Douk VU2 Review (VU Meter/Input Selector)

[Sal1950]

I find VU meters in HiFi to be like tachometers in cars & trucks.
You may not have any real need for one, but it just seems like it should be there.
Nostalgia I guess...

 

[restorer-john]

I find VU meters in HiFi to be like tachometers in cars & trucks.
You may not have any real need for one, but it just seems like it should be there.
Nostalgia I guess...

@Sal1950 on the trip to the supermarket:

 

[amirm]

I struggled to find a picture of the inside of the unit. This was the best I could find. Plenty of relays!

That's a very different box. I took a quick picture of the insides of this thing before sending it back:

 

[GimeDsp]

PU meter, hahahaha

 

[Madjalapeno]

That's a very different box. I took a quick picture of the insides of this thing before sending it back:

View attachment 153217

I don't see the noise maker in there.

 

[amirm]

I don't see the noise maker in there.

There are a bunch more circuits on the other side. There was nothing obvious and quick to see though. Would require proper reverse engineering to find out what is going on.

 

[Madjalapeno]

There are a bunch more circuits on the other side. There was nothing obvious and quick to see though. Would require proper reverse engineering to find out what is going on.

Well hopefully VU2-2 will be better. Now if Topping would make one, seeing as they've conquered the DAC complexities, we would all be happy.

 

[sam_adams]

Back in the '80s, the Japanese audio companies were all in on meters on their amps. Sansui—when they were good and before they got bought out—had meters on almost all of their amps:

I had a pair of the B-2101s that I recapped and then gave to a friend who was desparate for a good stereo amp for his system. I liked them alot, but they were finicky and needed adjusting all the time to make them sound good. The meters made the music more fun.

 

[Doodski]

Yamaha M-85 had a nice meter setup.

 

[RickS]

Yamaha M-85 had a nice meter setup.

Thanks for the memory! Used to own one.

 

[Ken1951]

I find VU meters in HiFi to be like tachometers in cars & trucks.
You may not have any real need for one, but it just seems like it should be there.
Nostalgia I guess...

Way back in the day the speedo in my 1970 Opel GT would go wonky and I knew my car's speed by RPM in each gear. Sorry for the OT, this just made me think of that. Must have been in 1974.

 

[Stoutblock]

Crookwood makes a nice one.

https://crookwood.com/vu-meters/2u-stereo-vu-meter/

 

[IVX]

It's not stupid. Though I'm sure you see why digital VU like the one in the video fail - the displays used are simply inadequate. You need something with far higher refresh rates, and motion blur/ghosting mitigated.

EDIT: Btw any electrical people in the house want to explain to me, why the hell is it so hard to get VU meteres on products that don't cost an arm and a leg? Is it really that hard to do this?

I hate when I look back in the past, when manufacturing, and just life in general was far more laborious per ounce of energy expended, we were able to do all those things. But now in the present/future when the costs of things have fallen, and we can do more with less resources.. NOW for some DAMN reason no one can do anything that should be easy to do because it's relatively old and simple after all these advancements.

What is up with that?

ooh, no, I think you noticed something that my Nikon did with a slow 30FPS record. The LCD I used was IPS one with a fast response and parallel interface $2.5/pcs i.e. total BOM $3, so retail $5-7 is ok(1.2" square flat unit 2mm thickness, 3 wires: GND, 3.3V, Input). As I remember MCU also made >30FPS, maybe 50, a general cartoon idea was used: 3dmax makes 32 pictures of 0-100% animation, next Matlab packs that pics as index colored binary(need to fit all things into the $1/2 ARM MCU with 64k ROM), and C compiler in the end. So, pretty much an automated cartoon process.

Regarding the popularity of such LCD VU, take a look at this

In my opinion, it is absolutely ugly VU, however, seems my artistic taste isn't normal and the guy sold out 15000pcs for $77/pcs

 

[Johannes AU]

Douk is like a windshield wiper with speed control ........

 

[IVX]

I like this one
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...-03-mkii-review-tube-preamplifier-jpg.149812/

 

[GWolfman]

Thanks

 

[Johannes AU]

This one, though small, also very nice

 

[amirm]

Was it only me that judged audio gear with meters based on the size of said meters??? I only graduated from small to medium sized ones. Never could afford anything bigger!

 

[IVX]

Thanks

thanks to me? Do you mean it is your design? https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...-03-mkii-review-tube-preamplifier-jpg.149812/

 

[restorer-john]

Was it only me that judged audio gear with meters based on the size of said meters??? I only graduated from small to medium sized ones. Never could afford anything bigger!

You should have bought a Sony TAN-77es or two when you had the chance back in the day. Their power meters are 7 inches diagonal each and one of the biggest, apart from the monoblock Denons and Accuphases of the era.

(Not my pic)
Sony TAN-77es

Denon POA-8000 monoblocks

Accuphase M-100 monos. These have giant meters and microprocessor controlled digital peak level meters as well.