Sabaj PHA3 Vacuum Tube Headphone Amplifier 2X6J9 Low Ground Noise Integrated Stereo Amp Audio HiFi Output Protection for Headphone

I have a few tube based audio devices in my collection of audio gear. These include a vintage Fender tube guitar amp, a Music Hall Dac 23.5, Schiit Lyr 2 and now this. Recently I decided to get a small external DAC and amp setup to use with headphones since I am currently at uni where blasting music on any setup is really not an option. I looked at several different small "tube" headphone amps, and thought this to be the most elegant solution of all of them. I don't think I made a poor decision. Build: The build quality is really pretty great. The box was a nice size, with a classy looking black and white aesthetic. The unit was well padded in some firm yet giving foam (so was the power brick, for as much as that was necessary). The power brick is nothing to write home about, but has a long enough cable to reach the back of the unit from most wall sockets. On the amp itself, the aluminum housing is anodized in a deep black and the on/off switch has nice weight too. It is a very clean look, exactly as it looks in the photos. There is a line level input (RCA) on the back, and a line input (3.5mm) and output (3.5mm on the front). The volume dial breaks from the overall look slightly (shiny in comparison), but it still has a nice deep black finish and a good level of resistance when turned. Connectors are gold plated from the looks of it. Thank GOD they use only red LEDs to light the tubes-I can't for the life of me understand why other budget amps use blue. The red is subtle and contributes to the tubes warm glow that makes you feel all nice and fuzzy inside. Sound: Sound testing included a wide variety of genres. The amp was fed line input through the RCA jacks at the back, driven by a Topping D10 32 bit 384 kHz USB DAC. Files were all losses Tidal Master quality (24 bit 96 kHz at minimum)-this is worth noting, as the Master preset is higher than ANY offering on Spotify/Apple Music etc. and does have a different sound signature. Highs tend to be sharper and more defined, while lows are subjectively "fatter". The two tubes are Russian 6J9-J's which according to the internet is actually translated from Russian a number of ways, resulting in the listed tube options all really being the same thing. If you want a little "better" sound, I saw it recommended to procure tubes made before 1980 for their different design. This unit comes with two 6J9-Js though, and for the sake of testing I stuck with them. Tube burn in is a thing though, and after 10+ hours of use the unit sounded way better than when I first got it. The tubes are integrated in the "preamp stage"-basically meaning they do some signal amplification, but likely run at a constant output level, simply "coloring" the soundstage. This is similar to what my Music Hall Dac 23.5 does-integrating a tube before the line output. So no, like the rest of the "tube" amps in this price bracket, the tubes are not the only thing doing the amplification-the final volume control is done by solid state components. This amp has a LOT of power. With my relatively low impedance IEMs (40 ohm) I am barely able to tolerate turning it up past 1/4 on the volume dial. The added power is evident in the lows though, where the rumbling acoustic bass of Kendrick Lamar's "Momma" really took on life. The same was true for the electric bass in Snarky Puppy's "Semente" which jumped but failed to lose precision. Vocals and mids sound downright sweet on this amp. Cosby, Stills & Nash's "Helplessly Hoping" really made me smile as the three voices built in to a harmony. It just sounds RIGHT-human, real. These older recordings excel on this setup. There isn't a hint of added midrange signal noise or harmonics. I will talk a little more about noises though in a couple sections. The high range from the PHA3 is quite pleasant. Powerful, but pleasant. I don't know if the tube's impact on the sound signature is simply allowing me to turn this amp up higher in volume, but I find my KZ ZS6's to be piercingly shrill on some tracks when played back from my laptop, but less so on the PHA3. Lots of detail still remains though-did someone just drop something in Beethoven? I am serious-you won't be losing any detail with this amp. Noises-noises are annoying when you don't want them there. Good news here actually, the PHA3 has virtually NO ground noise or amplification squeal. It makes my MacBook Pro and desktop PC sound like someone is hissing in my ear in comparison. Whatever they did to remove this base level of ground noise worked extremely well. This isn't to say there is a little bad news-I mean come on, this thing can't be perfect for $60 right?! Well-if you bump the enclosure, or more specifically a tube, you get a ringing. There is no filter to cut out noise from the tubes themselves making contact with something. Interesting and perhaps a problem, but who pets their tube amp while using it anyway?! The takeaway is this-its a great product! Smaller and more compact than the one from Nobsound (I think thats the brand name), but subjectively better looking too. LOTS of power, virtually no signal noise (save what comes in to the unit-have a clean source as always). If you need an external headphone amp to get more power or drive some IEM's or cans off an external DAC, this could totally be your unit!

Don't be dismayed by my title, truly love this amp, if you can call it that. A more accurate description would be a "tube pass through" as it literally adds no power. Almost all USB C dongles will produce more power than this. That being said, sound is warm and thick, just like a tube should be. Coming from a Bravo V2 (no shielding, way too much noise) to this is like night and day. I rolled tubes on both (could only find 1 matching pair for this one on Amazon) and am blown away by how better sounding this one is (at half the price). I can run this with good dynamics and volume on the LP2 Crossfade, 99 Classics and 177x GO. Does decently with the 660s. Has a 3.5mm input on the front along with regular RCAs on the back. If you have a DAC that can give you the nominal 2 volts you should be good with most headphones. Highly recommended for low impedance high efficiency cans.

At first I was terribly disappointed with the sound quality, but after a couple of days of listening, the amp's sound really opened up. Not incredibly detailed, but there was enough mid-range and punchy bass to make movies and modern music sound pleasing. I didn't do measurements--and there is much better fidelity in higher-priced headphone amps--but in its price class, few competitiors. Noise was notably low, and no obvious design issues like the Little Noise P9. I'm sorry...the Noisy Bear P9...er, wait...I meant to say the Little Bear P9. There are modern portable headphone amps that are unbelievably quiet at the price point, but they lack the power of this amp, which can make 120 ohm "standard" headphone loud enough. The construction left something to be desired, but hey, it works...even if the volume knob was askew and the tubes were sitting at odd angles. A good all-around, economical amp for your cans. Mated with my Topping D30, it definitely beats out /any/ sound card I could stick in my PC. Plus it's small.

My main amplifier doesn't have a headphone jack (Acurus DIA), so I hooked-up the Sabaj Headphone Amp. to an output and then could simply rotate a switch on the DIA to use headphones with the various devices connected to it. I noticed that when I turned the volume up on this product, the sound wasn't particularly loud out of the headphones with the volume knob at '2 o'clock' and turning it past that wasn't making it any louder. I'm using an inexpensive pair of Philips headphones (no bass, but clean mids and highs) and consider them very easy to drive - I use them with an old iPod Nano and the volume level is sufficient. I was researching headphones looking to buy a replacement thinking that might be the issue, but then I tried connecting the headphones directly to some of the sources. -It was the same maximum volume- So, basically the only thing this Sabaj amp is serving as is a volume knob with ZERO amplification and no noticeable sound enhancement. With all the good reviews, I want to assume that I merely got a defect, but that's some poor QC to let such an obvious defect make it into a customer's possession. Luckily, I recognized the issue before the 30-day return time frame because it appears that this product has NO warranty. Amazon has their own electronics support dept. and they covered the return shipping; hooray for Amazon service.

Works beautifully, cleans up the sound coming from my sub par motherboards built in sound, boost quality in a subtle but great way, but does not boost bass all that much, so if that is what your looking for this isn't your product. could have been built a little better, some things feel loose, like the volume control wheel and power switch though that could just be my product, when you turn on the amp, regardless if it was just turned off, it will take approximately 15 - 20 seconds to be fully started. Also the unit can get quite warm really quick, even just 10 minutes after being turned on, not hot enough to burn but it is warm enough that you don't want to touch it around the tubes for more than a couple seconds especially after a days use, not a big issue for the sound quality you get in return. I love this product for what it is, especially at this price, and it's crystal clear sound is great for some higher quality headphones or even some bookshelf speakers, overall a great product!

Bought this at £29.99 as a as new used item, arrived 2 days later and it looks brand new to me with all the packaging, accessories and box etc so saving myself a tenner is a good start! Build quality is excellent, weighty little amp a bit smaller than expcted but that doesnt matter. iam running this from my Rega Apollo CD player into my Grado SR 80 e (modified with the bass port mode and dynamat mod amd the doughnut ear pads which btw is worth doing!) after using the headphone output on my NAD C300 amp i thought this might improve things and yes its pretty much like chalk and cheese, very clear and musical sounding punchy bass and detailed. I have used Little dots 1, 2 and 3 before as headphone amps as i like the tube sound and this little amp to my ears doesn't lack any of the little dots virtues at at least half the price of the LD 1. All that is with the stock Chinese tubes, i have since bought some E180F mullards to try in this but they are still burning in but i do notice more punch and bass , smoothness and musicality. I know this is all relevant to what you are used to but in my opinion this little amp is worth every penny . definitely value for money , plus you can enter the world of tube rolling if you so wish. At £30 to £40 its a no brainer really, thats if you can buy one as i notice they are not available atm. Oh and when i first plugged it in i noticed the volume was quite low but after 5 mins of warming up it went up by at least 50% and this i reckon is the tubes reaching equilibrium and correct operating temperaure. Good luck!

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Me sorprendió que por el precio sonará tan bien...

I recieved the amp and tried it for a while as is. Nothing special so far.... Maybe time to do some tweaking..... My setup is: - Pro-Ject RPM 5.1 turntable with Ortofon Quintet Red - Cambridge Audio Alva Duo phonostage - HifiMan HE-4XX headphone I took the amp apart and desoldered the 4556 opamps (straight on the PCB, no feet), replaced them with 8-pin feet in order to swap different opamps..... For now I use 2 Oracle II opamps. Sound great. Some OPA2604 are on order. The tubes (Chinese brand) I swapped for now for Russian build 6J9, I bought a matched quartet (so I have some extra...). I ordered also some Phillips E180F tubes. I am very pleased with the overall sound in my setup so far. (note: the PCB needs a cleanup, use alcohol and an old thoothbrush. There is a lot of flux residu on the PCB)