

Nice, now I'm getting closer to jumping the fence.

 

At the risk of a threadjacking, how are you liking the T10? Have you rolled some 12AX7's through it yet? I've had my eye on one for quite some time. That vs Yaqin MS-23B+Les Box conversion vs Parks Audio Budgie. Theres also a new Yaqin out for 2016 (MS-33B) that is designed for MM and MC carts. Upper end of my budget, though.

 

My brother bought one of these for his bedroom and he likes it. I've toyed with the notion of buying one, but I have resisted primarily because it seems like a bit of a novelty item.

The allure is diminished somewhat once you realize the amp is actually a hybrid with op amp transistor power output running through a tube preamp. In addition the build quality is about what you would expect at the price, with power switches failing in a short time. The "bargain" is not that great if I have to do mods and repairs as soon as it's delivered.

Still if I really needed an amp on a tight budget this might be my choice, or if I really wanted something to tinker with and test mods for fun. As it is I think I'll pass.

 

Thanks for the info!
I want to continue playing around with this to see how well it holds up and if I can improve on it.
If nothing else, it's a good tool to experiment on and learn with.

 

No worries at all! Glad to be of some help. I would still pull out your tubes and inspect the nomenclature. I seem to be finding wild variances on these units as they were distributed abroad (with different mains voltage requirements) I read somewhere, although can't remember where, that the 220v units got the 6n2/6p15 treatment. If you do indeed have the 6n1/6p1 combination, let me know. I kind of overbought some new old stock 70's vintage Svetlanas 6P1P's and some Chinese military grade 6n1 "t's"and got them coming out my ears. Lol

 

So it's confirmed - and it says on the Monoprice site - that it's a "hybrid". It's a tube pre-amp and a transistor power amp. I was hoping to try this with my Klipsch Heresy speakers to get some of the "warmth" that the speakers need. But, from what I heard, much of the warmth comes from power amps and the transformer that drives the speakers. I guess I'd lose all that with this amp.

Will having just a tube preamp make much of a difference?

 

Yes, having a tube preamp stage can potentially make a big difference, and give you that 'tubey' sound... but as for this particular amp, I have no idea. It's cheap though...

 

I picked up a second-hand Nobsound version of this amp...mine has (2) inputs and no bluetooth. It sounds pretty dern nice for the $$ I spent and drives my (second pair) of B&) Penta speakers just fine. I will say the upper-mids are a little hot but overall I am happy.

Here are some pictures of the inside:

 

Not to hijack the thread too much but I'm in the market for a small (and budget) desktop system to pair with a turntable. I'm pretty much looking at either this or the Audioengine A2+.

Obviously if I get the Monoprice I'll be going for the bundle with the speakers. The bluetooth feature on the Monoprice is nice, I'd definitely get some use out of that, as well as a little bit of tube warmth from the preamp stage. That said there's no subwoofer output so while I could always upgrade the speakers I'd be stuck with just the low end whatever speakers I'm using can produce.

The Audioengines don't have bluetooth. They do have an additional 1/8" input but that'd be less convenient to use. They also have a subwoofer output (and at only a little taller than a beer can they could probably benefit from one). They also have a built in DAC so if I ever upgrade the setup these could be relegated to high quality computer speakers. That said I won't be buying a subwoofer initially (of course I also won't be upgrading the speakers that come with the Monoprice at first either).

So each has a potentially nice feature (bluetooth vs the DAC) but I'm more concerned about initial and potential sound quality. The Monoprice gives me the option to upgrade to larger, better speakers but I'll never be able to add a sub. I could also upgrade to better quality tubes later on. The A2+s can always have their anemic low end supplemented but the speakers themselves are only ever gonna sound as good as they do out of the box. So what do y'all think? Does anyone have experience with both or any suggestions? Thanks.

 

Why two op amps? Using a separate one for each channel means less crosstalk between the channels. And they're cheap; using two doesn't increase the build cost much.

 

They have refurbished ones for $99.00 right now. Here

 

Tempting. If I purchase one more piece of gear, my wife will have a certain part of my anatomy for lunch!