Good news for all tube junkies out there!
We’re extremely pleased to announce that the Volumio shop will feature another great piece of equipment: the PI2Design 503HTA – Hybrid Tube Amp!
I clearly remember when I saw it first time on Kickstarter : I immediately liked the idea, being a complete tube Junkie and having waited something like that (for the Raspberry PI at least) for a long time.
When I finally received it, I immediately started listening. And I must say I was really happy with what was coming to my hears. I might sum up my listening impressions to those bullet points:
- A nice and punchy bass, way more present than what you get with ESS 9023
- Great medium presentation. This thing sounds awesome with Rock and Jazz, bass-guitars, guitars and voices are really convincing!
- Average amount of detail, nearly not as good as ESS 9023
- It features an integrated DSP filter for High Frequencies roll-off, I definetely suggest to turn this off (via the plugin)
So, the 503HTA Hybrid Tube Amp sound signature is very euphonic, and I consider it the ultimate setup if you listen to Rock or Jazz. I think that the guys at PI2Design have made a really good job with it, and that is why it’s now featured in Volumio Shop: this is definetely one of the most interesting DACs at the moment. It has also other advantages:
- Can be used also as a line preamp
- Features a good quality Volume Potentiometer
- Has individuals Anode Bias Adjustment Pots and selectable Series/Parallel Heater Configuration (tube geeks please applaude!)
- It can drive very high impedance Headphones, and has a selectable gain output
It however has just one shortcoming, if used with a Raspberry PI 3: unfortunately its FETs ends up just above the integrated wireless antenna, resulting in lot of noise when Wireless is in use. However, if you have a Raspberry PI3, you can just disable the Integrated Wireless (via network configuration in Volumio) if you don’t need it, or use an external wi-fi dongle.
All in all, I really like the 503HTA, it has a great look, sounds very well and it’s suited for tube rolling. So, if you’re like me and love tubes, Raspberry PI and Volumio you’ve just found the perfect toy !
The PI2Design 503HTA – Hybrid Tube Amp can be bought on our Shop and will be shipped directly from PI2Design. Let us know what you think about it in the dedicated thread!
Sounds really good, I can’t compare it to other DACS because it’s my first DAC, but I think is really good at reproducing voices, expecially female voices, really precise with sounds and well balanced, details are present, guitars and pianos are sweet but have a lot of power (Please listen to Alicia Keys, Sia, Aretha Franklin). I use Audio-Technica ATH-MSR7 Headphones. I have a tutorial in Italian about this DAC. http://twelvepurplepills.com/raspberry-per-audiofili/ https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/84b35af21687b86237ab426ff1900a8d4cc22c43a0f314f02ee2148cad2d8bc9.jpg
Ciao Albi! Bell’articolo, completissimo complimenti!
Grazie! Complimenti a te per l’ottimo lavoro con Volumio!
I bought the 503HTA. I assembled it. However, I still have not been able to hear any audio from the tube amp. I have been able to use rune audio to listen to audio through HDMI. But no joy from the RCA jack. I welcome any help.
Did you follow the instructions here: https://volumio.org/forum/the-pi2design-503hta-hybrid-tube-dac-thread-t5127.html ?
Let me know!
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/52e4212795fee2476449ef0d74db820d277843ab95eb00233b22da1e92ed10cc.jpg
So you were a believer like me!
What do you think of the sound? Do you agree with what I said or you have different outcomes?
I think it sounds great. 🙂
This is my first Raspi/DAC toy, so I’ve not a lot to compare if to currently. Really enjoying volumio, thanks for the hard work and I look forward to the next update.