A little bump here; I’m seriously considering the Linear Tube Audio MZ3 headphone amplifier (which is supposed to be very close in sound to their preamplifier, but $750 less expensive). Do we have new people (to this thread) with thoughts on either one - or old people with refined opinions now that they have lived with their units for several months?
I like "better sound", which the preamplifier might have very slightly over the MZ3, but I don’t need all the inputs and outputs for $750 more. Additionally, I don’t want/need the preamp because I need ONLY one headphone jack and one RCA analog input (coming from my DAC), and maybe, at some future time, one set of speaker terminals and an analog out. But this is now only for a high-end headphone system; I’d prefer to not even have (to pay for) the remote control but I understand Mark can’t offer umpteen options and still sell equipment at a "reasonable" price. I believe the MZ3 and Preamp have the same outboard power supply.
I’d be glad to have people’s thoughts between the MZ3 (or preamp) and other tube-based headphone amps...
I like "better sound", which the preamplifier might have very slightly over the MZ3, but I don’t need all the inputs and outputs for $750 more. Additionally, I don’t want/need the preamp because I need ONLY one headphone jack and one RCA analog input (coming from my DAC), and maybe, at some future time, one set of speaker terminals and an analog out. But this is now only for a high-end headphone system; I’d prefer to not even have (to pay for) the remote control but I understand Mark can’t offer umpteen options and still sell equipment at a "reasonable" price. I believe the MZ3 and Preamp have the same outboard power supply.
I’d be glad to have people’s thoughts between the MZ3 (or preamp) and other tube-based headphone amps...