La Figaro 339 Tube Headphone Amplifier Discussions | Drop

May 26, 2018

maheejust set mine up! I held off on stocking up on tubes and luckily no murphys law for me...stock tubes came intact and I am frankly speechless with a grin ear to ear and busily emailing my excitement to my other crazy audiophile friends...lol... Is your working out of box with stock tubes?

May 26, 2018

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May 26, 2018

MarcSpenceBtw... this thing has insane power...I am barely moving volume passed 2nd ”bolt” or around 9 oclock on 4xx and alpha. That is very different from other reviews, I know this is the newest version of 339 but didnt expect such a different experience from users with older versions.. what is your experience with volume setting range with stock tubes?

May 26, 2018

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May 26, 2018

MarcSpenceWorking great with stock tubes. I don't know if I want to roll tubes because I like what I hear
Yes it sounds powerful(unlike Woo WA2 which is also OTL). I haven't tried any hard to drive headphones yet, but I can tell it has lot of power from my limited use so far with Porta Pro. It also sounds quite open without feeling like details are missing

May 26, 2018

May 26, 2018

maheei am with you on tubes... very impressed out of box with stock. Will spend a lot of time with stock tubes, now I have dac itch and am drooling over the zmf auteur...if interested this review just came out...it is long but well done...https://youtu.be/VAx3EGc6BzY

May 26, 2018

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May 26, 2018

maheeWhile this thing is heavy and built well, there are some caveats - Finishing is not very industrial in some places. especially the transformer housings could have used more care - RCA inputs, Power plugs are tighter than normal. Tube slots too. I was afraid I was gonna break something because I had to press on the tubes harder than normal to insert them into slots. Tube rolling seems like it will be PITA - My unit came with power switches in ON position. I mean who ships the electronics with switches in ON position - User manual has barely any info on it
Front headphone jack takes the standard 1/4 inch and also a 3-pin XLR. Anyone know the purpose of this XLR connection?

May 26, 2018

May 26, 2018

MarcSpenceI am running 339 from my m9xx which is my go to DAC for all things single ended
Will check out the review, although I don't think I can spend that much on a headphone, atleast when I am thinking straight

May 26, 2018

May 26, 2018

maheeOne of my power switches is tight, but since i am not going to be pulling it in an out, i think it will be ok. No issue for me with tubes and rca, tubes “rocked in” easily for me and the ”slots” seem sturdy and good quality. I too was surprised unit was shipped in “on” position. Yes, there are imo some knit pick finish issues but for the price I am very pleased. I am glad they use the nuetrik se jack with push pin, makes it easy to pull cable and not be subjected to heat of unit.. I really dont know what the purpose of the 3 pin is, I would guess it is for a different application, maybe these connectors are used for things other than headphone amps, I will ask my wife, she works for a factory that builds cables, wires ect for Nasa, Harley davidson and is familiar with all most of my audio gear and alot of it is used in connections for things such as robotics and fighter jets. She maybe contracting with a local guy and his headphone start up company...I am hoping she does and I can meet the dude

May 26, 2018

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May 26, 2018

MarcSpenceI read somewhere that this 3 pin connection is some kind of standard in china. A 4 pin would have made sense(like the Cavalli CTH) for headphone use.
I don't think locking mechanism does anything for the 1/4 inch plug connection. It only locks onto a 3-pin XLR plug. Personally I think locking connectors are a bad idea as I could yank the whole amp with my headphones
This amp gets super hot. Even the headphone jack gets hot to touch which is something I have never experienced before. I took extra precautions to not block the vents on the bottom

May 26, 2018

May 26, 2018

maheeYeah, it would not be good to lock. this is my 1st otl amp, my others are ss and hybrid tube. I understand the heat to be normal for otl. do you have other otl amps?

May 26, 2018

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May 26, 2018

MarcSpenceYes, WA2 which doesn't get hot like 339
On WA2 only tubes are hot to touch and amp remains cool. But on the 339 amp also gets warm including the volume knobs

May 26, 2018

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May 27, 2018

maheeWa2 is SET correct? which i understand to run cooler...i almost bought the Wa2 but i have a mix of dynamic and planars and figured the 339 would be best for that.. The wa22 maybe the match to the 339 but i didnt feel need to go down the balanced rabbit hole I will follow you on headfi... the pros will get us up to speed..haha

May 27, 2018

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May 27, 2018

MarcSpenceBtw... what are your thoughts comparing the wa2 to 339?

May 27, 2018

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May 27, 2018

MarcSpenceGood ventilation seems to keep the temps normal on the 339.
Do you have any hum in the headphones? I hear the hum in the headphones,and it seems like the transformer noise which doesn't change much with volume increase. It could be the stock tubes also

May 27, 2018

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May 27, 2018

maheeI have the 339 on my top rack.. just using stock feet.. are u raising it higher with mods to feet? I have a ceiling fan almost right above. How are you defining ”good ventilation” ?
I listened to it about 3 hrs straight today.. there was a slight odor but that seemed to subside.. no hum yet... I will report back tomorrow after next session... did you have hum right from the start?

May 27, 2018

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May 27, 2018

MarcSpenceStock feet. Yesterday I may have run it with some of the vents on the bottom blocked and unit got concernigly hot
Now I have it setup on a proper table, and temps are not as bad. Volume knob getting warm/hottish is definitely new to me, but its not as bad as yesterday
I had that odor too but its gone now. Hum was there right from the start. First time I powered it on, hum was too loud but it mellowed down after few minutes, although I can hear it

May 27, 2018

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May 27, 2018

maheeThats a good sign that hum has mellowed....hopefully tubes just need some burn in and hum will go away..I let amp warm up for a while before I listened, maybe 30 minutes and no hum... I have read about hum and solution gerally seems to be to be to let tubes burn in for a bit, although its possible one of the tubes is faulty, is hum in both left and right? you can also try and reset/install tubes. I know they are tight, I just rocked them in slowly and not all they way down, there is slight space on bottom where i can see pins, I didnt feel comfortable trying to push them all the way down as it seemed like too much force. I am new to OTL so I am learning some of this as I go... sorry I cant offer more solution on hum.. Are u on headfi? The 339 thread is pretty active and someone may have solution

May 27, 2018

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May 27, 2018

maheeOk, i just fired up 339...and turned up volume up all the way with no music..there was slight hum but i cant hear it once the music plays

May 27, 2018

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May 27, 2018

MarcSpenceHum is in both channels and it doesn't go away even after 2Hrs of use. I will use the stock tubes this weekend and if it doesn't go away, will swap them with RCA 6AS7G from my WA2 which I know are silent. Hopefully the problem is with the tubes and not the amp itself
If reinserting tubes or the 6AS7G doesn't resolve the hum, I will try posting on headfi or contact Yuking

May 27, 2018

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May 29, 2018

maheeSo far, I have found that hard to drive headphones(like HE560) doesn't reveal the hum, although i can hear it if i pay close attention
But on easy to drive headphones(like Porta Pro) there is a ton of hum. All this with stock tubes

May 29, 2018

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May 30, 2018

MarcSpenceIf you are able to, could you pls test the amp with a easy to drive headphone and let me know if you hear the hum

May 30, 2018

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