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Confession is in order

With 4, $50 each used but tested well and matched power tubes, my $2500 OTL amp was sounding great.

For convenience however, and since I am retired and home all day listening not just to music but also movies, online piano training, etc. I hooked up the $30 class d chip amp and disconnected the OTL.

I spent as much on replacing the counterfeit caps in that chip amp as I did on the amp itself. So total investment is <$100

And for giggles, I put a musical fidelity X-10 v3 tube buffer between the MODI 3 dac and the chip amp inputs.

I have been listening quite carefully now for about a week and don't have much motivation to power the OTL amp back up.

I have 92 db relatively revealing and efficient speakers (Ref3A DeCapo I) and both the chip amp and the OTL tube amp are rated at 25wpc.

Relatively small living room but not tiny.

My criteria for amp quality:

The $100 chip amp comes surprisingly close to the $2500 OTL tube amp.

OK, I have confessed and I feel better now :)

Am I no longer an audiophile? Should I have my audiophile creds revoked?

EDIT:
'Breeze Audio' TPA3116







Edits: 01/04/21

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Topic - Confession is in order - LtMandella 12:27:16 01/02/21 (43)

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