LOXJIE P20 Full Balance Tube Amplifier Headphone Hybrid Power Amp (Black)

I bought this to test out balanced vs single ended headphones/amplification, there's only one way of knowing if I can hear a difference. It was the cheapest fully balanced amp I could find and seemed surprisingly well featured for the money. Rather than drop a bundle on an expensive balanced amp I figured I'd test the waters first. I actually paid £67 for an Amazon return and it was unused, I think they may have been sent the wrong colour - incidentally at the moment I write this there's a red one available for the same price so move fast if you want one!.It has a digital volume control, so there's no channel imbalance. It also has a useful LED screen that allows you to swap from single ended/balanced in and singled/balanced out using the volume knob that also functions as an on/off switch. It's quick and easy to use, there's a very short warm up time and the relays make a satisfying click as they switch between the inputs and outputs. You can't drive both outputs at once, it's either balanced or single ended.The unit itself is well made, it's a good weight with a nice finish. The volume knob makes positive clicks as you rotate it from -60 to 0, and also clicks as you press it. It's perhaps a little wobbly, but it's not a problem. The tubes glow a little, but there's also some internal LED's that make the tubes shine purple. I'm not normally a fan of LED's under tubes but I kinda dig the way these look. I swapped the power supply out for a 5A one just to make sure it was well fed. I think it helped, or at least didn't hurt - I've read about people turning their P20's on and the tubes/display taking their sweet time but mine is fine. I think the supplied power supply is only 1.75A which is pretty low. With my 5A supply start up is instant and it's capable of producing some nice low frequencies at fairly loud volume.It's a hybrid amp but I'm not sure just how involved the tubes are. The unit itself does get warm - so keep the vents clear! - but the tubes themselves don't get that warm or glow brightly and audible effects are subtle. Running it side by side with my solid state and tube amps reveals it sounds closer to solid state, while my Little Dot II and Dark Voice 336se sound quite different. However, there's a touch of tube and I'm sure there's fun to be had with tube rolling, it's quite possible the stock tubes just aren't that "tuby". But that might be just what you want - a touch of tube. I certainly find it enjoyable.Unfortunately the Loxjie doesn't work as a pre-amp, but if you fancy adding a touch of tube to an existing solid state setup then I can recommend the Nobsound 6J2 (Douk Audio D2) tube pre-amp for about £40. It's an excellent little device and spices things up nicely with minimum fuss and investment.Running an RME-ADI2-DAC into the balanced and single ended inputs allowed me to quickly switch between balanced vs single ended inputs, balanced vs singled outputs, combinations of them all, volume matched. I've tried it with a variety of Sennheiser - my favourites with tubes, maybe ten other dynamics, and even a few planar magnetics which play nicely with the hybrid output. In fact it's cost me more to buy the cables than it did the amp!. Unfortunately for me, if there's a difference between balanced and single ended, both input and output, then I simply can't hear it - and I've tried!. It hasn't mattered what combination of songs, sources, headphones, inputs or outputs I've used; I can't detect any changes at all when A/B'ing between them. Single ended in to single end out sounds the same to me as balanced in balanced out. Your mileage may vary but that's been my experience.I wish I could say differently as I was hoping there was more to balanced outputs than increased power. I can see the benefits of balanced interconnects for noise rejection, but as I was using short runs any benefits were inaudible. It wouldn't surprise me if the extra power that balanced outputs can provide is what some people perceive as superior, or perhaps it's extra power in reserve that allows for peaks when the music calls for it. I know from trying to drive the Tin P1's that unless you give them sufficient power and have plenty in reserve they just don't sing as they should. I'm just guessing here, I really have no idea what the truth is. However,my experience with the Loxjie didn't point to any audible performance gains going fully balanced. However, I suspect that some amplifiers and DACs truly are best when run balanced, but I suppose that would also mean some are best run single ended. It really would come down to the individual products involved I guess.It drives 300ohm 6XXs through both the single ended and balanced outputs, so it has enough power for most people. However there's not much left in the tank so if you want to listen at high volumes then you'd be better served by a more powerful amplifier. Or just turn it down a bit - tinnitus is no fun!. As long as it's able to push your (fair impedence) phones it stays audibly clean, it has particularly nice bottom end and it doesn't become harsh. So the good news is that it's a nice sounding amplifier with enough power to push fairly demanding headphones. The unfortunate news is that for me the balanced output offers nothing that my single ended amplifiers don't. In fact they have considerably more power than the P20's balanced output.It did run out of steam with my difficult to drive headphones. At the other end of the scale, running low impedance headphones such as IEMs exposes the relatively high noise floor (compared to solid state at least), although it's audibly clean with less sensitive headphones. I've a feeling that although the amplification is solid state the output impedance is pretty high, which may affect the frequency response of some of your headphones even more than the tubes will.I don't want this review to sound negative but I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the amp's limitations and my impressions of the balanced performance. I like the Loxjie and use it quite often. I was hoping to find an audible change by going balanced so I'm a bit disappointed I didn't find one. But if I need obscene amounts of watts in future then perhaps another more powerful balanced amp will be the only way to go.So all in all, the balanced inputs/outputs don't seem to make any difference, it isn't nearly as tubey as some other tube amps, the output impedance is probably too high, and objectively I'd guess it doesn't measure that well. However, despite all of that, I still rate it five stars purely because it's so inexpensive, it's simple to use, it sounds good and I enjoy listening to it - I've no problem recommending it for what it is. I like tube amps despite their shortcomings and this one is no different. There's sometimes a gulf between what measurements say and how enjoyable something is to listen to and tube amps seem to fall into that category. You can buy solid state amps for around a hundred quid that will run rings around it in terms of measurements, and if you want high power and/or low distortion/noise then that might be a better choice (add a Nobsound pre-amp for the best of both worlds!). For me the Loxjie is great to use and listen to, and comparing amps/inputs/outputs blind was fun and a bit of an eye opener for me, excuse the pun. No, don't excuse it, I'm proud of that one!.As it stands the P20 is a neat little piece of gear and I'm sure most people will find it meets their needs very well. It's a nice amp, easy to use, it's built well and looks good too. For the money I paid, or even the full RRP, I can't see anyone being unhappy. Happy listening!

This thing is 89 pounds (I actually payed 66 for "used" which was in condition as new, idk why they are selling them as used, they are in perfect new condition.) This amp for 89 (let alone 60 something) pounds is a total steal!! Heck, balanced cables for this amp cost me more than the amp itself!The sound quality (if you feed it balanced input with XLR and output with balanced output) is terrific. Please don't run it in single ended more, please just don't. It sounds so much better in balanced mode. You don't need an expensive DAC to run in in balanced mode, I use Fiio K3, which is a cheap small portable amp with true balanced output you just need a 2.5mm jack to 2 x XLR cable to make it work with this, and it sounds amazing. When I talk about sound quality here I talk about BALANCED out and BALANCED in, so keep that in mind. (Single ended mode doesn't sound bad tough by any means, imo a lot better than majority of cheap Chinese tube amps).ADVANTAGES:- You can really hear the "tube" sound with this, no question. Sound is rich and warm (Deep lows and buttery mids) with sharp but smooth highs.- Chinese tubes in this amp are actually really good sounding, you don't need to hunt for better tubes, however they do distort quite a bit and they make the sound very "tube like" because of that, some people will not like this. For me they sound great, just like tubes are supposed to sound!- Balanced makes a difference, gives you a lot more power to drive high impedance headphones and you can hear the difference. Please use it in balanced mode.- Amp has appealing and clean design. Body is solid metal with very thick plates on front and back, very well built.- Digital volume control gets a rid of any channel imbalance, very good feature.PROBLEMS:- BLUE LEDs under tubes look so unnatural! If they were red or amber it would look infinitely better. Same for blue LED screen, I think tubes ask for red LEDs in general, it just looks better!!!! and costs nothing...- The "knob" on the front is a digital rotary encoder that controls volume and outputs/inputs. The knob wiggles and is very flimsy. The know will definitely fail, I can already see myself replacing the rotary encoder... I would much prefer analog potenciometer connected to digital volume controller.- Why not put a nice oled screen instead of that hideous blue led screen? It costs pennies and displays a lot more information without burning your eyes to the back of your head.BOTTOMLINE:This is an outstanding amp for the price. You can really hear the "tube sound", it's true balanced, can drive even hardest to drive headphones. The problems I pointed out are just minor issues that don't present any issues with actual sound of it.

The Loxjie P20 is a surprise to the Hifi world it is built like a tank and much to my surprise it sounds fantastic with the stock tubes now that's a first. The Loxjie P20 is fully balanced too but at this time I don't have the cables at this time I will be getting some as I hear it's really good, however, the cables will cost the same price as the headphone amp lol watch this space.

Es un buen amplificador para audífonos de alta impedancia, en mi caso lo uso con unos Sennheiser HD 6XX.Recomiendo usar la salida Balanceada (XLR), ya que la salida estándar (6.35 mm) no balanceada no esta al mismo nivel en calidad de sonido.Tampoco es para audífonos sensibles (principalmente IEMS), ya que si existe cierto ruido de fondo debido a la potencia que entrega este amplificador.Con respecto al sonido, ofrece un sonido cálido muy agradable, agrega mayor naturalidad a los instrumentos, posee buena separación instrumental, a pesar de que la escena sonora es íntima (esta también depende de que DAC utilices).El rango de frecuencias bajo es su fuerte, tiene buena ganancia lo que le brinda presencia, buen nivel de detalle y autoridad.El rango medio es muy bueno, consigue generar un buen nivel de detalle con un timbre natural (debido a los tubos), sobre todo en las voces pues las presenta centradas y al frente del resto de instrumentos.El rango alto (agudos) es quizá el que pierda algo de detalle, ya que posee una ganancia un poco menor, y algunos detalles y micro-detalles se pierden en este rango, la perdida de detalle es muy ligera, y lo más importante, el sonido no pierde esa sensación de espacialidad, de aire entre los instrumentos, es decir, no se siente encerrado el sonido, como podría ser con un amplificador de estado sólido, pues es la ventaja de los tubos. En lo personal me agrada este manejo de los agudos, ya que en mi experiencia personal es un sonido más relajado y perdona las malas grabaciones donde podrían existir sibilancias en las frecuencias agudas, haciendo que sea más versátil y útil para largas sesiones de escucha.Por todo lo que ofrece por este precio, lo recomiendo ampliamente.PD: Lo utilizo junto con el DAC Modi 3+

The Loxjie works as supposed. At first it didn't seem so, due to a mistake in the added manual; nothing serious but if you follow it you end up with no sound (line 1 and 2 are mixed up). The amplifier is a reasonable good product, will be a winner with upgraded power supply, different tubes and evt. other opamps. In any case, only use balanced, otherwise the quality of sound is so so.

Puede que en algún caso, para unos auriculares concretos, te de ese "toque valvular", pero nada que un sencillo ecualizador (como por ejemplo el Behringer Mini FBQ 800) no puedo ajustar.Realmente al final es una cuestión de gustos, de comodidad (si no deseas usar un ecualizador).En mis pruebas he utilizado como auriculares un Focal Stellia y un HIFIMAN HE-1000SE, que creo que aportaron suficiente "claridad" a mis pruebas.

Super happy with this unit, its paired with my DT990 pro 250ohm .. the sound is clear, it create a wide soundstage, and its enough loud for my taste. Got a pair of 6n3pe tube and a bigger power supply on the way.. cant wait to try this little beast with those mods. Overall im impressed and i recommend the Loxjie P20!!

Sehr gut verarbeitet, perfekt verpackt. Wird warm wie schon woanders erwähnt, aber nicht heiß. Schöner Klang, einfaches Menü. Ich habe ihn trotzdem zurück geschickt, weil ich den wärmeren Röhrensound an meinen Grado Kopfhörern nicht mag. Der kühlere Klang eines normalen Verstärkers sagt mir mehr zu.