Nutube headphone amplifier/NEX type D

Name: Nutube headphone amplifier/NEX type D
SKU: 15753
Price: 110.00 USD
Availability: Discontinued
Rating: 4.25 (1 reviews)

(1 Review)

DAC embedded Nutube headphone amplifier with USB bus-power operation!

Designed by microwavemont in Japan

Product Retired

This product is no longer available for sale.

The seller may be offering an improved version or it may be hanging out on the beach, enjoying the retired life.

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2019-01-31T13:37:30.695Z-2018-12-21T01-08-02.648Z-pinout.png

On Dec. 15, 2025, my tindie store "micowavemont" trying restarting! Stay tuned!

DAC embedded Nutube headphone amplifier with USB bus-power operation!

This item is retired and transferred to New version Type-E $152 or ultimate version. Both are supporting high-resolution audio (24bit/96kHz) so please consider these new version! Attached parts layou…

What is it?

USB-DAC embedded Nutube headphone amplifier kit with USB bus-power operation.

Why did you make it?

I've enjoyed Nutube headphone amplifier, but the music source of headphone amplifiers is mostly USB output, for example Mac, PC, iPhone, iPad or smartphone. Even Raspberry Pi and NanoPi, Pocketbeagle has a USB-host function and they are capable of audio output through USB. If my Nutube headphone amplifier has USB input, it should be more useful and easy for enjoying "vacuum tube sound". The one thing we should care about is power supply, but this amplifier has built-in voltage booster and full USB bus power! (no more need of extra power supply).

What makes it special?

USB-DAC (Ti PCM2704, 16bit, 48kHz) is embedded.
Embedded voltage booster enables full USB bus power operation.
Voltage booster operation frequency is 1.5MHz and no fear of audio interference.
Very small size!
Metal enclosure is included.
SMD parts are pre-soldered and USB-DAC function is fully examined before shipping.
Mellow vacuum tube sound with handy USB bus power!

Review Breakdown

Average Ratings

Product: (5.00)

Documentation: (3.00)

Shipping: (5.00)

Communication: (4.00)

Caj | Jan. 25, 2019

Great portable DAC and amp for the office

I find the audio quality and ease of use excellent, it very easily drives my Sennheiser HD 25-1 cans but they are easy to drive.

The build time was very fast and enjoyable, however I found that the component layout included was missing R7. Since it was the only thing missing there was no great mystery but that should be fixed.

The only issues I have is that the rigid mounting in the steel casing transfers vibrations that causes very noticeable ringing. Considering the sensitivity of the nutubes microphonics I have to consider this a design flaw. The fixes would probably be to have the main PCB mounted onto rubber and a separate PCB for contacts.

Or just put it on something soft on the desk like I do.

All in all excellent product and I highly recommend it.

Response from microwavemont | Jan. 28, 2019

Thank you so much for the first review !
So sorry and thank you for notifying R7, 33kOhm issue. I will fix the paper right now.
As for the microphonic of Nutube, At the side of Nutube it has a double-side adhesive tape and peeling thing tape, Nutube can be fixed on the metal case and it can be improved to some extent (not perfectly, due to its nature..)
Thank you!