Douk HiFi 6N3 Vacuum Tube Preamp Review

[F1308]

Change maker, and enjoy. Or

What kinda cake you be talking about? I like Toppings but icing gives me a sugar high!

Change maker or go DIY...

 

[mhardy6647]

Is the Headless PinkPanther taking some time off? Or is this your way of saying that even the PinkPanther only needs one arm to operate retro thingy?

Maybe it's the Boss's (i.e., @amirm's) sly allusion to the old vacuum tube/high voltage maxim: when taking HV measurments, always keep one hand in one's pocket, to reduce the chance of conducting HV DC from hand to hand and through the heart.

Just like Alanis Morissette:

$110? I’m surprised it worked at all!

Yeah, but...

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FX Audio TUBE-03 Tube Preamp with RCA Input Black The FX-Audio TUBE-03 tube preamplifier delivers tube sonic character for your desktop audio system. Complete with large front panel volume, bass, and treble controls the TUBE-03 provides ergonomic control of your audio. Featuring two 6K4 tubes...

www.parts-express.com

These were on sale yesterday & the day before for $29 (USD).

No vacuum tube rectifier, though.

Weird, when you read reviews on homecinema.fr in France, on douk audio P1, folks are raving about these preamps

Yeah, but comedian/actor Jerry Lewis was is also venerated for his art in France.

 

[MadMan]

Of course it's important to use a standardized 2V level for tests, but I wonder whether at a lower input level the output is better matched? So there are many DACs that have volume (output level) control. It would be interesting to see what input value gives a good channel volume match.

 

[jsm]

please @amirm , as you seems to be in a tube mood, give a try to the Little Bear phono pre T11 or T10 , better reputation on forums than the douk

 

[pseudoid]

please @amirm , as you seems to be in a tube mood, give a try to the Little Bear phono pre T11 or T10 , better reputation on forums than the douk

Why not purchase one and drop ship it to the Master of the PinkPanthers?
Recommend contacting him to confirm FIRST.

 

[jsm]

Why not purchase one and drop ship it to the Master of the PinkPanthers?
Recommend contacting him to confirm FIRST.

I'm in France... I'm sure there is an american member, using this one . He already knew that, I told him already during another conversation in MP (with Amir). It's like the suggestion of Sunflower redux speakers (DIY), I've done these but I can't ship it.

 

[Jim Shaw]

Send one of these to any 70+ y/o hifi reviewer in NYC. They'll be sold out by the following morning.

 

[egellings]

The charm of tubes is doing home brew preamps and amps. I would never buy one.

 

[gino1961]

... By standards of people who want "tube sound," this box at least delivers on that promise with copious amount of second harmonic.
As Forrest Gump said in the movie, "that is all I've got to say about that!"

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Hi if to get a good amount of 2nd order distortion is the goal there could be a much easier way to obtain it.
I am not an expert in electronics but a one bjt single ended no feedback line preamp shoud provide a distortion spectrum very similar to this one under review. I mean should provide a good 2nd order distortion with minimal cost.
The fact that many people like this is confusing me. I have always thought that the lower the noise and distortion the better the sound.
On this basis i have just placed an order for the amazing Topping L30 (>2012 this time) to try it mostly as a line preamp. I am very curious.
Thanks a lot for the always valuable reviews.
Kind regards, gino

 

[solderdude]

one bjt single ended no feedback line preamp shoud provide a distortion spectrum very similar to this one under review. I mean should provide a good 2nd order distortion with minimal cost.

Using a J-FET with some local feedback... yes
BJT... nope.. has another harmonic spread.
For distortion to become objectionable in music it would have to be substantial.
For lower amounts of distortion to be euphonic I would like to see some serious blind testing.

It does not cost much to get distortion numbers low enough to be inaudible.

When one is curious buy low distortion gear (speakers/headphones may be the bottleneck) and use the 'distort' program from @pkane.
Use ABX tester and ensure the output levels between the compared files is within 0.1dB (1%)

 

[gino1961]

Using a J-FET with some local feedback... yes
BJT... nope.. has another harmonic spread.
For distortion to become objectionable in music it would have to be substantial.
For lower amounts of distortion to be euphonic I would like to see some serious blind testing.

It does not cost much to get distortion numbers low enough to be inaudible.

When one is curious buy low distortion gear (speakers/headphones may be the bottleneck) and use the 'distort' program from @pkane.
Use ABX tester and ensure the output levels between the compared files is within 0.1dB (1%)

Hi thank you very much indeed for your kind and valuable reply
I read somewhere that even order distortion can be nice not so odd order one
And i know of many well received preamps using fets (like Conrad Johnson for instance but also the old Mark Levinson)... maybe this could be the best option if one wants some embellishment to the sound
And with much less issues than with tubes
One of the very high end line preamps the Blowtorch by John Curl should use a parallel of single fets no feedback
John Curl is a very famous designer in the high end field He says that simpler circuits have more possibilities to sound nice Like Nelson Pass
Thanks a lot again, gino

 

[pseudoid]

Using a J-FET with some local feedback... yes
BJT... nope.. has another harmonic spread.

Can "we" at least agree that NO amount of 'feedback' (positive or negative) or added 'distortion' (odd or even) is desirable... yet sometimes becomes necessary, due to other mitigating issues in the design/implementation of circuits to process audio???
I detest both to a big degree (necessary evil) but my design dislikes also includes input-to-output audio signal processing of any kind... including digital EQ, even for room corrections.

 

[solderdude]

Can "we" at least agree that NO amount of 'feedback' (positive or negative) is desirable...

Feedback is essential and desirable as it linearizes the transfer function and thus reduces distortion so it is highly desirable.
Only when amplification components were to have linear transfer functions (which none have) feedback would not be needed.

 

[egellings]

Even then, you'd still want to use feedback to lower the output impedance of an amplifier, if for no other reason.

 

[pseudoid]

We all know the virtues of feedback, but look the other way regarding its drawbacks!
Yet, looking at it from a different perspective; any feedback (for any reason) is a band-aid fix to deal with the shortcoming of any design and its implementation.
An emitter-follower mandates major feedback dump but it does not make the best amp design due to that dump.
It has always been a better design choice w/decreased gain; rather than increased NFB...

 

[LTig]

In fact it's almost impossible to use no feedback at all as most amplifying devices have to much amplification in the first place (triodes being an exception). So when lay people talk about no feedback they in fact mean no global feedback over more than one amplification stage.

Of course any electronics book which covers negative feedback contains the calculation which proofs mathematically that global feedback over N amplification stages is more effective in reducing non linearities then using only local feedback in each of those N amplification stages...

 

[dasdoing]

much easier way to obtain it

PKHarmonic VST Plugin - Audiophile Harmonics Generator | Distort documentation

PKHarmonic 1.0 is the initial release of this software. Use at your own risk!

distortaudio.org

 

[Gremlins]

Hi community
I tried the douk audio P1 tube preamp

Man, this thing is crap standard, noisy in the tweeters and overall sound definitely outside hifi standards .. ok its cheap, but this thing is not at level for audio listening if you want minimum quality listening

Also, i had to change my first purchase on amazon. First one i received had a big problem on level matching beetween right and left, so i send it back in exchange. Second one didn't had the problem, but trully was i disapointed

I finally send it back to amazon