EAR Yoshino 834L Deluxe Preamp Review

[Bob from Florida]

I once had a EAR-preamp (EAR 868) in my system (it was a loan) and I was not impressed. My guess is that it could be separated in a blind test from more transparent/lower distortion preamps. The channel separation seems to be poor in 834L, and I think that could also be noticed in a blind test.

Guesses have a 50% chance of being correct. If I remember correctly, blind testing needs to approach 90% to be accurate.

 

[Scytales]

Labor is not expensive in Monte-Carlo: the principality is so rich that Monegasque subjects do not pay taxes and industrial companies pay very little...

That's why, for example, IEC (formerly Chambaut), that manufactures splendid (but sadly impossible to obtain for common mortals) rotary switches, is located in Monaco : https://www.iec-monaco.com/fr/

 

[Mulder]

Guesses have a 50% chance of being correct. If I remember correctly, blind testing needs to approach 90% to be accurate.

You got me wrong. My "guess" was about the possibility of separating it in a blind test. Call it an assumption instead

 

[ObjectiveSubjectivist]

It seems to be fine, tubes you want tubes you get.

 

[craigenputtock]

My complaint with this unit would be the value. That aside, I have come to see "harmonic distortion" as adding a certain reverberatory richness to music; which would make sense too when one considers that in live music there is just that sort of distortion going on.

 

[Gorgonzola]

Thanks for the review Amir.
I don't understand the rating of headless panther, he is a tube preamp, does exactly what you expect, high distortion with the second harmonic predominant, but quite good noise level.
Clearly for much less money you can get much better performance, but nothing really "broken" here.

@Talisman, this is good point although I, like Amir, would consider this thing "broken" from personal as much as objective POV.

My observation based on decades visiting subjective audiophile sites is that this EAR would be considered "golfing panther" by many on these forums. And it you can acknowledge that 2nd/3rd order distortion as at the core of this phenomenon, then you can see why this would be the case based on the measurements.

Distortion is very high BUT it is almost entirely 2nd and 3rd order; high-order harmonics are almost entirely absent. Meanwhile noise levels are reasonably low. Poor channel separation and voltage dependance are on the down-side to be sure but those 2nd/3rd harmonics are -- whether they acknowledge the fact or not -- are just what some audiophiles are looking fro.

 

[computer-audiophile]

The thing doesn't sound bad and it's a bit of a luxury if you like the look of it. I bet that many ASR members have never heard such devices themselves in an excellent setup.
TdP has my full respect, of course. (R.I.P)

Tim De Paravicini, (1945–2020) - The Absolute Sound

Tim De Paravicini, (1945–2020) - It is with deep sorrow that I report that legendary audio designer Tim de Paravicini passed away on December 17 in Japan, at age 75.

www.theabsolutesound.com

 

[Deleted member 21219]

I don't understand the rating of headless panther, he is a tube preamp, does exactly what you expect, high distortion with the second harmonic predominant, but quite good noise level.
Clearly for much less money you can get much better performance, but nothing really "broken" here.

This review doesn't really make much sense. The product is accomplishing it's goals, and the measurements don't really speak for themselves here. The hum is low and the 2nd harmonic is high. If the IMD was high it would be a problem, but that's not here.

Honestly, why even bother reviewing this kind of thing anymore? It seems like the goal is to make a low-effort review of a style that this corner of the internet doesn't prefer. It would be better if it were just left alone.

This may do exactly what YOU expect, but it does not do exactly what OTHERS expect, because of this widely-circulated interview from 1995, which gives initiates and searchers the wrong idea.:

You are probably thinking of an interview in the Audio Magazine 1995. This is what he said:

You use vacuum tubes in many of your designs. Some people have said that tubes have euphonic evenorder harmonic distortion. Do you rely on this tube nonlinearity to achieve the sound of your mods, or do you always run the tubes in their linear region?

I do not rely on tube-nonlinearity. I don't Want a sound in my machines. What comes Out must sound the same as what went in. The "warmth" in a lot of tube-electronics is due to their dismal top end, the bad transformers they use, and the loading. Down of their high-impedance outputs. Because of the output transformer and the Feedback used, many tube-circuits have a partial bass-instability that gives a bloated bass. Any warmth in the tube sound is a defect, but listeners don't want to know that.

I don't have to use tubes in my designs; I Only do it for marketing reasons. I've got an exact equivalent in solid-state. I can make either type do the same job, and I have no preference. People can't pick which is which. And electrons have no memory of where they've been! The end result is what counts.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What Amir does here is not just for you, or us, or for the "cognoscenti". It is for all the people who search the web for information. It is for the people who have questions, and who need answers that they can trust.

Especially, it's for people who are buried under the avalanche of tube bullshit from subjectivist scam artists.

Jim

 

[Michael Fidler]

My goodness, transistors being more nonlinear than valves!?

Nice to see this sort of thing getting taken apart piece-by-piece in this thread.

 

[AudioSceptic]

The same applied to Harold Leak with the Point One.

I should've added: didn't Quad actually do that, once they were satisfied with transistors, with the 33 & 303?

 

[Multicore]

Honestly, why even bother reviewing this kind of thing anymore? It seems like the goal is to make a low-effort review of a style that this corner of the internet doesn't prefer. It would be better if it were just left alone.

It's a social ritual. We gather together around Amir's reviews and chat about our hobby. The pages and pages of replies here are different from but similar to the reviews of yet another transparent DAC or preamp or whatnot. It's ritual. I compared it to a game show format here. The formality of the ritual is appealing and provides a matrix for chit chat. In and of itself I think that's nice. Of course some of the chit or the chat might not appeal to everyone but that can happen in any thread.

 

[JiiPee]

Tim De Paravicini has also designed some impressive solid state amplifiers.

I don't know about You guys, but I really would not mind having a Luxman M6000 designed by De Paravicini:

 

[computer-audiophile]

It's a social ritual. We gather together around Amir's reviews and chat about our hobby. The pages and pages of replies here are different from but similar to the reviews of yet another transparent DAC or preamp or whatnot. It's ritual. I compared it to a game show format here. The formality of the ritual is appealing and provides a matrix for chit chat. In and of itself I think that's nice. Of course some of the chit or the chat might not appeal to everyone but that can happen in any thread.

Exactly, nerd talk, entertainment, a social exercise. You can train yourself in it.

 

[Gibsonian]

Well... a bit of a mess and pricey. Noise isn't too bad though, mostly high 2nd harmonic distortion. Thanks @amirm for testing this, some pics;

View attachment 311210View attachment 311211View attachment 311212View attachment 311213View attachment 311214View attachment 311215


JSmith

Profit margin is quite high it would appear.

 

[Toni Mas]

Only H2 and H3 products... Those that make tube gear sound better than life...

 

[DSJR]

Tim De Paravicini has also designed some impressive solid state amplifiers.

I don't know about You guys, but I really would not mind having a Luxman M6000 designed by De Paravicini:
View attachment 311295
View attachment 311296

We had the M4000 and C1000? preamp - looked and 'felt' absolutely gorgeous, but subjectivity was creeping in and along with the then new to us Linn LP12/Grace 707 arm/Supex 900E cartridge (not as coloured as the mid 80's LP12 systems could be but dripping with subjectivist charm) and a chap who eventually came to work with us, bought in his Naim 12S preamp with ugly little NAP120 power amp. Got to say in musical involvement, the little Naim wiped the floor with the Luxman - I think speakers were Spendor BC1's and maybe the Harbeth HL's from memory - music was 'Tales of Mystery and Imagination' by The Alan Parsons Project. I'd love to know now what it was about the baby Naim we loved so much (the neater looking NAP110 was nothing like as good, being hard and scrappy sounding with notable 3rd and 5tf harmonic distortion according to a test - even Julian himself admitted such to us) that gave it such incredible charm and 'listenability.'

Sure, the above is basically memories from 1976 or so, but back then, there really did appear to be amps which involved you with the music more for some reason, where other amps just appeared on the face of it to go through the motions.

Maybe I'm doing the Luxman pair a HUGE disservice (we liked the L85-V integrated and one or two of their tuners and receivers in fact, were incredibly good on then clean UK FM transmissions - VERY fond memories of the T-12 'Acculock' model), but I suspect many surviving examples of both will be well past their best (the Naims especially as older ones not serviced will be in self destruct mode by now).

Got to share this away from the music threads. I get goose-bumps listening to this to this day and th ememories come flooding back - wonderful album in AP mastered original form as well as the later remixed version with more 'perspective' ladled in

P.S. The 834L as I remember the earliest ones sold in the early 90's at around £700 I seem to remember and later (early noughties?), this deluxe bling one was around £1250 unless I'm very much mistaken. The financial crash in 2008 gave a lot of companies carte blanche to drastically increase prices and must admit I have a bee in my bonnet about it

 

[Toni Mas]

This review doesn't really make much sense. The product is accomplishing it's goals, and the measurements don't really speak for themselves here. The hum is low and the 2nd harmonic is high. If the IMD was high it would be a problem, but that's not here.

Honestly, why even bother reviewing this kind of thing anymore? It seems like the goal is to make a low-effort review of a style that this corner of the internet doesn't prefer. It would be better if it were just left alone.

Yes why always insist in the bloody sinad crusade?

Especially when we all already know the names of the final winners...

 

[Haskil]

Yes why always insist in the bloody sinad crusade?

Especially when we all already know the names of the final winners...

For what ? But because throughout columns of audiophile magazines, throughout forums, subjectivists impose their dominant point of view. And how good it is that ASR is one of the few rational voices out there.

And among tube electronics there are, like among transistor electronics, devices that are more or less well designed.

This is why we must continue to test electronic tubes, transistors, chip-based DACs or R2R ... to measure them and see whether or not they are well studied and made. And if you know who is going to be the winner of the battle of Sinad, good for you... the others here will debate the audibility thresholds of the measurements...

 

[BostonJack]

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Ear Yoshino 834L Deluxe Tube (Valve) stereo preamp designed by Tim De Paravicini. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $3095 (£2,699.00).
View attachment 311173
I am not a fan of chrome front panel but realize this is a personal thing. The case is stamped sheet metal which feels cheap compared to that. Controls are large and easy to manipulate.

Back panel sports gold plated RCAs but they seem kind of tarnished/dull:
View attachment 311175

Note much else to say than let's measure it.

Ear Yoshino 834L Deluxe Tube (Valve) Preamp Measurements
As usual, we set the input to 2 volts and adjust the volume for "unity gain" (same output voltage):
View attachment 311176

We are heavily distortion limited. 2nd harmonic is dominant by far. Noise level is actually good:
View attachment 311177

I was impressed by the wide bandwidth but found the very low frequency rise strange:
View attachment 311178

Channel separation is quite poor for a stereo product:
View attachment 311180

Distortion doesn't depend on frequency although it is quite high:
View attachment 311181

We see that reason for high distortion is very early saturation:
View attachment 311183

Volume control accuracy is good:
View attachment 311184

Conclusions
I guess if you are a tube guy and want lots of second harmonic distortion, you have it here. I am disappointed with the packaging and performance in the absolute.

I can't recommend the Ear Yoshino 834L Deluxe Tube (Valve) Preamp. Use a transparent preamp for heaven's sake and save lots of money to boot.

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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/

I'm completely neutral on the "tubes are just senseless" debate. My observation is that the case is *way* below standard for the price. My imagined test is that you invite the neighbors or a cousin over and give them a tour of the audio equipment. They politely nod and ask a couple of questions and ohh and ahhh over the beauty of the knobs/case/lights/tube glow while quietly hoping the tour is almost over. They can't hear the distortion and, fundamentally, don't care. This unit fails the "show off to the neighbors" test.

 

[doug2761]

But it is still a bit like a truck review site buying a sedan and going "It can't hold much gravel so it is bad!"

Not at all like that. False equivalencies are novocaine for the brain and tools for the trolls. The job of an amplifier is to turn a low power input signal to a higher power output of that signal. That's the job. You personally may desire deviation but that's a different job. If you're going to use your auto equivalency then it should be modified to state the job first. If the job at hand is carrying gravel then yes, the sedan is objectively bad. If the job at hand is carrying people then sedan = good.