Curiously, what would you recommend for headphones intended to be used heavily(6-8 hours)? Preferably closed but open is fine too.
You generally don't want to use closed cans for 6..8 hours in a row. Comfy open ones ftw.
Stipulation: roughly $100(on sale ) and must be stupidly comfortable. Thinking ath-ad700.
There's not that much choice in this price region. Either those, or some HD555s ($85 at Amazon).
AD700s are a little on the lean side...
(do note that the HD555s shown here are
not the "bass-light" version)
...but should be a whole lot less fussy about output impedance.
I always thought Tubes compressed the frequencies too much (because they do).
Oh, you certainly
can build good amps with 'em, as long as you don't mind big, heavy, power hungry and expensive.
Like this. The same applies to
receivers.
Did you know that the still-common EF95 (/6AK5, RF pentode) essentially is a repackaged RV12P2000, as used way back when in the
Telefunken E-52 "Köln" (the
only tube type in that one, btw)?
Tubes are the Topres of HeadFi.
More like Logitech G series boards. Bling outside, meh inside.
OK for guitar amps though. Guitars live in the midrange with lots of dirty signals.
Overdriving properties are another story entirely. Tubes tend to be well-behaved here, with none of the "lock-up" issues that can take semiconductor-based amplifiers a while to recover after they hit supplies (let alone inversion, as encountered with some opamps).