View Full Version : Another convert to the Mini-T
Took my Mini-T over to a mate's who was curious about it after reading on AOS.
He was using a £400 NVA amp hooked up to Rega speakers.
We put on some tunes and sat back to listen...
Seconds later we both knew the T-Amp was better...
The sound had a lot more life, bigger more focussed soundstage and very musical.
Fantastic!
Whats interesting though is that he had tried one before and found the Mini-T to be no improvement....:scratch:
He had tried the amp cold out of the box though as well as using a different Beresford Dac and different speakers and hadn't given the amp a few days to run in.
We think better synergy and using a run in amp has made the difference.
And the moral of the story is....
It's a wee masterpiece for a pocket money price... :D
I don't see how you can immediately say it is better than the NVA? Surely you should try a lot of different material over several days before you can make a reliable decision? I am evaluating a new power amp at the moment, have been for a couple of weeks and the process is still ongoing. Just because the first thing you play sounds great doesn't mean everything else will.
I evaluated mine for four months before I felt totally confident in giving the Hafler the old heave ho, what with all the money I'd poured into rejuvenating the Hafler and the cynic in me not quite believing a 60 quid 'toy' amp could outperform a US iconette :)
Maybe we call it synergy......what I've found after numerous chipamps and good tradional poweramps is that some of the Tamps spice up a slightly lazy speaker. The same Tamp will sound too forced into a very revealing speaker. Conversely a speaker that's not very revealing (more "comfortable") will not allow a really good traditional amp to shine as it masks it's qualities. Here the Tamp could well sound better. Just my experience...which I know some disagree with.
I wouldn't disagree with that Clive, the DM2's can sound somewhat lazy with the wrong amp. Mind you the DH220 is no shrinking violet either and yet even it couldn't lift the DM2's to party animal status in quite the same way the T-Amp can :scratch:
I don't see how you can immediately say it is better than the NVA? Surely you should try a lot of different material over several days before you can make a reliable decision? I am evaluating a new power amp at the moment, have been for a couple of weeks and the process is still ongoing. Just because the first thing you play sounds great doesn't mean everything else will.
fair point, but naa...
It was obviously immediately better.
Sometimes that happens with good kit?
Obviously we played for more than a minute, and every song of every album just sounded better.
Its just that it took us a very short time to conclude the Mini-T was a better amp.
Had the same effect trying some Tellerium Q Black speaker cable with my Rega RS3's.
There were three of us in the room and all agreed it was like having a better pair of speakers - not subtle.
Its good when you make a discovery like that, a step change in your equipment. :)
wee tee cee
27-09-2012, 16:45
I found the mini t needed a couple of hundred hours to settle down...If you can bi-amp your speakers another mini t really does improve drive and punch. Champagne hi fi for lemonade money......
I found the mini t needed a couple of hundred hours to settle down...If you can bi-amp your speakers another mini t really does improve drive and punch. Champagne hi fi for lemonade money......
+ 1 from me - been there, done that and can confirm the same. I've actually gone a step further and used a third to feed my super tweeters. I can't say specifically what it's done but I do prefer listening with it in place.
Dave.
wee tee cee
27-09-2012, 17:00
If amptastic did a mono block for similar money....Oh boy
All that high frequency distortion passing as "deeetail!" :lol
Only joking fellas. I put Alex's Mini-T back earlier in the week and to be honest, the difference between this and the HH wasn't that great until some bass came in - the HH stomped over it :) The Mini-T does have a sublime midrange but only if its not being forced hard and for £65 or so it's great value.
Has anyone tried the "matching" interconnects Amptastic sells? I emailed the seller but as yet haven't had a reply..
Don't know about anybody else but I'm not aware that my set up lacks any bass - when it's there on the track it's there from the speakers. The only concession/explanation I can offer is that I bi-wire the left and right speakers and the bass cable is one I bought from Sean at Custom HiFi Cables that he said was very good for bass. I bought it on the assurance that he would take it back if I didn't like it - it's still in place :) .
Dave.
It takes a while for the bass to really 'develop' from first use (about a week in my case), but once it gets its little tush into gear there's certainly no lack of it and it is as tight as a drum...
twickers
27-09-2012, 18:25
I thought about buying some of their ic's but the only ones they had were 5m length. I bought a mini-t instead:eyebrows:
If amptastic did a mono block for similar money....Oh boy
That would really interest me.
Gaz I - know what you mean about those step-changes. You know them when you hear them.
jandl100
28-09-2012, 09:36
I'm totally convinced the Mini-T bass is a synergy thing. I know, cos I've heard it! :D
Sometimes it's sublime - sometimes it's MIA and AWOL.
It really can be seriously good, Dave. Lots of speakers can sing those basslines deep and thrummy with the Mini-T, but some can't.
Was it a Mini-T you used with those Tannoy Lancasters at Scalford, a couple of years ago, Jerry, the sound of which everyone raved about? :)
I think that system was voted by many as best of the show, was it not? I certainly heard it, and the sound being produced was sublime - you had real synergy going on there, dude! :exactly:
Marco.
jandl100
28-09-2012, 09:55
Yup, but I only played the Mini-T thru the Tannoys for a short while.
Mainly I used my Unison Research Unico Secondo integrated amp.
Tbh - that sounded fab but quite a few folks said they couldn't tell the difference with the Mini-T - both sounded great. No lack of bass there, dude - taut, deep and clean, just the way I like it! :exactly: A great match with those Tannoys.
The AudioNote valve amp designer who asked for the Mini-T to be hooked up was shaking his head with disbelief, and even peeked round the back of the kit to make sure it really was the Mini-T that was hooked up and I wasn't having a joke! :eyebrows:
There you go, then: a Mini-T driving 15" Tannoy Monitor Golds - and doing it very well. Can't be bad, eh? I can tell you that if the amp was crap, those speakers would most certainly have showed it up! ;)
Marco.
can't believe this , sorry gazza:)
Took my Mini-T over to a mate's who was curious about it after reading on AOS.
He was using a £400 NVA amp hooked up to Rega speakers.
We put on some tunes and sat back to listen...
Seconds later we both knew the T-Amp was better...
The sound had a lot more life, bigger more focussed soundstage and very musical.
Fantastic!
Whats interesting though is that he had tried one before and found the Mini-T to be no improvement....:scratch:
He had tried the amp cold out of the box though as well as using a different Beresford Dac and different speakers and hadn't given the amp a few days to run in.
We think better synergy and using a run in amp has made the difference.
And the moral of the story is....
Hi Sergio
Both myself and my friend who had the NVA amp are strong believers in believe what you hear with your ears, not what you read.
If it sounds better..it IS better.
and thats what we heard.
The NVA sounded wooly, less detailed and less musical than the T-amp.
Not to say the T-Amp was overly detailed..just clearer and more open than the NVA.
Honest :)
My experiments generally with TA2020 based amps is that they can spice up speakers that are not highly revealing. I feel this is due to an emphasis on the leading edge of notes. With very revealing speakers this is not such a needed trait. Call synergy it you want but is does seem effective with certain speakers.
wee tee cee
08-10-2012, 15:43
Hi Sergio
Both myself and my friend who had the NVA amp are strong believers in believe what you hear with your ears, not what you read.
If it sounds better..it IS better.
and thats what we heard.
The NVA sounded wooly, less detailed and less musical than the T-amp.
Not to say the T-Amp was overly detailed..just clearer and more open than the NVA.
Honest :)Gaz,
Does Brian have the facility to bi amp? If he does, I could borrow one my sons mini t amps and his two runs of tq blue/splitters/interconnects....well worth a listen. Two of the wee buggers really do the business....
Gaz,
Does Brian have the facility to bi amp? If he does, I could borrow one my sons mini t amps and his two runs of tq blue/splitters/interconnects....well worth a listen. Two of the wee buggers really do the business....
Brian's away for a few days Tony, but I'll pass this on to him when he's back.
Cheers, nice one.
wee tee cee
08-10-2012, 16:02
I'm back next Monday, let me know...should prove interesting.
And 3 are even better, believe me :) .
wee tee cee
08-10-2012, 16:46
And 3 are even better, believe me :) .Dave,
Do you're speaker tri amp?
How do you split the signal?
I remember you saying you had super tweeters...just cant get my head round how it all works!!!
realysm42
08-10-2012, 17:13
What is it with this thing, how can someone have made something so simple and cheap that everyone loves, what have the big boys over looked?
Dave,
Do you're speaker tri amp?
How do you split the signal?
I remember you saying you had super tweeters...just cant get my head round how it all works!!!
Tony,
I'll only tell you if you promise not to laugh ;) . As Gaz and Covenant will confirm, I know nowt abaht the technicalities of hifi audio so I often do things that more knowledgeable people might think twice about - the results can be variable :lol: .
I have a buffer amp/source switch (custom made by Sean at Custom HiFi Cables) which has 2 sets/pairs of phono outputs which I requested in anticipation of using two Mini-Ts. To use 3 Mini-Ts I have all-metal phono spitters in one set of the RCA sockets, giving 3 pairs of RCA outputs. Hope you're following all this OK ;) .
One of both LH channels from these splitters is fed into one Mini-T using a twin phono to 3mm stereo jack into one Mini-T and similarly with the RH channels - OK so far? :)
This leaves one pair of RCA outputs which feed the 3rd Mini-T, the ouput of which goes to the super tweeters. I'm sure you could do the same thing starting with only one pair of RCA outputs but using 2 RCA splitters in each - but I have no idea if or how that might affect the SQ.
Despite advice to the contrary I did not notice any diminution in the SQ by splitting the output from the buffer amp - may be due to my cloth ears and/or crap resolution from my kit, but I like what I'm hearing :) . OTOH, despite my cloth ears I do believe the super tweeters do improve the SQ but I am at a loss to say how or why. I have a lot of 24/96 and 24/192 files (and ISO images) as well as loads of normal 'red book' rips done with dbPoweramp and again I cannot put my finger on why but I certainly prefer listening to the HiRes files.
Hope this helps but if you have any questions you know where I am :) .
Dave.
whoa..
way too technical for me!
I'm out :)
wee tee cee
08-10-2012, 20:39
Tony,
I'll only tell you if you promise not to laugh ;) . As Gaz and Covenant will confirm, I know nowt abaht the technicalities of hifi audio so I often do things that more knowledgeable people might think twice about - the results can be variable :lol: .
I have a buffer amp/source switch (custom made by Sean at Custom HiFi Cables) which has 2 sets/pairs of phono outputs which I requested in anticipation of using two Mini-Ts. To use 3 Mini-Ts I have all-metal phono spitters in one set of the RCA sockets, giving 3 pairs of RCA outputs. Hope you're following all this OK ;) .
One of both LH channels from these splitters is fed into one Mini-T using a twin phono to 3mm stereo jack into one Mini-T and similarly with the RH channels - OK so far? :)
This leaves one pair of RCA outputs which feed the 3rd Mini-T, the ouput of which goes to the super tweeters. I'm sure you could do the same thing starting with only one pair of RCA outputs but using 2 RCA splitters in each - but I have no idea if or how that might affect the SQ.
Despite advice to the contrary I did not notice any diminution in the SQ by splitting the output from the buffer amp - may be due to my cloth ears and/or crap resolution from my kit, but I like what I'm hearing :) . OTOH, despite my cloth ears I do believe the super tweeters do improve the SQ but I am at a loss to say how or why. I have a lot of 24/96 and 24/192 files (and ISO images) as well as loads of normal 'red book' rips done with dbPoweramp and again I cannot put my finger on why but I certainly prefer listening to the HiRes files.
Hope this helps but if you have any questions you know where I am :) .
Dave.So you split the signal with a buffer amp and then employ a splitter on one out put to feed the super tweeters?
Just wondered if you were using a digital/custom crossover to segregate the feeds( almost sounds as if I have a clue!)....
aquapiranha
08-10-2012, 20:42
As yet I have not tried this amp, and I am unconvinced that it will drive the forthcoming FH3's with their small 4Ω drivers. However, I can fully understand how they can be so liked, as I have been a fan of Tripath since owning and upgradind a Trends TA10.1 a good few years ago, I really loved that amp! I have also heard chip amps and have used a Sure electronics board based on Tripath but not the same chip...
Stratmangler
08-10-2012, 20:53
http://theartofsound.net/forum/showpost.php?p=367609&postcount=28
So you split the signal with a buffer amp and then employ a splitter on one out put to feed the super tweeters?
Just wondered if you were using a digital/custom crossover to segregate the feeds( almost sounds as if I have a clue!)....
Nearly - I think I might have explained it wrong when explaining it to you before - you are correct up to splitting the signal with a buffer amp but then I split the signal again from just one set of outputs as follows: - 1 pair of outputs from the splitters to feed the super tweeters and I take the second pair of outputs to make two further sets of feeds - RH from the splitter together with the 'direct' RH to feed the RH channel Mini-T and LH from the other splitter together with the 'direct' LH to feed the LH Mini-T. I have absolutely no clue so digital/custom crossovers sound like bridges or railway crossings to me :lol: .
Put another way, with two sets of output RCA sockets and 2 RCA splitters I have 3 sets of outputs - #1 LH and # 1 RH go to the super tweeters, #2LH and #3 LH go to the LH Mini-T and #2 RH and #3 RH go to the RH Mini-T - maybe it's a tad clearer when put that way? :)
If I've confused you even further I could put a free-hand sketch together to show the wiring layout - let me know.
Cheers,
Dave.
Hi Gaz, probably the nva is broken ...:)
i had several t amp in the past (kingrex t20, trends ta10.1 and a big chinese class T, 200 W) none of them where near the nva ap10 (the little one in the range), used with several speakers.
Probably the nva amp of your friend needs to be fixed by dr BH.
cheers!
s
Hi Sergio
Both myself and my friend who had the NVA amp are strong believers in believe what you hear with your ears, not what you read.
If it sounds better..it IS better.
and thats what we heard.
The NVA sounded wooly, less detailed and less musical than the T-amp.
Not to say the T-Amp was overly detailed..just clearer and more open than the NVA.
Honest :)
DavefromDorset
10-10-2012, 18:36
I'm dead confused by this Mini-T thing: maybe I've not been following all the threads, but who makes/markets them - Amptastic or Tripath? The Amptastic website is so bad that I can't get any information from it. Tripath appears to have a different product made by Lepai, and there is a plethora of similar products on Ebay from other sources. Which is best and why?
The reason I'm interested is that I was thinking of using a Mini-T to run a couple of spare B& W M1's and an old REL Strata for my kitchen system. Do you think that this is viable - are there any compatibility issues? It doesn't have to be the last word in fidelity.
Many thanks, and apologies for the semi-hijack.
Dave
As far as I understand it, Amptastic buy the kit from China then they breath on it, replacing key components. They then market them through their website and ebay. their ebay shop is laid out better ;)
p.s. Or at least it was, there only seem to be cables on there just now :(
p.s. Or at least it was, there only seem to be cables on there just now :(
That's 'cause you lot have bought all the amps :lol:
...and there's a new one threatened ;)
FWIW my 3 Mini-Ts (TA2020) were bought from Peter at Indeed HiFi Labs but he does not currently have any items listed on eBay. I'm very happy with them and they are in the 'as supplied' condition.
Dave.
Edited so as not to put off my good friend Covenant :lol: :ner:
Covenant
10-10-2012, 19:49
I won't have anything in my house that has been upplied :nono:
I won't have anything in my house that has been upplied :nono:
Sage advice.
I won't have anything in my house that has been upplied :nono:
So as not to confuse your delicate sensitivities it has now been corrected so feel free to allow them admission :ner: .
Dave.
Ali Tait
10-10-2012, 20:18
I'm dead confused by this Mini-T thing: maybe I've not been following all the threads, but who makes/markets them - Amptastic or Tripath? The Amptastic website is so bad that I can't get any information from it. Tripath appears to have a different product made by Lepai, and there is a plethora of similar products on Ebay from other sources. Which is best and why?
The reason I'm interested is that I was thinking of using a Mini-T to run a couple of spare B& W M1's and an old REL Strata for my kitchen system. Do you think that this is viable - are there any compatibility issues? It doesn't have to be the last word in fidelity.
Many thanks, and apologies for the semi-hijack.
Dave
Tripath as a company no longer exist. They made the chips these amps use, so they are all new old stock, if they aren't fake copies. There are other companies such as Analogue Devices who make similar chips, as used in the Temple Audio amps.
Sage advice.
Sage is mostly used for stuffing - nuff said :ner: .
Dave.
Someone will have bought the rights to manufacture the chips I would have thought...
Ali Tait
10-10-2012, 20:39
Not as far as I know, there were just huge stocks left when they went chapter 11 in 2007.
amptastic
17-10-2012, 15:04
Hi guys, if it helps with any questions about the TA2020 chipset or Tripath technology in general, feel free to DM or email us on info@amptastic.com.
Like many other components manufactured in the last 20 years there are often large stocks available on the wholesale market. I wouldn't really like to guess how many TA2020 chips are left though. Our supplier has ample stock ready for our new model coming soon....
... yes, the rumours are indeed true! Following a great deal of feedback and planning over the past year we are nearing the final stages of manufacture of a brand new model of our award winning Amptastic amplifier. We've gone right back to the drawing board, the case design, the board, everything. Building on what we've learned with the first model, we will hopefully deliver something even better! We'd love you to be involved with the process so we've set up a page on our new website for you to register your interest, and receive updates as we have them. We're giving away 5 units of our new amplifier and more if you register before launch. Head over to http://www.amptastic.com to find out more!
As ever,
Chris & the team at Amptastic
Any idea of price or more inputs?
aquapiranha
17-10-2012, 16:33
Great news!
And what about the interconnects which seem to offer just what this amp needs? I enquired about buying one but received no reply :(
DavefromDorset
21-10-2012, 17:29
Tripath as a company no longer exist. They made the chips these amps use, so they are all new old stock, if they aren't fake copies. There are other companies such as Analogue Devices who make similar chips, as used in the Temple Audio amps.
Thanks for this, and apologies for the late response - been up to my eyes. I've seen the post by Amptastic and will follow up on the new model.
Cheers,
Dave
And what about the interconnects which seem to offer just what this amp needs? I enquired about buying one but received no reply :(
I got an immediate reply after the above post. 1m interconnect ordered (I'm a sucker for nice plugs and ferrites :lol:) and interest registered in the new amp.....
Hi Gaz, probably the nva is broken ...:)
i had several t amp in the past (kingrex t20, trends ta10.1 and a big chinese class T, 200 W) none of them where near the nva ap10 (the little one in the range), used with several speakers.
Probably the nva amp of your friend needs to be fixed by dr BH.
cheers!
s
naa.. :)
the NVA amp was fine.
The mate loved it, until I put the T-Amp in.
gotta remember, this Mini-T is not any of the ones you heard..its, different.
Ask around, its been used with some pretty esoteric speakers and replaced amps costing a lot more.
The NVA was just..bettered.
There was areas that were different rather than out and out better, but generally the NVA wasn't as good.
sorry!
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