Been really enjoying my studio b the past few weeks, now that the tubes have burned in, it’s been pretty sweet. Dead silent with the blackest background ive ever heard. Using emission labs 300b mesh with it and the presentation and staging sounds huge and very expansive, sort of hard to describe but it just is very grand sounding. Paired with the lampizator amber 3 it sounds incredibly natural with damn good dynamics and organic timbre that’s next level. it’s hard to tell if this is a product of the amp, tubes, dac or a combination of all three.regardless the synergy is off the charts from my
experiences so far.
been pairing mostly with the diana v2 and verite c while sneaking in some smaller sessions with the 6xx as well. I have no complaints with any of these headphones on this amp,
compared to the gsx mk2 (from memory) i observed a noticible increase in dynamics and impact as well as texture in the low end and tonal density, the notes just sound more organic and weighty with greater presence and imaging feels tighter with better precision and placement within the stage. Room information overall is just a lot better and more coherent sounding,
just some quick thoughts on the amp any questions are welcome, I hope more people decide to grab one of these before he stops making them, which should be rather soon. (Actually looks like he might do another run of these once this one is gone if there is enough interest… source SBAF)
Not gonna lie guys, this amp feels like endgame to me. I’ve not been so content in this hobby since… well ever actually lol
haha yeah i have already experienced this with the susvara, the EC did not have enough oomph for it unfortuanately, good thing it was not mine
that’s why I’m only buying headphones from now on that will pair well just kidding. I know i will eventually grab a sus so i will just have to add another endgame amp when that time comes lol
so a little update on this, apparently Craig is willing to do another run of these but needs to gauge interest. If you are interested in getting a amp send in a order form (you can find it on their site) no money will change hands yet, but if he gets enough people showing interest he will make more. Needless to say but only send in a form if you are serious again source is SBAF
I have to second the recommendation on this amplifier. Especially since this is my second piece that runs the 300B tube and I just can’t get enough of either unit.
Yes, tubes are costly but they add just enough pleasure to the sound signature that it makes it all so worthwhile.
I have run this unit with Western Electric and Electro Harmonix 300B’s and both have a different but pleasurable sound. The EH having a bit more bloom in the bottom end and a slightly less sparkly top end while both maintaining rich midrange texture.
DAC pairings thus far have been w/ an Exogal Comet+ and Line Magnetic 32.
The comet allows for a smooth relaxed sound signature with great texture and extremely clean separation between instruments while the LM32 can bring forth crisper more analytical sounds especially when the tube is not turned on and it pushes its quad ESS chips purely digital. I have not experienced any harshness with either unit and have no honest preference I enjoy each for the difference they provide.
I have used the amplifier to drive speakers and need more time to play with even more speakers to get a better grasp of how capable it can be. Overall experience has been of quality performance thus far and I expect to not be disappointed with its performance on higher end speakers.
It’s a damned fine pre-amplifier and I am genuinely amazed how he managed to get such performance across the board for this piece. I expected it to lack in some aspect of its performance but that is NOT the case, there is soooo much value here you won’t be disappointed any which way you use it.
I have been very busy lately and have simply not had enough hours and free time to swap and try more combinations with the Studio B but very much look forward to posting more specific experiences with it in the future.
The one and only issue I had was some transformer feedback from my very inexpensive Bic America subwoofer. There was NO problem playing 2channel and using the subwoofer BUT I was getting feedback from the sub back through both the SE and balanced HP outputs and could hear a whine noise in a HP if I left the subwoofer plugged in when the Studio B was turned off and powered down completely. That took me a minute to diagnose but I finally figured out what was going on.
I love the style. The chassis has a look of something from a late 1940s workshop that needs to be flipped on and warmed up before use. But heavy duty and would work for years even if it was dropped down a few flights of steps.
it’s $3300 cost, you pay half when ordering and the other half once the amp is complete. shipping is $200 so for the amp it is $3500 total to get it to you. Just add the cost of the tubes on top and that is you cost. I got Emission Labs 300b mesh plates for mine, they were right under $800 with shipping. not the most expensive 300b but not the cheapest either. so my total cost was around $4300
You can get some of the cheaper 300b like the gold lion or JJ tubes and people do like them, but honestly i would recommend going higher if you can. it will be worth it in the end, and you don;t really want to be rolling 300b unless you are just loaded. I’d look at emmision labs, ps vane, taksuki, and linlai.
You need 2 300B’s right? I’m assuming the small middle tube on the amp itself is included along with the one on the power supply? What kind of tubes are the smaller ones?
Also, that thing looks massive on the pics so I’m assuming you need quite a bit of space for it?
yes it is quite big and heavy for that matter, you will need a good amount of space. here is a full picture of my rack (standard rack size 17inches wide) that houses it for reference.
Generally any tube amp is going to get “hot”, but there are levels of that, the tubes in any decent amp will get hot enough to burn you, and the transformers can get up there in temperature.
Cases will generally get very warm, and in some cases hot.
The DNA and I’d imagine the Studio B are in the very warm camp for me, though some might consider them “hot”.
The WA33 gets hot.
the power supply gets really hot, like uncomfortable to rest my hand on it for more than a few seconds hot. the actual amp doesn’t get hot at all in fact barely warm, the tubes of course get hot but dont want to touch those lol most of the heat is in the power supply unit though.
You will want to get an input transformer like an ampsandsound black box or something of the sort for the spring, otherwise it will be pretty gimped running single ended. Still not ideal, but better than straight se out of the spring
just kidding. I know i will eventually grab a sus so i will just have to add another endgame amp when that time comes lol
again source is SBAF
