@@alanrogs3990 I feel you Alan ;) I also prefer the natural glow of tubes. It’s like women with silicone… lips. You could probably unsolder the LEDs, but I’m not good at such things so I haven’t tried it. There’s no switch though.
This preamp is a total piece of crap! I just ordered one and by no way can it even compare to my Fosi audio box 2. First of all there isn't any ground for vintage turntables. Second you have to turn the volume knob all the way up and still doesn't give you a decent amount of power. My Fosi has a gain function that I can at least turn up the DB to 45+ if needed. If you need a preamp for a computer this will work. But for anything else just spend a little more and get something decent.
I’m sorry you felt that way @@keithnelson9233. I have it hooked to two Fosi ZA3s and there’s plenty of power for me. Maybe your source produces very low voltage? As for the turntable, I use an additional phono stage that takes care of grounding.
@@alanrogs3990 My experience with Soviet tubes has been extremely good. Those are old Soviet tubes, might be new production, but Soviet tubes. Do you actually own this device? To you have any useful comment regarding my actual question? Or are you just talking out of your a**?
@@wahid-lg1kk Yes, I have experience with tubes from all over the world. I have several hundred tubes in my listening room. I am not down totally on Soviet tubes. I have had experiences with 6c33c tubes, 12ax7 and several others. I just find them so so, but the old 6P3S-E seem to be okay. I don't need to own this device to ask you the question that I did. I also didn't need to answer your question. I simply asked you my question. You seem to be full or anger so I'll just stop here. Have a good day.
@@alanrogs3990 Most people online are extremely negative, and have a lot to say about things they know nothing about, and statistically speaking, someone asking so bluntly 'why do you think these are good, I think they are only so so' comes across as an entre to some negative interaction, where I am wrong because my opinion is different. This is a sickness in our culture. I apologise if you were not coming from that place. I have found Russian tubes to be far better then the Chinese and other stuff I can get here in Indonesia. I really like them, and feel they last a long time and sound great when burned in, they are reliable, and when warmed up properly, very delicate, much nuance, which I don't get from Chinese stuff. Some American milspec stuff is better, but hard to get, and very pricey here.
You would be able to tell if the audio signal is being amplified or attenuated by the tubes if you were to tap on the chassis while music is playing (preferably through headphones) and see if you can hear a ringing or a change in the audio corresponding to the taps. I would love to know if you've tried this?
Tempted to pick one up, but I'm mostly someone who spends all day on a computer. I have a Sennheiser GSX 1000 DAC/AMP, but its not powerful enough to drive my current set of cans. SO i need something that adds a bit of juice to the chain. I'm guessing tubes over a static State pre-amp is a bad idea?
In my opinion the headphone amp in the preamp I reviewed is just a convenience addition. I will be reviewing two dedicated headphone amps from Fosi soon, one of which includes a tube section, so you might want to stick around ;-)
I've also bought the same preamp about a year ago and found out I don't like the way it sounds. Maybe if I change the default power supply and short the tone controls things may improve
@@NormcoreGreg it's hard to explain, the sound became unpleasant. I assume it sounded like the distortion on some frequencies (possibly upper midrange). I haven't experimented whith the preamp a lot, maybe someday I'll get back to it
Very good video on this product. Here are some replacement tubes if you want to tube roll (GE 5670W, 6N3/6H3N/396A /2C51/5670. For best life, and lowest noise, I recommend the Soviet 6H3n-EB tube over the 6H3n-E tubes. I am not certain but, I bet these are low gain tubes as well which is better than to have too much gain. I think they offer a more smooth sound than up in your face, or so much gain you get additional noise.
@NormcoreGreg It arrived in Beautiful Sri Lanka. Lights are a bit bright for my taste. Wiim Pro, SMSL SU-1, tubes, NAD C352, B&W 602S3. Pretty neat sound.
@enricolisk1357, I hope you’ll enjoy it. Agreed about the lights. Btw. I’ve never been to Sri Lanka but must visit it one day as I heard it is beautiful.
@NormcoreGreg Do let me know. I do curated trip planning as a hobby for my friends. Can help u with reliable & courteous inland travel & hotel options. recommendations.
Why not? If opamps are soldered to the pcb, then desolder and solder proper sockets to make further exchange easier. I've done such thing several times.
@@enricolisk1357, @dungysphincter7974 mentioned several choices in his comment to this video: "Here are some replacement tubes if you want to tube roll (GE 5670W, 6N3/6H3N/396A /2C51/5670. For best life, and lowest noise, I recommend the Soviet 6H3n-EB tube over the 6H3n-E tubes."
@@NormcoreGreg As long as you don't get angry and turn green! You get a small amount if we buy it ... isn't that compromising you a tiny bit? Moreover, you looked at the components and build quality and didn't cover the important part, how it sounds. The tubes come from Russia ... is that a potential export embargo violation?
@@henrikcarlsen1881 these are all valid questions, thanks! :) As for the sound of it, I talked about it in my original review of this unit, which you can find here - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-v6KvBmASEYE.html. Regarding the commission (that I'm yet to see) and how it might influence my opinions - I'm an amateur "youtuber" and I do it purely for fun; I purchase all the gear I talk about with my own money (except for three pieces I recently received for free as review units) and make some research before to make sure it's not total crap; having said that I admit that a potential financial reward, however small it might be, may, even on the subconscious level, affect my opinions. But no one's objective anyway and we should always take any information with a grain of salt. Your last question about tubes from Russia - as a Pole I wave a very strong opinion about Russia and how it should be dealt with, especially given the ongoing war with Ukraine. However, I'm not sure such tubes are of strategic importance. Also, I'm not sure if they come from Russia or from some other ex-soviet country, e.g. Ukraine. I appreciate your concerns in this matter though.
@@CashGravel every WiiM streamer, even the Mini, has a built-in DAC and analog out. If you have the Mini, it’s a 2,5mm jack marked AUX. Having said that, your SMSL might sound better than the one inside WiiM. As for gain in the preamp I tested, I believe it does, although I did not take it apart, nor did I measue it. And the manual is in Chinese ;)
@@NormcoreGreg yeah I’m not too fond of using that little auxiliary output over an optical output, but I realized I could run the deck through the preamp and then into the amp and it would solve that problem. I’m mostly curious about the gain however because the speakers I use are maggies and it’s not so much the tonality change I need but a bump in power would be nice
If you want Preamp, buy second units, tube or solid state, you will get excellent value from those units and plenty of many years of enjoyment, still have excellent resale value. Look for e.g. Audio Research, Conrad Johnson, etc tube preamp.
2nd hand can be very good value But those leading brands you mentioned - surely even secondhand it would be more than $1000, unless it’s a very old one ?
@@richardgrant418 price varies from country to country and also from different models. If interested you should do a little research on what models you are after first and depend on the country where you can get them from. Read a few reviews, the 2 brands above are outstanding one, and also Solid state Preamp from Parasound designed by John Curl.
@@thelowprofile9767, the headphone amp is actually pretty decent. I’ll be uploading a video showing the internals later tonight. It also includes the amp specs, so you might want to check this put. Sorry, but I do ‚t have my notes with me right now.
I have a few headphone amplifiers that have built in pre-amplifier function For around $100 you could get TOPPING L30 Headphone Amplifier/preamplifier that could use a RCA splitter to send a signal a subwoofer and the mono-blocks The one you found looks fun
@@NormcoreGregI am not a headphone user, but the head-amps and DACs often include excellent pre-amplifier capabilities built in. For $100 the L30 is an excellent preamplifier. I have a few including some tube head-amps. I have them connected to a “passive preamp” aka a custom RCA switch. I much prefer them to a dedicated preamplifier.
That’s wired, a bass port in front and a passive radiator in the back 😮 why? I don’t like the look of this speaker, it’s too tall, I might sound good but it doesn’t look good 😮
Interesting speaker, however, I feel they should update their (sparse) site info, prices and logistic details with more currencies and languages (besides Polish)...
That’s why I called the speakers „exotic”, because for now they’re hard to get. I talked to Pro Acoustic about their distribution and they said they’re working on the website in English. I hope it will be up soon.
I've got 7-tube integrated amp that I purchased from AliExpress for less than $300 US dollars. When the reviews started coming out on the ZA-3, I decided that I would give it a try. I sent it back immediately, it had absolutely no depth of sound. Even my cheap tube amp is much more musical. My ultimate goal though is to own an amplifier like yours.
Lol.. For that price for a wired headphone, you can get so much better. And for wireless, for only 200€ you can get Sony XM4. I dont understand why someone should buy those relics
