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Review: Tube Audio Design Hibachi Monoblocks TAD 125 Amplifier

Category: Amplifiers

I wish to first say that I have no financial, personal or other connection with Tube Audio Design. I was looking for a DAC and saw these monoblocks offered up for $500 plus 45$ shipping; so I said "what the heck, I should try them". I put them on the described system in my exercise room. I absolutely feel compelled to write this review after about 5 hours of listening!

My musical tastes are Jazz (75%), New Age (5%), Classical (15%), and R & B (5%). The sonic virtues I value most are imaging, clarity, and other auditory cues that tell your brain that you are listening to real music. Space and depth along with accurate tone colors are very important in making these things happen. I like detail - within the context of something that sounds like real music. A huge turn-off is the faux digital/solid state hyperetched detail that is harsh - even if only intermittiently - that is presented in a dry, overly analytical manner.

The monblocks replaced a modified Accurus 250 wpc amp that had some power supply mods as well as Bybee filters installed on the power supply and lines. This was a relatively cheap but nice performing amplifier that punches above its price point. Well how about the sound of the TAD 125's ? This is where the fun starts.

Throughout my audiophile career that spans multiple decades beginning as I was leaving high school, I have always coveted audio equipment that gave a huge bang for the buck. I have NO interest in "cost is not a consideration" equipment. Even now that I can afford to buy pretty much what I want I refuse to do so. I guess it is all relative though because I have about 25K or so in my reference system counting the equipment, modifications, and tweaks. Well, back to the TAD-125 monoblock amplifiers.

I have now listend 5 to 6 hours since installing them. The Spicas had not been played for about 8 or 9 months. So, the immediate sound was a little uninteresting and not real dynamic. However, after a few hours of playing some Ellis Marsalis/Irvin Mayfield and one of my digital compilation discs, the sound opened up. It was officially ON. The sound is fast and agile, dynamic and punchy, as well as fairly detailed with slightly rounded leading note edges. There is nice instrument separation and tone colors are vivid and, to my ears, accurate. Forget about the price of these monoblocks when listening to them and just trust your ears. The Spicas have never sounded better - even when I drove them with a highly regarded Music Reference tube amplifier they did not sound better.

I am not blathering on that these are perfect cause they are not. They have plenty of detail but may not be the last word in detail. And, for sure, those who have grown accustomed to the digital/solid state hyper-etched distortion that passes as phony detail will not like these amps. The detail continues to incrementally increase and, within the context of something that sounds like real music, the detail is fine. The Spicas don't go real low and are also rolled off at the upper frequencies so they may not be the best test for these amps; however, I will say that in all my years of driving them with a variety of amplifiers, some very highly regarded, the Spicas have never sounded better. Very surpisingly, the low end is taut and satisfying; most solid state amps make the Spicas sound thin and without a solid, low end foundation under the music. When my new Emerald Physic CS 3's come in perhaps that will allow for a better assessment of their upper frequency response as well as of their low end performance. Finally, if you like spending lots of money of gear you will likely avoid these amplifiers cause they don't cost a lot - even when they are not on sale.

I am sure as they break in I will have further thoughts about their performance. I may not be able to stand it if they get any better. I LOVE finding budget equipment that sounds GREAT. These monblocks join the old Parasound solid state preamp that I paid less than 200 dollars for years ago as two of the best sounding, low-cost pieces of equipment that I have ever owned. The Hibachi TAD-125 monblocks are no-brainers. They do as good a job as splitting the difference between solid state and tubes as anything I have heard. I don't think they have a "golden tube glow" at all but they have that distinctly tube amp smoothing/rounding of the note edges with all of the snap, vitality, and speed of solid state. I can see how some might call them tube-like; this is not an inaccurate characterization but not the one I think best represents what they do.

These are excellent amplifiers that are "insanely good" for the money. At multiples of the price I paid for them they would still be excellent amplifiers. I don't know how long the sale on these amplifiers is going on, however, if you are looking for high quality amplification that gives you the best of solid state and tubes, these amplfiers just might be the ones for you. I am not suggesting that five hundred bucks is not real money because it is. Yet, I know of nowhere on the planet where you can get this type of amplification for so little money. You can bet though that someone replying to this thread will tell me where I can find it, lol........

Associated gear
VH 4 powercords, LAT international interconnects (top of line), Dakiom line level stabliziers (coming out of back of CD player), Cambridge 640 C CD player, Tritium line-level tripphazer, EAR 834L tube preamplifier, and Translucent Audio 8 foot speaker cable (company now defunct)

Similar products
Accurus, Arcam, Music Reference, Coda, Audio Van Alstine amplifiers.
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boniccie
24 posts
 
Based on all the positive review I bought a pair of the Hibachi monoblocks
Few weeks ago and paired it with a mingda mc7 with response audio mods and really sounds so good compare to the primaluna amp I was using to drive a pair of Felton speakers.Eventhough my speakers are 96db eff. I always felt I am missing something until I hooked the Hibachi and Voila now I discovered the sound I was looking for in my small listening room
neptunebchdawg
11 posts
 
having these for several years now with 0 problems as i posted before,i am still very happy with tad 125s.I am glad other audiogoners have discovered these, hard to beat for the money,great sound,no worries.I know there are better amps out there but in these times,grab a pair and do not look back.I have tubes,soid state,and now these.I run them with a JM peach through modified Chorus 2's and 1's and have no desire to upgrade.The chorus 2's are run by primaluna dialogue 2,the 1's are run by the hibachi monos,stacked with the chours 2's turn upside down,,great sound for not alot of dough..my version of big bose cubes.:)......cheers
rrgordon
46 posts
 
I am also the original owner of a pair of the Hibachi monos. Some time ago I posted my impressions in another thread but want to chime in here since I just purchased an upgraded pair of Hibachi H2SE (special edition) directly from Paul. I now own four of these amps (2 pairs of mono blocks). Funny how good gear seems to accumulate that way. I will never sell these amps. I continue to use the original H2 with attenuator builtin and extra RCA output and it sounds wonderful on a variety of speakers. They are easy to setup, never get hot, are bulletproof (never any issues), have adequate power for less eff speakers (Paul recommends higher efficiency for best sound), and reasonably high input impedance that mates well with the output imp of most tube preamps. I have used several and all sounded great. The sound is exactly as has been described. A true find and sometimes offered at bargain pricing--I know, I was lucky enough to pick up the SE on just such a special. Many thanks to Paul for building these. I encourage him to continue to offer these amps to the audiophile since they are unique in my experience.

Tip to current owners: be sure to replace the stock fuse with something like the HiFi Tuning Supremes, these fuses synergize with the amp very well indeed.
vett93
205 posts
 
What are the differences between Hibachi H2 and H2SE? It looks that H2SE does not have volume control and has only one input. Any other differences?
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,198 posts
 
I recently moved the TADs into my main system to sub for my Bel Canto ref1000m monoblock amps ($6000 retail), one of which was out for repair.

The OHM and Dynaudio speakers I run there are much harder to drive than the Triangles in my 2 channel a/v rig where the Hibachis normally run.

I did not know quite what to expect going in terms of the Hibachi's ability to drive these speakers in comparison to the BCs, but one reason I bought the Hibachi's was I thought they would serve as respectable backup amps in my main rig if ever needed.

I ran the Hibachi's in my main rig for about a month.

Findings?

The Hibachis exceeded my expectations driving the OHMs and Dynaudios.

With the OHMs, the main drawback was due mainly to just to the power output of the Hibachi's (80w/ch into 8 ohm)compared to the BCs (500w/ch). THe Hibachis did not go as loud effortlessly as the much more powerful and expensive BCs, but practically, this was not much of an issue. They went loud enough and held together quite well doing it, just not to the same degree. I expected much less given the cost and power differential.

Bass was also somewhat fatter I suspect mainly due to significant difference in damping. Hibachi is made to perform more like a tube amp after all. BC ref1000m damping is very high and helps maintain vice like control on the larger OHM drivers. Hibachi had a different sound in this regard, still very musical and able to drive the larger OHMs with authority that was quite good. Sound was a bit more lively through the mids with the TADs. OVerall, I suspect most would be more than satisfied with the TADs driving the larger OHMs, especially for the price. With the smaller OHMs, there was some difference but less.

Surprisingly, at most volumes, I seemed to hear a bigger difference with the small but also not easy to drive Dynaudio monitors. THe TADs did not capture my attention with these to the same extent as the BCs, though they had no problem driving the Dyns in general. Imaging and soundstage was not as good though I suspect tweaking the speaker locations along with the amp change would have helped there, but I did not do that given that the Hibachis were only there temporarily.

SO in summary, the TADs did a better job than I expected driving several hard to drive speakers in my main rig. As a result I would not hesitate to recommend them as a very cost effective option for even hard to drive, less efficient speakers that normally might mate better with larger or more powerful SS amps rather than tube amps. FOr other more efficient, tube amp friendly speaker designs, the Hibachis, if you can still find a pair, are a no brainer as an option to an actual tube amp in my mind.
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