The Truth Pre Amp Review

[HorizonsEdge]

Basketball fans know there is only one TRUTH

 

[muslhead]

A few other odd thoughts about this device.
By my arithmetic there is $900 made on each device.
A few forum comments claim that the rationale for the cheap knobs and lack of labelling is to keep costs down. There is one born any minute.

* since we are doing Dave Jones references

Seems like most on this forum have never owned or run a business because there is so much obsession with businesses selling products at high prices and in some cases, making them out of reach for many ASR members. Most doing business are capitalists and as such, the object is to make money. Not just some but A LOT, in fact, as much as you can. I assume (maybe incorrectly) the seller is not a non-profit and he is doing exactly that. I congratulate him for his balls for pricing this as he has and understanding his market. Who cares what his BoM is? The pre is a mess but the beauty is everyone he sells he is greatly enriched and gets rewarded at the level he desires.. Clearly, its not about quality, performance or high volume.
I will never buy one but i wont put him down for trying to make a (huge) profit.

 

[HorizonsEdge]

Seems like most on this forum have never owned or run a business because there is so much obsession with businesses selling products at high prices and in some cases, making them out of reach for many ASR members. Most doing business are capitalists and as such, the object is to make money. Not just some but A LOT, in fact, as much as you can. I assume (maybe incorrectly) the seller is not a non-profit and he is doing exactly that. I congratulate him for his balls for pricing this as he has and understanding his market. Who cares what his BoM is? The pre is a mess but the beauty is everyone he sells he is greatly enriched and gets rewarded at the level he desires.. Clearly, its not about quality, performance or high volume.
I will never buy one but i wont put him down for trying to make a (huge) profit.

Capitalism is great. Unregulated capitalism is dangerous. Clearly the only danger here is buyers remorse but we can think of other instances. The real issue here is snake oil. Deceptive practices. Some people think that capitalism is a license to rip people off, it is not supposed to be.

 

[sergeauckland]

Capitalism is great. Unregulated capitalism is dangerous. Clearly the only danger here is buyers remorse but we can think of other instances. The real issue here is snake oil. Deceptive practices. Some people think that capitalism is a license to rip people off, it is not supposed to be.

Whilst I agree totally with the views on capitalism, in this case the real danger is one of death! Using the ground lift switch means that the case becomes floating and so a fault that would cause the case to become live would normally blow a fuse or trip the RCD, in this case may simply kill the user who touches the live case.

It was pointed out that this product has no certification labels, no Double Insulated sticker (and can't be due to the third pin and earthing arrangements), and as such should not ever be sold to the public.

S.

 

[617]

Basketball fans know there is only one TRUTH
View attachment 133416

I already made this joke and none of these nerds got it

 

[Ralf Stocker]

It is a miracle that Amir survived the test without an electric shock. The truth hurts!

 

[bboris77]

It is a miracle that Amir survived the test without an electric shock. The truth hurts!

 

[Francis Vaughan]

Who cares what his BoM is?

Me. Not because I begrudge him the profit, but because I want to understand the product, and the market. Audiophoolery is replete with massive margins on junk. The margin on this pre is low compared to things like quantum purifiers, mpingo disks* or just about any cable.

The device is interesting because there is a lot going on with the marketing and hype, and I suspect there is more that isn't known. There are some curious clues about.

An interesting point is that had the pre been priced lower it probably would not have sold. If it were properly built (which would really only mean taking some additional care, learning how to solder, using proper mains construction, and buying a ruler) it would not attract the attention it has. Selling it for say $400 would have probably meant it sold vastly less well. But we have an incompetently designed and built bit of junk with wobbly hand drawn marker labels attracting buyers. There is an interesting story here.

*Mpingo disks are hilarious. I seems that what was a worthless waste product has been turning into a huge profit maker. Whoever thought of this one deserves the money they made. They built an entire cult out of thin air and probably some dubious relationships with certain magazines.

 

[Inner Space]

But we have an incompetently designed and built bit of junk with wobbly hand drawn marker labels attracting buyers. There is an interesting story here.

I agree completely. I suppose it's easy to say there's a mad-scientist appeal, as if he leaves a trace of soul and genius in every piece. But why would people need that vibe? I'm guessing among the folks who can afford this stuff, probably eight out of ten work in some kind of grinding, soulless corporate job, and this kind of purchase is a middle finger to the precision systems they live every day.

 

[H-713]

I agree completely. I suppose it's easy to say there's a mad-scientist appeal, as if he leaves a trace of soul and genius in every piece. But why would people need that vibe? I'm guessing among the folks who can afford this stuff, probably eight out of ten work in some kind of grinding, soulless corporate job, and this kind of purchase is a middle finger to the precision systems they live every day.

Thing of it is, it doesn't look like a mad-scientist creation. Believe me, I work with a few mad scientists / borderline crazy RF engineers. The "mad-scientist creation" wouldn't use cheap parts- it's going to be the thing that uses parts they got from government / university surplus, be largely military grade, and be a rather unconventional (and complicated) design, with at least one or two hand-wound transformers. And RCA connectors? Come on. Properly "mad scientist" would mean BNC, N or SMA connectors just like everything else in a lab.

 

[Inner Space]

Thing of it is, it doesn't look like a mad-scientist creation. Believe me, I work with a few mad scientists / borderline crazy RF engineers. The "mad-scientist creation" wouldn't use cheap parts- it's going to be the thing that uses parts they got from government / university surplus, be largely military grade, and be a rather unconventional (and complicated) design. And RCA connectors? Come on. Properly "mad scientist" would mean BNC, N or SMA connectors just like everything else in a lab.

But most folks don't know any of that. This thing fits the bill. They might want to stay away from government and military parts - perhaps government regulation complicates their jobs, and the association would be negative. It has to feel private, underground and rebellious.

 

[preload]

Does the price include a GFCI plug?

 

[solderdude]

You can't even use it with the top removed either.... especially when there is artificial lighting.

 

[Ralf Stocker]

Me. Not because I begrudge him the profit, but because I want to understand the product, and the market. Audiophoolery is replete with massive margins on junk. The margin on this pre is low compared to things like quantum purifiers, mpingo disks* or just about any cable.

The device is interesting because there is a lot going on with the marketing and hype, and I suspect there is more that isn't known. There are some curious clues about.

An interesting point is that had the pre been priced lower it probably would not have sold. If it were properly built (which would really only mean taking some additional care, learning how to solder, using proper mains construction, and buying a ruler) it would not attract the attention it has. Selling it for say $400 would have probably meant it sold vastly less well. But we have an incompetently designed and built bit of junk with wobbly hand drawn marker labels attracting buyers. There is an interesting story here.

*Mpingo disks are hilarious. I seems that what was a worthless waste product has been turning into a huge profit maker. Whoever thought of this one deserves the money they made. They built an entire cult out of thin air and probably some dubious relationships with certain magazines.

I can't see any interesting happenings here. Stupid people buy stupid devices for a lot of stupid money. In quite a few countries in the world the guy would go to jail for such a dangerous device.

 

[DHT 845]

Stupid money? How about Robert Koda Takumi K-15 preamp and many others.
How much can you bully a device for $1000?

 

[Mart68]

Most enthusiasts I know would consider $1000 pre-amp as entry level in pricing terms.

 

[Mart68]

spend more than that on the mains cable for the pre-amp.

 

[Doodski]

I worked 24 years in consumer electronics. 15 doing repairs and 9 as sales and I've never seen such a hunk of junk for sale as this Truth pre-amp. Rubbish...

 

[Kegemusha]

Most enthusiasts I know would consider $1000 pre-amp as entry level in pricing terms.

I wonder what kind of enthusiats will those be, my hypex amp + DAC costs me 40% less that that Thruth thing.

 

[AudioSceptic]

There are some people who are obsessed with LDR volume controls and have a very poor understanding of physics and electronics. There are massively long threads over on DiyAudio about this, involving arguments between the LDR gurus and physicists explaining why they're a mediocre solution. As such, this is precisely what I would expect to see from an expensive LDR preamp- build quality included.

It's not a pretty build, but I wouldn't necessarily call it a "death trap". Not going to pass UL testing or whatever, but also probably not going to hurt anyone. The ground lift switch isn't the safest thing and is generally a bad idea, though I've lost count of how many older amplifiers have them. I'd like to see better insulation on the mains wiring, though again it's something that was violated constantly in years past. In short, I don't like it, and it isn't acceptable by modern standards, but I've seen, owned and used much scarier equipment. Electrical safety is far from my biggest criticism of this preamplifier

The general build quality, however, is completely unacceptable for a line stage / preamp. Plus one bonus point for the use of panel-mounted (rather than PCB-mounted) RCA connectors, minus one point for not using shielded cable. Come on, Mogami W2944 is about 30 cents per foot. You can afford that. I'll dock five points for the embarrassingly poor lead dress, crooked PCB mounting and bubble-gum solder joints.

Bad welding on motorcycle frames used to be called "pigeon shit welding". What would bad soldering in electronics be? Mouse droppings?