The Decware Taboo is an amazing headphone and speaker amp made in the USA and one of my favorite pieces of gear. Prat one will be an overview of the amp and in part two we'll talk through some tube rolling options.
Decware has been aound for a long time, but only in the last year have I started seeing videos about his stuff. Finally the Algorithm seems be giving them some love. I hope Mr. Deckert can keep up with production.
No before they wanted reviewers to buy their stuff to review. Now they started sending review units. to increase sells so that they can keep workers in covid
60 years after it's introduction, solid state amplification still sounds like solid state and vacuum tube amplification still sounds like vacuum tubes. The promise of solid state gear has never been fulfilled. These Decware amps are a sonic bargain. With a good pair of efficient speakers like the Zu Omen MKII DW'S (97 db at 1watt/meter) you will realize what is truly possible from a home audio system. My SE84UFO based system with the Zu's is the most true to life I've had in over 60 years of buying all kinds of gear both tube and solid state.
Wow! I’ve been looking at ampsandsound, woo audio, blue Hawaii, caiyun?, and they are way out of my range, but the MKiv seems perfect. Gotta start saving.
I'd buy that. I've gotten more into swapping the rectifier tube since I made this video and it really does make a significant difference. I also just got into the BoarderPatrol DAC that has a pretty snazzy tube rectified power supply. You can switch it on and off to hear what the impact is.
Thanks for the great review! To your knowledge, can the Taboo drive the Susvaras? Also, have you heard any AmpsandSound tube amps, and if so how does the Taboo compare? Thank you again for the great and very helpful review.!
Hey Greg - In my experience the Taboo does not drive the Susvara to its full potential. I have tried offerings from DNA and ampsandsound. I have an A&S Bigger Ben on my rack right now and it does drive the Susvara confidently. For the money, the Taboo is pretty much impossible to beat and drives nearly everything I've thrown at it. But, there are better and more powerful SET headphone amps with higher price tags to be had.
@@SineCraftAudio Thank you! Could you describe the sound of the Bigger Ben and compare it to the Taboo? Also, could you give examples of the SET amps you are mentioning? Thank you for your time and help. I do appreciate it!
In brief, the BB is more detailed, exacting, powerful, and has great separation. The Taboo has a nice fullness without compromising detail. With both amps a lot depends on the tubes. You can dramatically change the character of both. The BB has more power tube options but the Taboo has more flexibility for the input tube and rectifier. I'll do a review of the BB before long, make sure to subscribe.
@@SineCraftAudio Thank you for the reply and I'm looking forward to the BB review! I am already subscribed to your channel! Thank you again! Very helpful information!
I've paired it with a variety for digital sources from Chord, SMSL, BorderPatrol, Denafrips, Holo, Cambridge, etc. I think any DAC with decent structure and clarity should be a good match.
@@SineCraftAudio Thanks for your reply. I am not schooled in electronics. I have used a Cambridge DacMagic 200M into a McIntosh MHA200 tube headphone amp using balanced XLR connectors. The Chord Mojo 2, unlike the DacMagic, only has a headphone jack for output. I inquired of Chord whether it could be used as a DAC for a Decware Zen Taboo tube headphone amp, which has only XLR and RCA, and was told that I needed to attain a 3v output from the Mojo 2, which could be accomplished by pressing the volume button exactly 41 times. I assume that this would allow me to use a headphone plug to XLR or RCA adapter. Do you understand why I need to create a 3v output from the Chord Mojo 2? I assume it must have something to do with balanced v. unbalanced connections, but I really don't understand what they do. Thanks!
I'm no expert either, but I think the gist is that you need a "line level" input to achieve proper volume (and maybe performance) from the Taboo (or any other integrated amp). Since the Mojo is primarily designed as a portable solution it has its own integrated. I haven't played with the Mojo 2 but on the original there was also a way to set it to line level for use as a dedicated source component. There are lots of 3.5mm to RCA adapters so that part is no problem.
Are you looking for a speaker amp, headphone amp, or combination? I've not heard the SE84UFO personally but everything else I've heard from Decware is outstanding.
Have you try this amp with Beyerdynamic T1 mkII？Also you mentioned that the DT-880 is hard to drive using this amp, which model is your DT 880? 260 ohm or 600 ohm? Thanks!
I was considering the Cayin but all these talk about noise issues put me off as I have low impedance HPs. With so many options eg WA22 in the same price range I expect better. Cayin supposed to have 20+ experience and still can’t make a quietish tube amp? No thanks.
@@TheKent2288 agree the noise issue has made me out it in pause as well. Currently in a holding pattern to see if any other food options arise for tubes. I’ve got a auris ha2-se and quicksilver at the moment but would like to try something a bit more technical. Not sure I want to spend wa33 money.
For the latest Taboo I think the only upgrade anniversary options are the Poly Bypass Mod $150 or the Copper Bypass Mod $260. I've not heard either of this or the latest (MK IV) Taboo so I can't really comment on differences in sound signature. What I do know is that Steve at Decware has been continually improving his circuit design and component selection for a few decades now so the latest versions of any of his amps will likely sound better than his previous ones.
@@SineCraftAudioI can see that their newest iteration only has 1 XLR out and not two.. I wonder if this XLR got more power than the two on the Mk3 .. some said it was able to drive them really loudly.. do you know any tube amps you would rather suggest for the he6 (see v2)? :-) Great review by the way! subscribed
I don't think the MKIV is more powerful but you can check in with Decware. The Taboo puts out 1700 mw into 50 ohms so they can definitely drive the HE6 but in my experience the HE6 sound better on other amps. Solid state speaker amps with tube preamp is probably my favorite. The ampsandsound Bigger Ben drives them very well (~8 watt tube amp). The Taboo is great and hard to beat at that price point.
@@SineCraftAudio Yes. Beeing that I already have a solid state amp that drives them well enough (Violectric v200), maybe a preamp is a way to go. Do you know of a preamp you could recommend?
Well, I do appreciate your clearly sincere efforts here, but for me personally hearing just about headphones for almost 20 minutes really was not that terribly interesting or what I was very much hoping to learn about this amp. Maybe I'm wrong, But I would GUESS that most people would be far, FAR more interested (like me) as to how the bloody amp works in the real world with a full room system, speakers, and such. So, my humble apologies, but this extremely wordy video honestly did not really help me very much. And, that was kind of disappointing because I've not seen a review of this amp yet and I was excited to hear more about one of the renowned Decware amps. TBH, since I'm not familiar with this model, I'm just going to go to Decware's site in order actually to learn more about the amp and its real world application. Now, with that said... IF this amp is indeed dedicated for the use of headphones only, well then clearly I do not know what the hell I'm talking about : )
Thanks for the feedback. The channel is pretty much focused on headphones at this point although I am big fan of speakers and have a couple of set ups at home. One of which features a Decware Torii. The Taboo is primarily designed for headphone use although it does have speaker taps and could easily do double duty with some high efficiency speakers. If you are primarily looking for a speaker amp Steve has many options on his site depending on the type of design you like and the amount of power you need.
@@SineCraftAudio Heh, well, thank you for the nice reply, I don't deserve it! : ) Many, what a DOOF! Sorry about that. Here I go off on you and then I find out that it IS a headphone amp! DUH! Oh well, keeps one humble I hope... Hey, I would frigg'n **LOVE** to hear your thoughts about the Tori though. Now, THAT one would be what I would be interested in and would HOPE that my unusual speaker setup would work with it. So, if you ever feel like talking about that one, that would be awesome to know more about it. I don't think I've seen any other reviews for it. I'll TRY to leave a link to pictures of my system so you can see what I mean, but usually the Google AI immediately deletes it, or you may not allow links on your channel, IDK... Just to give you a hint... They are tall multi-driver line-arrays that are completely open baffle dipole in design, even the 2-15" woofers (but they are driven by a Crown 2502 400/side amp - The Decware I HOPE would drive the high frequency line-arrays) I'll try posting the link in a reply to this comment.
@@latheofheaven will try and get a review of the Torii up before too long. It is an amazing piece of kit. Your speaker set up sounds pretty incredible.
