Cal_Cobra
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Silver or chrome would be the ultimate.
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Douk Audio P1PLUS is coming!--Strange or Amazing?
- Thread starter Douk Audio
- Start date
Brass!
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or perhaps copper or bronze.Brass!
Absolutely agree with this.
How much. When will it be available? What is the customer experience like? How to purchase? What is in place for support for any defective devices? What are your planned Service Levels (SLA's) for how long a defective item will take to get fixed, or replaced? Will you accompany every device with a Quality Control certificate? Will that include a printout of the measurements taken from that specific unit?
Products are great, but please look at the entire service chain, from - how the customer will discover your product, how you will enable the customer to learn all the details of your product, take a decision to buy it, purchase it, have it delivered, start using it, and the practical day to day steps involved in using it in many scenarios. What is the quality of your documentation, how easy is it to read, and how comprehensive is it. Have you considered saving the planet, so you distribute only a short quick start guide with the product, and in that quick start guide, point the customer to an online copy of the comprehensive manual, which will be permanently available - even if Douk goes out of business.
Important for me, does this product have an ASIO driver for Windows? And what are the range of buffer values that can be set. What kind of latency can one expect at each of these buffer values? Does the ASIO driver report the full latency back to the ASIO client application such as a DAW, inclusive of the latency within the Digital to Analog converter? i.e is the reported latency sample accurate?
Products are great, but please look at the entire service chain, from - how the customer will discover your product, how you will enable the customer to learn all the details of your product, take a decision to buy it, purchase it, have it delivered, start using it, and the practical day to day steps involved in using it in many scenarios. What is the quality of your documentation, how easy is it to read, and how comprehensive is it. Have you considered saving the planet, so you distribute only a short quick start guide with the product, and in that quick start guide, point the customer to an online copy of the comprehensive manual, which will be permanently available - even if Douk goes out of business.
Important for me, does this product have an ASIO driver for Windows? And what are the range of buffer values that can be set. What kind of latency can one expect at each of these buffer values? Does the ASIO driver report the full latency back to the ASIO client application such as a DAW, inclusive of the latency within the Digital to Analog converter? i.e is the reported latency sample accurate?
@Douk Audio How does this perform in comparison to the (discontinued?) H8? Will a version of this come out that has balanced outputs like H8 did, perhaps as a replacement for H8?
-Ed
-Ed
Godataloss
Addicted to Fun and Learning
I think this is one of the most interesting looking hifi offerings in years. I have absolutely no need for it, but at the same time itch to own it. Keep the tubes!
johny_2000
Addicted to Fun and Learning
The presence of vacuum tubes in the analog audio path negates all the differences between DAC chips. This unit has 0.1% THD = 60 dB SINAD.
johny_2000
Addicted to Fun and Learning
The quality of the images on the Kickstarter page is low, but this is what it looks like in general.
- Frequency response: 20Hz-20kHz (±1.8dB)
- THD: 0.1%
- SNR: ≥106dB (A-wt)
- Input sensitivity: 0dBFS
- Output level: 2V
- Matched impedance of headphones: 16-600Ω
- Output power of headphone jack: 750mW
- Chipset: QCC5125+SA9137L+ES9018K2M+TPA6120+OPA1656+NE5532 (2PCS pluggable)
- 2 × JAN5654 Tube
- Weight: 0.9 kg
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Ruler flat between ehrm… ahem… never mind.
From here
Douk Audio P1PLUS Bluetooth Tube Preamp USB DAC Headphone Amp w/VU Meter DSD256
Features Perfect Blend of Vintage and Modern: The P1PLUS boldly reimagines the appearance of HIFI audio equipment. It integrates customized pluggable VU meters, retro military-grade vacuum tubes and a crystal-clear OLED screen. Not only add warmth to the sound but also vividly show the dynamic...
doukaudio.com
Uh yeah…the thinning out of the bass is not the first time I’ve seen (or would hear) this with a tube-based device. Pretty much my main reason for quitting tubes.
-Ed
-Ed
Rick Ruiz Audio on YT has refinished one in brassy. I think an adhesive fake wood vinyl wrap would move towards a similarly compelling Pink Flamingos retro trailer trash aesthetic.RE: Steampunk...Brass!
I like the quirkiness, and the strange road-not-taken attitude shown by some of Douk's new products including the double-dac-dare-you DAC-Q11 and similarly steam-punk VU-9 Pixie Tube Sound Meter.
Recent products from Fosi and Douk both show a real understanding of the home audio market but taken in totally different directions. Fosi is clearly aiming at spec first minimal nonsense audiophiles. Many of these fine folks live here at ASR as proven by thread comments suggesting ditching the tubes and adding balanced support. Douk designers take the less traveled path. Instead of making another black cube 3255 amp with vanishingly low distortion specs....they sometimes go strange/quirky/fun for some but not all aesthetic. Offerings like the low frequency earth brain resonator are not for everyone, but Amazon says they sell more than 50 a month.
I would feel differently if Douk was offering boutique products costing thousands while claiming magical but unmeasurable audio transformation.
Cheap quirky stuff seems surprisingly appropriate in 2024's post-truth world. Sometimes its OK for a glowing meter to be just a glowing meter, especially when you provide a choice of illumination colors and adjustment to be sure the needle always bounces
The tone of Douk's OP post here shows strange is indeed a design goal. My view is that this choice is welcome.
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Douk is all about, “fun-fi,” so keep that in mind with their products. I know I’m totally here for it because the world needs a little more cheap & cheerful stuff.Rick Ruiz Audio on YT has refinished one in brassy. I think an adhesive fake wood vinyl wrap would move towards a similarly compelling Pink Flamingos retro trailer trash aesthetic.
I like the quirkiness, and the strange road-not-taken attitude shown by some of Douk's new products including the double-dac-dare-you DAC-Q11 and similarly steam-punk VU-9 Pixie Tube Sound Meter.
Recent products from Fosi and Douk both show a real understanding of the home audio market but taken in totally different directions. Fosi is clearly aiming at spec first minimal nonsense audiophiles. Many of these fine folks live here at ASR as proven by thread comments suggesting ditching the tubes and adding balanced support. Douk designers take the less traveled path. Instead of making another black cube 3255 amp with vanishingly low distortion specs....they sometimes go strange/quirky/fun for some but not all aesthetic. Offerings like the low frequency earth brain resonator are not for everyone, but Amazon says they sell more than 50 a month.
I would feel differently if Douk was offering boutique products costing thousands while claiming magical but unmeasurable audio transformation.
Cheap quirky stuff seems surprisingly appropriate in 2024's post-truth world. Sometimes its OK for a glowing meter to be just a glowing meter, especially when you provide a choice of illumination colors and adjustment to be sure the needle always bounces
Keep in mind that this kind of stuff is a gateway to bringing more people into the hobby, and they can take the more serious path farther down the road.
-Ed
johny_2000
Addicted to Fun and Learning
This one doesn't lack bass. Especially with the built-in bass/treble boost settings up to +10dB. And it's very well made in terms of build quality.
Unfortunately, the JAN5654 tubes (Miniature Pentode) in this unit are very small. Much smaller than the usual 12AT7(ECC81) or 12AX7(ECC83). But that's not even the main thing, it's how they are connected to the audio circuits. They are connected only as a buffer stage with the operational amplifiers. Thus, when the tubes are removed, the sound continues to come out only at a lower volume. And if you turn the volume up to 99% without the tubes, then you won't even notice the absence of the tubes.
I apologize for the picture quality, but you can see that both channels have some kind of resistors to bypass the tubes, which allows the signal to pass without any tubes installed at all. Thus, the tubes are not fully involved in the audio circuit. This is why THD and SNR are good - it's basically a solid state unit.
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johny_2000
Addicted to Fun and Learning
Apart from the Fun-Fi reputation, Douk Audio has done a good engineering job to give this unit its specific characteristics.
I made a schematic diagram of the tube amp board for my own analysis.
Here we see a classic auto-biased cathode follower circuit.
I made a schematic diagram of the tube amp board for my own analysis.
Here we see a classic auto-biased cathode follower circuit.
johny_2000
Addicted to Fun and Learning
Experts, correct me if I'm wrong
They chose the minimum possible linear mode for the cathode follower cascades.
They chose the minimum possible linear mode for the cathode follower cascades.
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