HeadRoom Millett Desktop Hybrid Amp

Get ready for the lush life! If you’ve never owned a vacuum tube amp before, we think you’re in for a real treat. In brief, tubes have a lot more second harmonic distortion than solid-state transistors, and fewer high-order distortion products... What that actually sounds like inside your head is a superbly warm, luscious wash of tonal color in the music. The great advantage of an amp with this kind of coloration is that it makes ragged and low-fidelity recordings sound much more musical and coherent. This is a superb headphone amp choice for your older rock and jazz recordings, as well as for a lot of the modern dance, hip-hop, and remix tracks that sometimes have a tendency towards a harsh, sharp-edged timbre in the upper treble ranges. For headphones that lean towards the overly-bright or peaky-sounding, the Millett will also help lend a new sense of smoothness to their sound.

Our long-time friendly relationship with Mr.Pete Millett (designer of the infamous Wheatfield HA2 headphone amp) has allowed us to spend a bit of quality time together co-developing a HeadRoom-flavored version of his renowned 'hybrid' tube amp, a design which has received wide acclaim amongst the DIY (Do-It-Yourself) head-amp community. In the Millett, the audio signal flows through an excellent low-voltage tube line stage to lovingly flavor your audio with that awesome 'rounded' and deep-sounding tube tonality. It's truly a unique sonic presentation combining the musical focus and clean drive of a solid state output with the lushness of a true tube-stage amplifier... You get the best of both worlds!

Tube Rolling

So, if this is your first experience "rolling" (changing) tubes: Welcome!... just don’t burn your fingers! Slip on cotton gloves, or use tissues, and start swapping the provided tubes around for a timbral presentation precisely tailored to your audio demands. There are three tube types that can be installed in the Millett Desktop Hybrid Amp: 12FM6, 12AE6A, and 12FK6. These tubes were originally designed for vintage car radios and they operate over a very wide voltage range. Therefore, there is no need to bias each tube individually or ultra-precisely. Still, each tube model has slightly different bias requirements, and a front panel switch on the Millett Desktop Hybrid Amp automatically adjusts the bias for each tube pair. Simply set the tube selection switch to the tubes you are going to use and you're done!

Features

The HeadRoom Millett Hybrid headphone amp uses our own sly tweak of Walt Jung's solid-state Diamond Buffer output within our HeadRoom 'home' electronics module topology. The 'home' module utilizes a Burr-Brown 2134OPA in all active stages and is biased into full Class-A operation using forced constant-current sources. The Millett/Desktop Hybrid Amp has two pair of independent analog stereo RCA inputs, each selectable by a switch on the rear panel. The Millett Desktop Hybrid Amp can also be used as a simple pre-amplifier within a larger home stereo rig via a variable-output control on the rear panel that can be defeated via a front panel switch when listening solely to headphones. The Millet Desktop Hybrid amp also offers both 1/4 “ and 1/8” headphone jacks. Other panel switches include on/off power, crossfeed, and a 3-position gain to adjust for variations in the impedance efficiencies of differing headphones.

Upgrade Options

The sole upgrade option for the Millett-Hybrid is swapping the Alps continuously variable volume pot for a 24-position stepped attenuator we custom-manufacture here at HeadRoom. Ideally, one SHOULD also purchase the separately-sold HeadRoom Desktop Power Supply (DPS, $399.00usd) to deliver clean correct voltage swing for the power-hungry Class-A-biased 'Home' electronics module to fully realize its excellent sonic potential. The less expensive but lower-performing international-use Astrodyne Power Supply ($99) will also serve in a pinch for tube-amp listeners trying to maximize their sound while remaining within budget.

If you need help choosing which HeadRoom amp is best for you, please feel free to contact our knowlegeable HR sales team for truly personalized assistance. You can email sales or call us at 800.828.8184. You can also learn more about our electronics modules, D-A converters, and volume controls.

Dimensions

The HeadRoom Millett Desktop Hybrid Amp measures approximately 6.25" X 6.25" X 4.75" inches tall, including the height of the protruding vacuum tubes. The unit weighs in at around 1.9 lbs of warm tube love.

All HeadRoom Desktop Millett amps are hand-built in Montana, USA.