This tube preamplifier from Aliexpress took me by surprise. And the price? 

Please share your impressions when you try it!

@@NormcoreGreg Will do.

As promised, I tested this preamp using a Rotel rcd951 cd player, Cambridge Audio class AB amp and B&W dm 620 speakers. I used a variety of cd's to test like 'hell freezes over" by the Eagles, "moe-mentum" by jazz legend Moe Koffman, "dig" by Boz Scaggs in HDCD, Cuban "rumba, mambo, cha cha cha" from Putumayo and Bob Marley's "legend" among others. I set the tone controls to 12 o'clock and noticed that there was ample bass and treble. I left the treble there but bumped up the bass to 2 o'clock as per my preference. The next thing I noticed was detail was there in abundance. Background instruments tended to blend in a little more to the foreground. The bass had a mellow quality yet went down deep. On occasion I could hear subtle detailed sounds with the tube pre-amp not audible before using it. The one very good thing this SA 1000 did was soften the typical British forward sound of these speakers. It also removed a slight coldness to the overall sound which made extended listening sessions more enjoyable. From what I could tell the pre-amp is dead quiet. It does it's job and have no plans to replace or upgrade it. I have no interest to roll the tubes at the moment since these stock tubes are sufficient. I have not tried the headphones yet but plan to. Overall I have to agree with you Greg that this little black box is a gem indeed. Needless to say it's been a positive addition to that system.

@@adamant3844 Thanks....👌🙂🎶🍀👋

@@adamant3844 thanks for your detailed feedback. Happy you like the preamp 👍

That’s also an option. I’m not a huge headphone fan, so I wasn’t looking at headphone amps.

@@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.

@middleearthltd, I have two of those on the way from Fosi Audio, so I’ll verify your theory and report it back soon ;)

@@jantepas7511 better yet, you can add blinking backlight to match the jumping needle ;)

Thanks. Second hand gear is a great option.

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.

I’m on vacarion right now but will do the tap test when I’m back and report the result :)

Hi Mark. This sounds like a great streaming setup! You can of course control volume (and much more - EQ, room correction etc.) on your Wiim using the app on your mobile phone. Or for $20 you can buy a dedicated Wiim remote, which will be even more convenient in my opinion - amzn.to/3MqSdZz. Between your DAC and amps it's better to use balanced XLR cables since they are less prone to signal distortion than unbalanced ones. This will give you slightly more sound clarity irrespective of the cable length. That is what I do when I connect the ZA3s (or now V3 Monos) directly to my DAC that also has XLR outs.

@@NormcoreGreg Thank you so much

I’ll do my best to take it apart and show you the internals. Hope to upload it this week.

I wasn’t able to locate this information 🤷‍♂️

@@CashGravel it doesn’t have a built-in DAC. But the WiiM does, so you can use its’ analog out (aux).

No, I have the tiny dac that’s only optical and I feed it into an SMSL dac. You didn’t mention if it had any gain in the output stage.

@@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

@@StrangeBrewReviews I did not. Not yet at least ;) Any good?

It’s being sold by multiple sellers (also at various prices). This one for example comes with free shipping - a.aliexpress.com/_ExjEILz

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.

It sounds like you're trying to use this as a phono preamp (no ground, no gain when volume is maxed). You need a seperate phono stage for that.

@@gjan1761 you are absolutely right. This preamp is not a phono stage! The naming can be a bit confusing since phono stage is also often called phono preamp :)

It is not a phono preamp. You buy the wrong item and then complain about it?

Do you mean phono stage?

@@NormcoreGregYes

@@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.

@@CORVUSMAXYMUS you probably wrote this comment on a device „made in China” ;)

Wrong..