The Maverick Tube Magic D1 sounds like a godsend for those that want to rock out without disturbing the neighbours. It’s a digital-to-analogue converter, pre-amp and headphone amp all in one, but takes up about half the space of your average hi-fi amp. Does it inspire us to ditch our floorstanders in favour of cans though? Find out in this Maverick Tube Magic D1 review.
In spite of being a piece of kit we’d predominantly recommend for people with decent headphones and a tendency to use them a lot, the Maverick Tube Magic D1 is actually a lot more versatile than it may at first seem.
For starters, it has a whopping five sets of inputs where most headphone amps have only one or two. Why so many? Well, it’s largely because the Maverick Tube Magic D1 is a DAC as well as a headphone amp.
Hook up your laptop or PC to the Tube Magic D1 using a digital connector and the nasty, noisy sound that most soundcards produce will be gone, replaced by something a lot more musical-sounding. We found the difference when using an Xbox 360 and PS3 less marked, probably because the kit inside those consoles is a little less cheap, but the ability to hook them up all at once is a convenience dream.
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While the Maverick Tube Magic D1 has a tube under its bonnet, a little piece of hardware renowned for giving sound that warm, vintage vibe, it only affects another string in the amp’s bow, the pre-amp. Hook this up to your regular amplifier and you’ll be rewarded with even more warmth to your beats.
We do wish there was the option to feed that tube warmth out through the headphone socket, as putting the Maverick Tube Magic D1 head to head against a dedicated tube headphone amp reveals that, as a pure headphone amp, Tube Magic D1 does have that more analytical solid state flavour.
It also has stacks of power, giant stacks. Crank up this baby and it’ll blow your eardrums clean off. In fact, it’s so powerful that you really need a hard-to-drive headphone like the Sennheiser HD650 to make the most of it. Pair the Maverick Tube Magic D1 with piddly earphones that are happy as larry plugged direct into an MP3 player and you’ll barely be able to turn that volume dial.
Still, if you fit this basic criterion, the Maverick Tube Magic D1 offers fantastic versatility at a great price. For £120, you’re still looking at the bottom rung of headphone amplifiers, and the Tube Magic D1 offers more than just a helping hand for your headphones.
