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

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!

This device has firstly given me a volume control for my HRT Microstreamer in the form of a lovely round volume button. It's a small thing but before then the Microstreamer was not my daily DAC. Secondly, I love the looks.....those tubes are a talking point. Everyone who has seen it asks 'oooh what's that?'. And finally, the sound, which can be affected by so many variables such as, in my case, DAC/Headphone/Speaker combination, even the quality of cables. And, I immediately upgraded the tubes for a measly GBP 12 the bass is now more pronounced, formed/defined, sound stage yes a bit wider. One note is the noise floor is noticeable but not off-puttingly so. If I listen on headphones connected directly to a DAC bypassing the Sabaj it is dark/silent. I actually bought 2 sets of tubes as an upgrade, In the first set, the noise floor was more intrusive than in the second set. Having installed the 2nd set the noise floor was crazy unacceptable as if something was broken, but I then swapped the positions of the tubes and the problem disappeared. So I am thinking I should have done this with my first set of tubes, doesn't matter, they'll be kept as spares. Although you can hear the noise floor it reminds me of when I used to listen to vinyl records, which were never dark silent. But once the music gets going I don't notice it, especially if you're playing through speakers I find it hard to believe anyone will hear it. Anyway enough rambling, it's great, I love it. I love the sound, I love the looks and it adds functionality for me.

I agonised for months on whether to buy a dedicated headphone amp costing upwards of £300, else try one of the inexpensive desktop Chinese valve amps. These seemed so cheap that they couldn't be that great, could they? I have a separate DAC/AMP which cost about 10 times the amount of this amp, but although it really digs up the detail and separates the instruments, I found it to be clinical on much of the music I listened to. I decided that for £35-£100 I would take a chance an see whether one of these amps would solve my problem. I have had this amp for a week and now it has started to shine. I chose this amp out of the many on here and for £40 you can't go wrong. It does take around 10 - 20 hours of listening to really shine but has been this missing link for me. I still have the detail of the DAC, but filtered through the glass tubes of this tiny amp, has made listening much more pleasurable. Vocals and instruments sound more 'real' and not so harshly clinical. Used on it's own the amp holds its own, the separation is there, although the detail (in my opinion) can be improved with a good quality DAC. Switching on a blue light flashes, there is a small audible click and the light changes to a steady blue. This I guess is the time that is taken to warm up the tubes ready for operation. There is a headphone output and a source input at the front, both 3.5mm jack. Input is handy at the front, but also a twin rca left and right jack at the back for standard components if needed. I chose this amp as it was the most aesthetically pleasing of the amps on Amazon and eBay, it was also the best design in my opinion. It is solidly built and the tubes are already in situ when you get the amp. You can upgrade them if you like, but I am happy with the sound I am getting from the tubes supplied. I may experiment with other tubes at a later date, but see no reason, as they do the job in my opinion. The power supply isn't the best and this would be the first upgrade for me before I consider any changes to the tubes. Only on only one occasion so far, there was no power to the amp and I think this is down to the power supply unit. Unplugging and plugging back in solved the problem. Overall I recommend this amp and it is an ideal size for my bedside table for late night listening. Just remember like a fine wine, it gets better over time (the term I believe in hi-fi terms is 'burn in').

Ok so I’ve only had this product for a day so far and I’m really impressed with how it performs, I will update my review once I’ve used it for a while. I am currently using the Philips SHP9500 with the amp and for people who said that the sound quality is bad or that they weren’t impressed with the product, a wise man once said “you can’t polish a turd” meaning that if you have really bad headphones you should look at upgrading those before looking at an amp. Pros : - great sound quality - The Volume is more than satisfactory - Price to performance is great as this is one of the cheapest amplifiers I’ve seen yet from what I’ve heard myself is pretty decent - The packaging is well done and makes the product feel professional - the quality of the amplifier itself is quite heavy duty and feels premium Cons : - after long hours of use (4+ hours ) the amp itself tends to get quite warm to the point where you start to worry and get paranoid(I’ll have an updated review on if it does any long time damage) - In order to use this with a computer you need to order a cable so you can connect it all up.

Update, I’ve had this for a couple of years now snd tbh it’s mostly been packed away as I’ve upgraded a lot of my kit since I bought. However recently I’ve pulled it out again, plugged it in and hooked up a set of 6XXs to it and Wow. This thing sounds really really good. I have to pinch myself seeing how cheap it is and really regret putting this away for so long. This amp with a set of 6XXs is a match made in heaven. I’m listening to a nice mellow Allan Taylor (Colour to the Moon) album and it’s really bringing out each string pluck and the dynamics of the songs. The bass is solid and the ‘veil’ these headphones normally have are all but gone. I don't even think I need to get any more tubes as the stock ones sound great!! This is an initial review after only listening to it for 30 minutes or so. However, I’m so impressed with this I feel compelled to write one immediately. I will update this once I have “burned” it in as other reviewers have stated you should do. In the meantime, I just want to say this thing is fantastic value for the money. It looks great, sounds absolutely killer and the best bit is that apparently it only gets better. I am listening to music through a set of AKG K702 headphones connected via this little amp and it sounds great, even better than my fiio one I have been using up until today. These headphones need a pretty powerful amp to drive them and at halfway volume this thing is plenty loud enough. It is very clear in sound and I am hearing elements of the music I have not heard before which is fantastic. The bass is fine which I saying something as these AKGs are traditionally light on bass and very neutral. A bargain at £40, buy one now, you will not be disappointed!

I am not using this valve headphone amp as the manufacturer intended, as I occasionally put this as a buffer in-between the TV and the sound bar (with subwoofer), but it works for me. Sound quality is very subjective, and I have no means to back it up with measurement and science. To me, it seems to smooth and relax the sound, separate the voice from the instruments, and make it sound more like it is an instrument. I think I enjoy music more with it. It also seems like I can get more volume without distortion. I haven’t told my family about it, I hide it around the back of the TV. I have noticed the family enjoying music and films more and for longer when it’s on. Does that count as a test? +nice quality (not looked inside yet though) +comes fully assembled in quality packaging. +does not click or thump during power on or off. +volume control is not “scratchy” -the first use, it has to “burn in”. Just let it run a while, improving after an hour or so. -has a stupid led under the valve tubes. The valves are beautiful enough on their own! -It does get rather hot with extended use. I had to play around with the volumes to get the best sound. I put the TV to half volume, I put this valve amp to about two-thirds to three-quarters volume, and kept the sound bar about the same as normal. When it is right it is singing!

Bought this so that I could listen to my vinyl collection through headphones my partner bought me as Xmas present. I tried it when they arrived in November and appeared to work ok and sound quality appeared to be decent. Tried using headphone amp over Xmas and initially couldn’t get any sound out of it. Played around with connections and eventually got it working, was very happy with sound quality. Then all of a sudden I only got sound coming out of the right channel. This happened on several occasions so I have initiated a return for a full refund. Very disappointed as it was a decent price and was happy with it whilst it was working properly. Have no placed an order for a more expensive replacement headphone amp as not prepared to risk another one of these.

The decision making process to getting budget-friendly audiophile-grade gear in 2020 is an endless kaleidoscope of choice. So buyers remorse can often run high if the items you’ve purchased do not live up to the hype. But I can safely say that this little tube amp that I bought for my office work-station has not disappointed. Disclaimer: However, at first, I was seriously underwhelmed. It sounded kinda flat and tinny. But after some hours of burn-in I can safely say that this little amp is producing some seriously smooth audio sauce to my ears. The build quality will leave many an ardent audiophile cringing, and at the loudest volumes there is a distortion and the sound flattens out a bit - but for the price you can’t expect a Rolls Royce. My Sabaj PHA3 is plugged into my MacBook Pro, and I am playing my tunes via the Amarra Luxe app (which is buggy as hell but with it’s built-in DAC-like software kicks iTunes to the pavement in terms of musical sound quality). I’ve tried a bunch of headphones I own and they all perform well - Grado SR80e, Klipsch Image One, Koss Porta Pro X and my harder-to-drive Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro (80 Ohm) all sound way better than the MacBook’s on-board amp. Though I think the Beyerdynamic will sound even better paired with a more powerful headphone amp and a dedicated DAC - the Sabaj struggles to drive this set of cans at high volumes. I’ve thrown all sorts of musical genres at it, and it’s been faithful to most of the recordings. And since this is a tube amp, I thought it fitting to see how Mike Oldfield’s ’Tubular Bells’ stacks up. Quite sweet actually - good highs, slightly recessed mids and some nice sub-bass vibes from the low end. I love the ‘warmth’ that a tube sound brings. I’m giving it a score of four because for the price it punches far beyond it’s size and also looks so sexy on my desk at work - like a baby Darth Vader and his glowing-red light-sabres.

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!

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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)

i thought this would be just ok how wrong was i, this is the door opener to tube amps just spend a few dollars on nos tubes got Russian ones matched for $15 au improved sound cannot speak highly enough drives power hungry headphones with volume to spare