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ReadWryt
67
Oct 21, 2020
These tubes want 120 Volts at the plate and grid. How they derive that from 12 V @ 1 A is anybody's guess. This is what they call a Starved Plate design, and it doesn't really employ the tubes as anything but a cheesy trick. Whenever you see something purporting to be a "tube preamp", look for the hefty transformer needed to make a real tube pre work, that's your first tip off. This is less preamp and more of an Audio Effects device, but at $45...if it makes your material sound better to you, what does any of that matter in the long run?
bluesman
17
Oct 23, 2020
ReadWrytHere is an real world example of what this does. This video shows a similar pre-amp and what it does in real-time to the frequency response curves compared to a speakers baseline response as you turn the base and treble contols. https://youtu.be/PD8s3BGTvgA?t=367
Peccavi101
23
Oct 23, 2020
ReadWrytAren't almost all of these smaller tube headphone amp/pre-amp units the same in that respect ? Is it your worry that the tubes are basically superfluous (peacocking?) and the sound effects could be accomplished without them ? I'm honestly curious as I've been having a back and forth in my own head about getting one of these.....
ReadWryt
67
Oct 23, 2020
Peccavi101No, there are real tube preamps/amplifiers out there, a good example being the DARKVOICE 336SE https://drop.com/buy/dark-voice-366se.
Peccavi101
23
Oct 24, 2020
ReadWrytYes, thank you, and I have seen that one and others like it and the power supply is obvious on some, but what I was wondering, and excuse my ignorance, for as an audiophile (long absent from that as my hobby/work) I had not spent much time exploring tube pre-amps, but though that perhaps some smaller units might be using an outboard PS (??), PLUS, of course there's quite a price difference.
ReadWryt
67
Oct 25, 2020
bluesmanThis demonstrates nothing that cannot be done with a quality solid state preamp though. Again, personal sound tastes aside, the tubes here are merely a gimick. Starved plate systems really don't do what a real, fully powered tube preamp does.
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