To start comparing quotes and simplify insurance buying, check out Policygenius.com/cheapaudioman. Thanks to Policygenius for sponsoring this video! Douk Audio ST-01-Pro bit.ly/3JN3Cmj Aiyima T9 amzn.to/3n0RPHL
With that said, both the TI TPA3221 and TPA3251 are capable of delivering 10 amps, at any supply voltage rails, to a given load in BTL mode, which both the Aiyima and Douk products are, which means each channel can deliver 5 amps of current safely. Loudspeakers are current driven devices not voltage. The more current your power supply can deliver the better control, sound quality the loudspeaker will produce. In this case the 24v@4.5A supply that comes with the unit, it can only deliver about 2 amps per channel, a far cry from 5 amps! That is during your listening at higher volumes the sound stage compressed because the power supply simply ran out of gas! We suggest that you try doing critical listening of these units powered by a mean-well LPS-600-24v power supply capable of delivering 25 amps and we believe you will be more than just a little surprised
And when we refer to these products as being "audiophile grade" that is not a flip of the tongue...take a look at the reviews of the TI TPA3255 based LSA Warp 1 amplifier which retails for $1499.00. It has the same amplifying circuitry as the Aiyima and Douk TPA3255 based products but unlike the Aiyima and Douk units which are powered by 100VA SMPS, it is powered by a 600VA SMPS. I also own two Aiyima A07s each being powered by a customized meanwell 600VA SMPS, frontended by T09 Pro, with Russian tubes, bi-amping Fluance XL8F floorstanding speakers. I'm in audio heaven!!!!
Douk ST-01 Pro TUBE tip: If your amp came with Chinese 6k4 tubes (has a red star printed on the glass), mine caused distortion. I upgraded to much better sound for $17 with GE JAN 5654W matched pair tubes. 6k4 tubes can be replaced by 6J1, 6J2, 6J3, 6J4, 6J5, 6"1N, 64N, 65N, 5654/5654W, 5725, 6AK5, EF95, 6BA6, 403B, etc. Your stock tubes may be ok. Mine were not. Just an FYI free tip.
The Douk ST-01 Pro is a very capable little amp. The small size makes it great for a bedroom. It's powerful enough to drive full size floorstanding speakers with authority, precision, and with a clean sound. The remote is really handy and works like a charm. I like the USB (U-disc) port. It's very useful - especially for remote applications or when the internet goes out. Spare tubes are plentiful with a variety of types to choose from. Tubes are easy to swap but different tubes don't alter the sound much. It looks cool and runs cool without overheating issues. A solid product with zero hiccups after more than a year of use. Spend a little money and get rewarded with a lot of big sound.
*Randy, Aiymia T9 now has a T9 PRO, ( With TWO orange rings, a meter AND a digital view-port!)I think a redue with "Apples to Apples " is in order....*
@@geevee1045 Thanks! I was going off of memory and should have looked at the product page. The 3250 is far superior to the chip used in the Douk ST-01 Pro for some reason and the tubes are different as well. Strange since the Douk ST-01 and Aiyima T9 are almost identical.
Douk Audio says their Pro version uses the TPA 3250 chip as well, same as the ST-01 Pro. However. the Aiyima ST-01 Pro supplies a beefier 32 volt adapter for higher power output, rather than the 24 volt adapter that Douk supplies..
With the Douk, press the M1 button on the remote and you can turn on and off the sleep. I am building a "As I can afford" system. Speakers first. I bought it just to test speakers and make sure they worked for return issues. So I am currently running the Douk with a Klipsch RP504CII a single speaker... I absolutely love it!! It gets the 504 quite loud too!
I can see the USB feature on the back as very useful. If you have a large CD library. you could rip the library to mp3 or flac. Then play these music files directly from a USB drive using the remote to toggle between songs. No more getting up to change a disk. I also can hear a slight degradation in BT sound quality when compared to any direct connection. Douk Audio could eliminate the VU meter and offer a led window displaying the file folder and song playing.
I recently bought a pair of klh model 5 speakers and the Aiyama t9. My first decent hifi system. I like them a lot. I got the cheap amplifier thinking I could upgrade to better stuff in a gradual way. Thank you for the videos they really helped me come up with a less expensive option. Also they helped me to understand the concepts of dacs, preamps amd amps. It also helped me to relax amd not worry about the little, but expensive things.
I compared head to head Douk Audio St-01 Pro with Aiyima T9 Pro today. It wasn’t even very close. Douk Audio unit is better. Why? Less shouty female vocals, better midrange vocal resonance on men’s voices. Both are reasonably musical for the price, well excellent for the price, but Douk Audio is definitely better IMO. Also, tone controls are very useful on Douk unit especially in these less than perfect little amps. You can make meaningful adjustments for room and music.
The Aiyima T9 PRO added the colored rings in the front (not around the tubes) and an adjustable (sort of) VU meter. I have one and like it. It also doesn't have the click/pop issue the T9 did/does
I just bought the non pro version st-01 (older?), it has the problem that when the input is set to RCA and you stop playing music, there is this click sound every 30 seconds or so. Does the VU meter move on the new pro version? On the non pro version unless I crank it up, it doesn't move.
After the T9 review, I tried to buy one but none were available on Amazon, I eventually found one, ordered it, and the Douk ST-01 (not Pro) was delivered. Oops. The Douk ST-01 I have does do the clicky clicky thing when it goes to sleep every few seconds. Ugh. I like it however, it's in my home office desktop setup and drives two SVS satellites and an older Monoprice sub. Sounds good.
Our daughters were still showering together when our son was born. There are a few years between him and his big sisters. So one day when he was about 6 months old they were loudly showering and I took one of his diapers and put a bunch of Nutella in it and slid it into the corner of the shower without them noticing. Another 45 seconds passed before they noticed the "dirty" diaper getting soaking wet right next to their feet. As you can imagine the screaming and panic were pretty intense. Definitely worth the wasted Nutella. I did buy an Aiyima T9 for that now teenage boy's first system. He loves it.
I bought the douke st-01 pro to power some Elac b5.2 for a sim rig set up in my gaming room. I have it hooked up via optical cable directly to my mother board using a real tek audio sound chip. I think it sounds amazing and performs very well the video meter is cool the warm glow from the tubes is cool. Bluetooth sounds just ok but everything else sounds great I’m very happy with my purchase!
@@robertwoodward9231 I think it does a very god powering those speakers. They get plenty loud enough they sound very balanced. I think it has just enough power for these. Any more and I would probably say a bigger power supply would be needed. Probably not a bad idea to just go ahead and get that along with the amp
Off topic! If you haven't heard "Dream a little dream of me" by the Moma's and the Papa's in awhile, just queue it up. This is the Mama Cass show piece. You won't be disappointed.
Me not really into looks, but I would pay $ for pretty copper rings... And I did. Douk ST-01 Pro, Elac dbr62 reference speakers, Sony Bravia source / mixer for TV, movies, smartphone casts, PC with DVD and digital media, external TB hard drives. No blutooth needed. all volume control, media control from the TV remote. And one remote red ON button for the amp. Too easy. And plenty good. Awesome sound. No sub. Great video!
It has bass, treble, VU METER, tubes. Man, if it only had a 6.3 headphone out it would be instant buy. Now i just live on with seperate devices (topping dac > marantz integratedamp) doing the same, without the tubes but luckily the marantz integrated sounds sweet enough for me.
You might also want to check out the Aiyima T9 PRO with TPA3250 chip, bigger 32v 5A Adapter for more Power, same VU meter PLUS Digital Display Screen too.
To me, the usb would make this thing great for a workshop where you want to play some music on "real" speakers and not have to have any other electronics in the space due to a dusty/dirty environment. Load a thumb drive up with your favorite music and let it rip.
10:40 I know you said that you don't want to argue an cables, but fiber optical cables sending a digital siginal are literally the only data transmission architecture that can not influence external analog systems or be influenced. Optical cables transmits photons meaning no generation of RF or megnetic fields. Copper cables transmits electrons meaning the creation of magnet fields, RF, and in return can be influenced by RF and magnetic fields too.
I love my T9 but... I had the model with the click and when a fixed model was released I tried to get a replacement fro Ayima. Mine was about 6 months old. They would not replace it and had to go through some weirdness with Amazon to finally get a replacement. It's way better without the click. I like the device a lot and I own two other amps they made but their customer service is terrible. Don't expect any response other than short emails in broken English.
“And that’s what this is all about, isn’t it? Dancing needles on lights.” Just like the musical Cats, except the dancing needles are cats, and the lights are…well, they’re still lights, but it is on stage, so if you pair these amps with the JBL Stage A130’s, the stage is there, too, and we have reached equilibrium.
Thought about getting the st01 pro but for not a lot more, I went with the aiyima A07 & the Douk P2 tube buffer with 3 way Tone controls & remote, they sound fantastic together, they fill my room with that full bodied sound that's akin to Denon, Marantz type sound.
Mine got returned. I'm now using an Arylic B50, which was cheaper and is more suited to my TV set-up with HDMI Arc and two-way Bluetooth streaming. Douk also seems to overstate the amplifiers power rating, and despite the B50 running a Chinese amp chip and boasting half the power rating, there's no discernible loss of volume or quality.
@gainonten4031 The speakers are an older pair of old Kanto Yaro speakers with Yaro 8" sub. The Yaro class D amp they came with died; it was replaced with the BT50 as the speakers aren't worth investing in an expensive amp. TV is set to output audio via HDMI, and ARC is enabled in the TV settings menu. This enabled volume through the speakers to be controlled by either the TV remote, the BT50 remote, or the Chromecast w/Google TV remote when it's being used.
Have Douk st-01. Same as Ayima T9. Bought Amazon prime day for around $109.00. Got the upgrade tubes Douk sells for around $16.00. Using it for a second system with my Outlaw Audio speakers which have a sensitivity of about 86 db-not that efficient. Sound is very satisfying. Play in large room at moderate levels. Also use the Outlaw subwoofer. For that you will likely need a cable adapter, a cheap item, if you have a standard rca cable. Don’t need an expensive subwoofer cable. No clicking sounds by the way. Douk corrected the problem even on this less expensive model.
Can you say exactly how to connect a subwoofer to the T9 please? Do you use the "AUX" port with a mini-to-RCA cable? Or did you wire the sub to your speakers? If the latter, do you connect amp's speaker terminals to your speakers, and then speakers to sub terminals??
Bought the 【Upgraded】AIYIMA T9 Bluetooth and it still does the click off after a few sec. of no input. Also this one the bluetooth died in less than a week of use. Sounded great though!
I have both, and the ST-01 Pro gets my vote for this: the USB drive port (not what you think) I use it to power Chromecast Audio and use optical connection to utilize ST-01 Pro's DAC. Neat setup :) Output goes to amazing Allison Acoustics CD-6 speakers (4ohms), and the result is an inexpensive and compact system that sounds absolutely glorious in just about any room.
It would be really helpful if Douk Audio could send you their eq5 and the more expensive valve version for review. I think these are going to become a little more popular in the near future and I myself am interested in buying an EQ for other hardware other than my Mac.
completely new to tube anything . ive only dealt with car audio in which i was very picky on sound . now im after a warm sounding amp to power some bookshelf speakers for my pc / movie audio needs . will definitely be considering the douk audio one. thanks for the info
Adding a USB feature can change the government function classification to mp3 player, which can save on import duties and fees. Not sure if this is their intention for the usb but it is an option.
That mannequin move shows that you a committed, involved and engaged father. Kudos to you! BTW, speaking along the lines of mannequins and the startle response, it's the same reason my wife (and I) don't want headphone stands in the house that are the shape of an actual head.
I got the ST-01 Pro last month and absolutely love it. A big improvement on my ONKYO AVR for 2 channel listening. Streaming from tablet to amp using the supplier USB cable, then through my KEF Q15.2 speakers and Monitor Audio MRW10 Sub. Whole setup for £300 and I couldn’t be more pleased.
Hey that's a cool set up. How do you hook up a sub? Can you reverse an rca to 3.5 to the lfe input? I just got a new rel and want to try it out. These amps are a little sketch. At one point I had sparks shooting out the back.
@Justin Hof you will have sparks if you plug it to the wall then connect it to the unit. I never had issues but I always connected the plug to the unit first then the amp
@@justinhof6315 I got a 4-foot 3.5 mm to RCA (both male) cable ($5). Aux out from the Aiyima and into the Kanto S6 sub. Easy piezie. The Decware speakers only need 2-5 watts (4ohm) so you really don't need much power for great sound. My application is I love music...my wife hates to hear it. So the tiny radials provide really good sound stage in a near-field situation (and she hears nothing).
@@justinhof6315 one vlogger reported “quirks” on the T9. Try to get the T9 Pro which I did. Amazing sound and build quality. I was even surprised rhat the tubes were made in USA.
What about the T9 *Pro* vs the ST01 Pro? They both have the latest chip (TPA3255, while the T9 has the TPA3116 if I remember). Both are iterations, so it would've been more objective for us the viewers (for instance, the T9 Pro doesn't have the previous clipping+cut both the T9 and the ST01 were plagued with)
Douk Audio says the Pro version uses the TPA 3250 chip, same as the ST-01 Pro. However. the ST-01 Pro also supplies a 32 volt adapter for higher power output.
Subscribed! I keep coming across your great videos, and I can be a "tough" subscriber, but your content is very entertaining. 👍 About a week into the Aiyima T9, using it via USB cable from my laptop as a very-much-upgrade to an old BT speaker. I work from home. Most of the time I'm streaming music from my Plex server, but much video chat during the day as well. So, frankly I don't know how the T9 performs in other environments, but in this service it's fantastic! I have GE 5654s on the way to play with the sound a bit. It's running Polk T15s and I have no complaints.
The USB is good for testing speakers with non lossy files, like FLAC and you don't want to stream it. I mean, that's the only thing I would use to for. I wish this used the 3255. I'd buy it right now. What DAC chip does it use? The unmarked tubes are actually called "Shenzhen Specials."
Douk-ee audio has a ton of electronic product's, like it's kinda crazy. I have moved on to more "mid-fi" gear since Randy sparked my interest back into hi-fi a couple years ago after I took a good 15 year hiatus from buying anything. (Kids took priority) If anyone reads this that has used Douk-ee products, What do you believe is their best sounding product or model? Enquiring minds wanna know
I liked the P1 but it stopped working, send it back, got a new one, it stopped working, send it back, got a new one, it stopped working after 2 weeks, send it back... well Amazon thought it better just to refund this time. If it didn't break, i would still be loving it.
@@the_dude182 bummer about that. Most people seem to like the P1. You probably got one after they made a bad batch. That is the good thing about Amazon, they are normally very cool with returns and getting your money back.
i have a douk p1. it's a tube headphone amp with bluetooth. i really like it. the bluetooth is rock solid aptx. sits on my nightstand so i can listen to music in bed without bugging the wife. i've had it for over a year with zero issues.
Maybe I missed it, but does this have a subwoofer out? I'd like to find a smaller amp that has one so that I can use my Klipsch R-120SW. Keeping it simple with some Sony SS-CS5 bookshelves for a workout room.
I've finally returned to turntables. My current set-up is the Fluance RT-80 connected to my 1991 Fisher (Japan) DCS-M44 maximum mini stereo system, taking out of a 20+ year retirement. Added a $18 CDN bluetooth receiver on the AV RCA input. Outputs are the speakers that came with the system 6 Ohm / 30 Watts each, and just added today the Sennheiser HD560s. WHY? I shared all this to see if I'm really missing out on an affordable upgrade to this sound experience. The Fisher powers the headphones or the speakers to uncomfortably loud volume before it distorts. I'm thinking I'm set. Thoughts?
Not going to sleep is a good thing to me, especially when playing LP’s, if i’ve walked away and the LP finishes i can hear the LP still going da-dump da-dump when i get back reminding me to put another on or turn off the LP player. 🎉
I love these small and cheap amplifiers for troubleshooting receivers that have pre amp and main amp separations. how's able to quickly find that the hiss in my sx-9000 just by using an aiyima amp for forty bucks. and it sounds great.
Randy if you do review..strongly suggest that you do so using a mean-well LPS 600-27 SMPS and set the voltage rail to 30v. It will bring tears to your eyes!
@@larryjohnson9019but I want to know what the out of the box experience is though. If i have to buy another power supply its a different price class right?
You are an evil humor genius and should be commended on keeping heart rates and blood pressure raised, by either mannequins or cheap hifi components. Thank you as always for your time, effort, and unmarked tube equipment. 😂
goes to sleep? so i have the st-01 and i leave this thing on ALWAYS!!! I mean seriously, I haven't turned it off more than a few times in well over 2 years. i was actually going to comment asking if you think im destroying my tubes but i heard you say that sleep thing and i was like WHat!?!?! i must say that i love this little thing though. I have always had a thing for tube ams ever since my grandparents old 1930's Grundig beast of a unit, with reel to reel, turntable, am fm, shortwave this thing isn't as cool, but its a hell of a lot lighter!
If you are in to making music on your computer these little amps are incredible, mines powering a pair of Wharfedale diamond 9.1 speakers, sounds beautiful
What about the T9 Pro vs T9. Love your take and per yours and others am running T9 and cycling B1+, css5, and Elac 5.2 with Jamo C912 sub. All sound awesome lean into the B1+ detail tho. Your advice priceless
Nothing like a review that is great honesty. You are my time and money saver man. Mis dieces! (My10s) Is there a small chapter dedicated to the build-yourself tube amps that you get in the 200-800 dollar range from Chinese manufacturers? I haven't fully explored the channel, excuse my cheekyness.
So I purchased the Douk ST-01-Pro with a pair of ELAK 6.2 Debut 2.0. the system is sounding great so far connected to PC audio and using Apple Music. Randy, in another video you recommended "building around a core" I think I have solid speakers for now. What would be a good core AMP after the ST01 Pro, and AL200 from SMSL? or go higher?
Randy. What I never get is that the majority of us won't need a dac because some of us are using a high res 32 bit 384khz dac. Now is there any real difference between the Aiyilma T9 and douk. Well here's a tiny bit of unknowns. Douk is an audio export company from China. Meaning no products are made by douk. However I agree that this is and they are paying to have on products they buy and sell
I have the ST-01 version and love it for what I paid, but had to stop using it for my primary use case attached to my computer. The sound would constantly be clicking off an on. I would get a notification on the computer it would click on, but the sound was too short to play once it woke up, so I would get this constant clicking off and on with no sound. Very annoying.
Just curious, but has anyone ever tried running an entire home theater with a bunch of the little cheap amps, like the Fosi TB10D or the Aiyima A07? Like run the heights and side/rears in normal pairs and bi-amp the 2 fronts? The center can stay on the receiver I suppose, but just curious if any has done this and how was the end result??
I love that amp IC! I've got one and from my experience you won't get the best performance out of it unless you use lithium, when I connect my 40v 10ah lithium battery pack made out of a123 26650 cells they are some of the most powerful cells you can get your hands on they can do 120 amps each in a 10sec test so my pack can do way more then this amp will ever need and let me tell you this thing comes alive How alive you might ask? Well my O scope doesn't lie I got 255 watts RMS as 2.1 ohms
As an audio guy who buys lots of gear I really had to laugh at Randy's comment " Isn't it about dancing needles on lights". I thought about it and laughed again. Hell yes I want to see dancing needles so I bought the speaker switcher cause it's cool and it can dance!
Too bad the vu meters barely work on these things. I don't know why randy doesn't mention that. It is something that makes me question his honesty. The sensitivity screw does next to nothing. The vu meters basically don't work.
@@justinhof6315 The VU meters operate on low level signals also if you look on the bottom of the unit you will see an adjustment pot to increase the meter sensitivity
Randy, have you actually tested to see if the 3.5mm Aux/Line Out is variable through the preamp section? A lot of these cheap class D amps have a 3.5mm aux out, but in most cases they are simply wired in parallel with analog line in (and therefore have a fixed level). I guess since these are integrated amps, there's a higher likelihood that the line outs are volume-controlled, but I wanted to ask nevertheless. The product pages for these amps never say explicitly that the aux out is volume-controlled, even though they do say it can be connected to a sub.
@@justinhof6315 That's a question I've asked on forums and still haven't gotten a clear answer. I've got the Aiyima 08 pro and I wonder if you should use a stereo 3.5 to a mono RCA plug for the sub?
OK so I tried the 3.5 to rca connected into my subs lfe. It does work but is pretty boomy . I'll try moving it around my room to see if I get better integration. My cable is pretty short so it will be tricky.
Can you confirm those tubes actually produce any power to the amp? I'm not questioning you, I'm questioning the units. Several years ago someone did test a similar amp and found out that all the tubes did was glow, they did nothing for the sound.
That reminds me of the Muntz TVs, from the 50s & 60s. Manufacturers used to brag about how many tubes their TVs had. So "Madman Muntz" put extra tubes in his TVs, which didn't do anything. He also had weights bolted to the chassis, to increase the heft---heavier was always considered to be better. Incidentally, later on, transistor radio manufacturers would employ transistors with only two leads connected, and which therefore would function as diodes. That increased the transistor count, a big selling point. It's perfectly acceptable to use transistors as diodes. but calling them transistors, in such cases, is deceptive.
If the tubes are old (made in 50's or 60's the labeling came off. Sometimes you can use your breath to leave a fog on the tube to see what writing was on it.
I am wondering, when will the producers from these brands start with HDMI connections? Has it sense? Why the big receivers do and why not these products, not yet?
To start comparing quotes and simplify insurance buying, check out Policygenius.com/cheapaudioman. Thanks to Policygenius for sponsoring this video!
Douk Audio ST-01-Pro bit.ly/3JN3Cmj
Aiyima T9 amzn.to/3n0RPHL
Could you supply a link to the mannequin?
@@unstablenetwork4744 it’s the best thing ever amzn.to/40e9RF4
With that said, both the TI TPA3221 and TPA3251 are capable of delivering 10 amps, at any supply voltage rails, to a given load in BTL mode, which both the Aiyima and Douk products are, which means each channel can deliver 5 amps of current safely. Loudspeakers are current driven devices not voltage. The more current your power supply can deliver the better control, sound quality the loudspeaker will produce. In this case the 24v@4.5A supply that comes with the unit, it can only deliver about 2 amps per channel, a far cry from 5 amps! That is during your listening at higher volumes the sound stage compressed because the power supply simply ran out of gas! We suggest that you try doing critical listening of these units powered by a mean-well LPS-600-24v power supply capable of delivering 25 amps and we believe you will be more than just a little surprised
And when we refer to these products as being "audiophile grade" that is not a flip of the tongue...take a look at the reviews of the TI TPA3255 based LSA Warp 1 amplifier which retails for $1499.00. It has the same amplifying circuitry as the Aiyima and Douk TPA3255 based products but unlike the Aiyima and Douk units which are powered by 100VA SMPS, it is powered by a 600VA SMPS. I also own two Aiyima A07s each being powered by a customized meanwell 600VA SMPS, frontended by T09 Pro, with Russian tubes, bi-amping Fluance XL8F floorstanding speakers. I'm in audio heaven!!!!
i am a Life Ins case manager/agent for a brokerage agency in CA.. Randy hope you have enough Life Ins ?? :)
Douk ST-01 Pro TUBE tip: If your amp came with Chinese 6k4 tubes (has a red star printed on the glass), mine caused distortion. I upgraded to much better sound for $17 with GE JAN 5654W matched pair tubes. 6k4 tubes can be replaced by 6J1, 6J2, 6J3, 6J4, 6J5, 6"1N, 64N, 65N, 5654/5654W, 5725, 6AK5, EF95, 6BA6, 403B, etc. Your stock tubes may be ok. Mine were not. Just an FYI free tip.
The Douk ST-01 Pro is a very capable little amp. The small size makes it great for a bedroom. It's powerful enough to drive full size floorstanding speakers with authority, precision, and with a clean sound. The remote is really handy and works like a charm. I like the USB (U-disc) port. It's very useful - especially for remote applications or when the internet goes out. Spare tubes are plentiful with a variety of types to choose from. Tubes are easy to swap but different tubes don't alter the sound much. It looks cool and runs cool without overheating issues. A solid product with zero hiccups after more than a year of use. Spend a little money and get rewarded with a lot of big sound.
I love the T9! It was your video that moved me to purchase it. Thanks!
Me also (for my son's first hifi setup)
*Randy, Aiymia T9 now has a T9 PRO, ( With TWO orange rings, a meter AND a digital view-port!)I think a redue with "Apples to Apples " is in order....*
It also uses the TI 3255 chipset which is superior
@@29mailman Their Description says TPA3250 chip. Product Descriptions:
Chipset: TPA3250+Jan5725+QCC3031+ES9018K2M+SA9123L+OPA1656+NJW1194
@@geevee1045 Thanks! I was going off of memory and should have looked at the product page. The 3250 is far superior to the chip used in the Douk ST-01 Pro for some reason and the tubes are different as well. Strange since the Douk ST-01 and Aiyima T9 are almost identical.
Douk Audio says their Pro version uses the TPA 3250 chip as well, same as the ST-01 Pro. However. the Aiyima ST-01 Pro supplies a beefier 32 volt adapter for higher power output, rather than the 24 volt adapter that Douk supplies..
@@geevee1045 Thanks! I'm getting everything wrong today. Read a spec sheet that said it used the 3221. Guess it's only the tubes that are different.
With the Douk, press the M1 button on the remote and you can turn on and off the sleep. I am building a "As I can afford" system. Speakers first. I bought it just to test speakers and make sure they worked for return issues. So I am currently running the Douk with a Klipsch RP504CII a single speaker... I absolutely love it!! It gets the 504 quite loud too!
Do you ever get the feeling that all of these Chinese audio companies are really just one big company with many brands?
No. Many of the parts used are made by the same company. Interchangeable.
I can see the USB feature on the back as very useful. If you have a large CD library. you could rip the library to mp3 or flac. Then play these music files directly from a USB drive using the remote to toggle between songs. No more getting up to change a disk. I also can hear a slight degradation in BT sound quality when compared to any direct connection. Douk Audio could eliminate the VU meter and offer a led window displaying the file folder and song playing.
I recently bought a pair of klh model 5 speakers and the Aiyama t9. My first decent hifi system. I like them a lot. I got the cheap amplifier thinking I could upgrade to better stuff in a gradual way. Thank you for the videos they really helped me come up with a less expensive option. Also they helped me to understand the concepts of dacs, preamps amd amps. It also helped me to relax amd not worry about the little, but expensive things.
I compared head to head Douk Audio St-01 Pro with Aiyima T9 Pro today.
It wasn’t even very close. Douk Audio unit is better.
Why? Less shouty female vocals, better midrange vocal resonance on men’s voices.
Both are reasonably musical for the price, well excellent for the price, but Douk Audio is definitely better IMO.
Also, tone controls are very useful on Douk unit especially in these less than perfect little amps. You can make meaningful adjustments for room and music.
Amazon UK is selling the ST-01 Pro, I bought one a few weeks ago along with Wiim mini. I also upgraded the Tubes to ones made by GE.
What are the GE tubes that are a direct replacement? Did it sound any better/different?
The Aiyima T9 PRO added the colored rings in the front (not around the tubes) and an adjustable (sort of) VU meter. I have one and like it. It also doesn't have the click/pop issue the T9 did/does
I just bought the non pro version st-01 (older?), it has the problem that when the input is set to RCA and you stop playing music, there is this click sound every 30 seconds or so. Does the VU meter move on the new pro version? On the non pro version unless I crank it up, it doesn't move.
After the T9 review, I tried to buy one but none were available on Amazon, I eventually found one, ordered it, and the Douk ST-01 (not Pro) was delivered. Oops. The Douk ST-01 I have does do the clicky clicky thing when it goes to sleep every few seconds. Ugh. I like it however, it's in my home office desktop setup and drives two SVS satellites and an older Monoprice sub. Sounds good.
Our daughters were still showering together when our son was born. There are a few years between him and his big sisters. So one day when he was about 6 months old they were loudly showering and I took one of his diapers and put a bunch of Nutella in it and slid it into the corner of the shower without them noticing. Another 45 seconds passed before they noticed the "dirty" diaper getting soaking wet right next to their feet. As you can imagine the screaming and panic were pretty intense. Definitely worth the wasted Nutella. I did buy an Aiyima T9 for that now teenage boy's first system. He loves it.
ehhhhhhh sounds legit to me
@thedude182 odd response but ok.
@@tmdillon1969 I meant the story and leading up to the T9 decision; perfect.
…and those girls never ate Nutella again.
@@tmdillon1969 classic joke :)
I bought the douke st-01 pro to power some Elac b5.2 for a sim rig set up in my gaming room. I have it hooked up via optical cable directly to my mother board using a real tek audio sound chip. I think it sounds amazing and performs very well the video meter is cool the warm glow from the tubes is cool. Bluetooth sounds just ok but everything else sounds great I’m very happy with my purchase!
Do you mean the st 01 pro has enough power to get all the definitions from the ub5 2.0s?
@@robertwoodward9231 I think it does a very god powering those speakers. They get plenty loud enough they sound very balanced. I think it has just enough power for these. Any more and I would probably say a bigger power supply would be needed. Probably not a bad idea to just go ahead and get that along with the amp
Off topic!
If you haven't heard "Dream a little dream of me" by the Moma's and the Papa's in awhile, just queue it up. This is the Mama Cass show piece. You won't be disappointed.
Me not really into looks, but I would pay $ for pretty copper rings... And I did. Douk ST-01 Pro, Elac dbr62 reference speakers, Sony Bravia source / mixer for TV, movies, smartphone casts, PC with DVD and digital media, external TB hard drives. No blutooth needed. all volume control, media control from the TV remote. And one remote red ON button for the amp. Too easy. And plenty good. Awesome sound. No sub. Great video!
It has bass, treble, VU METER, tubes. Man, if it only had a 6.3 headphone out it would be instant buy. Now i just live on with seperate devices (topping dac > marantz integratedamp) doing the same, without the tubes but luckily the marantz integrated sounds sweet enough for me.
Yeah, headphone out would have been awesome, would look nice on my desk next to the pc..... so disappointed
You might also want to check out the Aiyima T9 PRO with TPA3250 chip, bigger 32v 5A Adapter for more Power, same VU meter PLUS Digital Display Screen too.
Randy in the name of all that's holy *PLEASE* review the T9 Pro. It's a redesign of the T9 with several promising improvements.
To me, the usb would make this thing great for a workshop where you want to play some music on "real" speakers and not have to have any other electronics in the space due to a dusty/dirty environment. Load a thumb drive up with your favorite music and let it rip.
yes, or like a canteen or something where you dont want people to change input.
Phone....
@@D1N02 If you use your phone for music, have at it. I don't. I use a thumb drive in my vehicle as well.
Thanks!
10:40 I know you said that you don't want to argue an cables, but fiber optical cables sending a digital siginal are literally the only data transmission architecture that can not influence external analog systems or be influenced.
Optical cables transmits photons meaning no generation of RF or megnetic fields.
Copper cables transmits electrons meaning the creation of magnet fields, RF, and in return can be influenced by RF and magnetic fields too.
I love my T9 but...
I had the model with the click and when a fixed model was released I tried to get a replacement fro Ayima. Mine was about 6 months old. They would not replace it and had to go through some weirdness with Amazon to finally get a replacement. It's way better without the click.
I like the device a lot and I own two other amps they made but their customer service is terrible. Don't expect any response other than short emails in broken English.
Aiyima T9 on sale right now for Prime Days... ~$95, Douk Audio ST-01 is same price. The Pro versions of each are ~$120 each. Just thought I'd share.
“And that’s what this is all about, isn’t it? Dancing needles on lights.”
Just like the musical Cats, except the dancing needles are cats, and the lights are…well, they’re still lights, but it is on stage, so if you pair these amps with the JBL Stage A130’s, the stage is there, too, and we have reached equilibrium.
Thought about getting the st01 pro but for not a lot more, I went with the aiyima A07 & the Douk P2 tube buffer with 3 way Tone controls & remote, they sound fantastic together, they fill my room with that full bodied sound that's akin to Denon, Marantz type sound.
Mine got returned. I'm now using an Arylic B50, which was cheaper and is more suited to my TV set-up with HDMI Arc and two-way Bluetooth streaming. Douk also seems to overstate the amplifiers power rating, and despite the B50 running a Chinese amp chip and boasting half the power rating, there's no discernible loss of volume or quality.
Interested on something like this. Can you elaborate which speakers and can you control tv volume?
@gainonten4031 The speakers are an older pair of old Kanto Yaro speakers with Yaro 8" sub. The Yaro class D amp they came with died; it was replaced with the BT50 as the speakers aren't worth investing in an expensive amp. TV is set to output audio via HDMI, and ARC is enabled in the TV settings menu. This enabled volume through the speakers to be controlled by either the TV remote, the BT50 remote, or the Chromecast w/Google TV remote when it's being used.
Have Douk st-01. Same as Ayima T9. Bought Amazon prime day for around $109.00. Got the upgrade tubes Douk sells for around $16.00. Using it for a second system with my Outlaw Audio speakers which have a sensitivity of about 86 db-not that efficient. Sound is very satisfying. Play in large room at moderate levels. Also use the Outlaw subwoofer. For that you will likely need a cable adapter, a cheap item, if you have a standard rca cable. Don’t need an expensive subwoofer cable. No clicking sounds by the way. Douk corrected the problem even on this less expensive model.
Can you say exactly how to connect a subwoofer to the T9 please? Do you use the "AUX" port with a mini-to-RCA cable? Or did you wire the sub to your speakers? If the latter, do you connect amp's speaker terminals to your speakers, and then speakers to sub terminals??
Not sure if you read these, but if you do please review the Aiyima T9 Pro. I think it is awesome; would really be interested what you think.
Bought the 【Upgraded】AIYIMA T9 Bluetooth and it still does the click off after a few sec. of no input. Also this one the bluetooth died in less than a week of use. Sounded great though!
I have both, and the ST-01 Pro gets my vote for this: the USB drive port (not what you think) I use it to power Chromecast Audio and use optical connection to utilize ST-01 Pro's DAC. Neat setup :)
Output goes to amazing Allison Acoustics CD-6 speakers (4ohms), and the result is an inexpensive and compact system that sounds absolutely glorious in just about any room.
What do you think about the St01 pro's DAC? I have the douk but i dont have another DAC to compare it to.
It would be really helpful if Douk Audio could send you their eq5 and the more expensive valve version for review. I think these are going to become a little more popular in the near future and I myself am interested in buying an EQ for other hardware other than my Mac.
completely new to tube anything . ive only dealt with car audio in which i was very picky on sound . now im after a warm sounding amp to power some bookshelf speakers for my pc / movie audio needs . will definitely be considering the douk audio one. thanks for the info
Adding a USB feature can change the government function classification to mp3 player, which can save on import duties and fees. Not sure if this is their intention for the usb but it is an option.
I heart my Douk Audio speaker/amp switcher. It works! And it has VU meters! Awesome.
TPA 3251 is what they use on the Douk,on Amazon somebody opened it up,posted the pic on Amazon.
YOUR BEST VIDEO EVER!!! Bar none!
That mannequin move shows that you a committed, involved and engaged father. Kudos to you! BTW, speaking along the lines of mannequins and the startle response, it's the same reason my wife (and I) don't want headphone stands in the house that are the shape of an actual head.
Glad you mention life insurance. My wife will definitely kill me if she ever found out how much my stuff actually cost!
I got the ST-01 Pro last month and absolutely love it. A big improvement on my ONKYO AVR for 2 channel listening. Streaming from tablet to amp using the supplier USB cable, then through my KEF Q15.2 speakers and Monitor Audio MRW10 Sub. Whole setup for £300 and I couldn’t be more pleased.
Can tell you that the Douk amp I tried (marketed under Nobsound) was ANYthing BUT perfect.
Using the Aiyima in a near-field set-up (with Decware Tiny Radials and a Kanto S6 sub). Great set-up. The T9 was $80 at Walmart!
Hey that's a cool set up. How do you hook up a sub? Can you reverse an rca to 3.5 to the lfe input? I just got a new rel and want to try it out. These amps are a little sketch. At one point I had sparks shooting out the back.
@Justin Hof you will have sparks if you plug it to the wall then connect it to the unit. I never had issues but I always connected the plug to the unit first then the amp
@@justinhof6315 I got a 4-foot 3.5 mm to RCA (both male) cable ($5). Aux out from the Aiyima and into the Kanto S6 sub. Easy piezie. The Decware speakers only need 2-5 watts (4ohm) so you really don't need much power for great sound. My application is I love music...my wife hates to hear it. So the tiny radials provide really good sound stage in a near-field situation (and she hears nothing).
@@justinhof6315 one vlogger reported “quirks” on the T9. Try to get the T9 Pro which I did. Amazing sound and build quality. I was even surprised rhat the tubes were made in USA.
I like the all black face better than the Douk Audio gold trim
What about the T9 *Pro* vs the ST01 Pro? They both have the latest chip (TPA3255, while the T9 has the TPA3116 if I remember). Both are iterations, so it would've been more objective for us the viewers (for instance, the T9 Pro doesn't have the previous clipping+cut both the T9 and the ST01 were plagued with)
Douk Audio says the Pro version uses the TPA 3250 chip, same as the ST-01 Pro. However. the ST-01 Pro also supplies a 32 volt adapter for higher power output.
The mannequin scaring you is the main reason the Tesla bot will never go mainstream.
WAIT A MINUTE!!!! I bought the Douk Audio ST-01 PRO a month ago but I don't have that thumb drive port!!!!!
I want to know if there's any difference between the ST-01 and the Aiyima 9, not the pro.
Your a natural and love your sense of humour! Keep it coming. Best cheap - er valve phono?
Subscribed! I keep coming across your great videos, and I can be a "tough" subscriber, but your content is very entertaining. 👍 About a week into the Aiyima T9, using it via USB cable from my laptop as a very-much-upgrade to an old BT speaker. I work from home. Most of the time I'm streaming music from my Plex server, but much video chat during the day as well. So, frankly I don't know how the T9 performs in other environments, but in this service it's fantastic! I have GE 5654s on the way to play with the sound a bit. It's running Polk T15s and I have no complaints.
Elac debut 5.2 on sale everywhere today for $230 / pr, $100 off
The USB is good for testing speakers with non lossy files, like FLAC and you don't want to stream it. I mean, that's the only thing I would use to for. I wish this used the 3255. I'd buy it right now. What DAC chip does it use? The unmarked tubes are actually called "Shenzhen Specials."
I have the original ST-01 and really like it. You are right about the USB feature , I would not use it either; however I can see some applications.
Douk-ee audio has a ton of electronic product's, like it's kinda crazy. I have moved on to more "mid-fi" gear since Randy sparked my interest back into hi-fi a couple years ago after I took a good 15 year hiatus from buying anything. (Kids took priority) If anyone reads this that has used Douk-ee products, What do you believe is their best sounding product or model? Enquiring minds wanna know
I liked the P1 but it stopped working, send it back, got a new one, it stopped working, send it back, got a new one, it stopped working after 2 weeks, send it back... well Amazon thought it better just to refund this time. If it didn't break, i would still be loving it.
@@the_dude182 bummer about that. Most people seem to like the P1. You probably got one after they made a bad batch. That is the good thing about Amazon, they are normally very cool with returns and getting your money back.
i have a douk p1. it's a tube headphone amp with bluetooth. i really like it. the bluetooth is rock solid aptx. sits on my nightstand so i can listen to music in bed without bugging the wife. i've had it for over a year with zero issues.
Maybe I missed it, but does this have a subwoofer out? I'd like to find a smaller amp that has one so that I can use my Klipsch R-120SW. Keeping it simple with some Sony SS-CS5 bookshelves for a workout room.
I've finally returned to turntables. My current set-up is the Fluance RT-80 connected to my 1991 Fisher (Japan) DCS-M44 maximum mini stereo system, taking out of a 20+ year retirement. Added a $18 CDN bluetooth receiver on the AV RCA input. Outputs are the speakers that came with the system 6 Ohm / 30 Watts each, and just added today the Sennheiser HD560s. WHY? I shared all this to see if I'm really missing out on an affordable upgrade to this sound experience. The Fisher powers the headphones or the speakers to uncomfortably loud volume before it distorts. I'm thinking I'm set. Thoughts?
That mannequin trick almost makes me feel sorry we didn't have kids, lol.
Not going to sleep is a good thing to me, especially when playing LP’s, if i’ve walked away and the LP finishes i can hear the LP still going da-dump da-dump when i get back reminding me to put another on or turn off the LP player. 🎉
I love these small and cheap amplifiers for troubleshooting receivers that have pre amp and main amp separations. how's able to quickly find that the hiss in my sx-9000 just by using an aiyima amp for forty bucks. and it sounds great.
USB is for connection to a computer. it will show up on your volume control as a soundcard.
Great video Thank you for changing out that loud annoying sound between topics to what you used in this video 10X better! And I just subscribed.
There is now a T9 Pro that comes with a 32V-5 Amp power supply, it would be great if you could review it.
Also has a TI 3255 chipset
Randy if you do review..strongly suggest that you do so using a mean-well LPS 600-27 SMPS and set the voltage rail to 30v. It will bring tears to your eyes!
@@larryjohnson9019but I want to know what the out of the box experience is though. If i have to buy another power supply its a different price class right?
Quite a lot of performance for the money. Incredible.
You are an evil humor genius and should be commended on keeping heart rates and blood pressure raised, by either mannequins or cheap hifi components. Thank you as always for your time, effort, and unmarked tube equipment. 😂
goes to sleep? so i have the st-01 and i leave this thing on ALWAYS!!! I mean seriously, I haven't turned it off more than a few times in well over 2 years. i was actually going to comment asking if you think im destroying my tubes but i heard you say that sleep thing and i was like WHat!?!?!
i must say that i love this little thing though. I have always had a thing for tube ams ever since my grandparents old 1930's Grundig beast of a unit, with reel to reel, turntable, am fm, shortwave this thing isn't as cool, but its a hell of a lot lighter!
Doesn't it get hot as hell? The tubes on my st 01 pro get really hot after only a while
Is there much of a difference between the Douk ST-01 and ST-01 Pro devices?
If you are in to making music on your computer these little amps are incredible, mines powering a pair of Wharfedale diamond 9.1 speakers, sounds beautiful
I bought a Aiyima T9 and a pair of Emotiva Airmotiv T-0's based largely on your reviews and recommendation, so you're doing something right. 😂
What about the T9 Pro vs T9. Love your take and per yours and others am running T9 and cycling B1+, css5, and Elac 5.2 with Jamo C912 sub. All sound awesome lean into the B1+ detail tho. Your advice priceless
there is a t9 pro now too it has orange rings and better toobs
Does the ST-01 AUX out make use of the tubes and the volume knob?
I bought a douk audio st01 based on your review of the ayima t9. best recomendation EVER
How do you rate these compared to the aiyima A07 paired with a T07 DAC?
Nothing like a review that is great honesty.
You are my time and money saver man.
Mis dieces! (My10s)
Is there a small chapter dedicated to the build-yourself tube amps that you get in the 200-800 dollar range from Chinese manufacturers? I haven't fully explored the channel, excuse my cheekyness.
I don't stream or use my phone much so a thumb drive input is very important to me.
So I purchased the Douk ST-01-Pro with a pair of ELAK 6.2 Debut 2.0. the system is sounding great so far connected to PC audio and using Apple Music. Randy, in another video you recommended "building around a core" I think I have solid speakers for now. What would be a good core AMP after the ST01 Pro, and AL200 from SMSL? or go higher?
Is there a way to disable the annoying clicking everything it plays some sound?
Going to try some Sony sc5's upon your appraisal, wanna see if they tickle my ear lizard too.
Randy. What I never get is that the majority of us won't need a dac because some of us are using a high res 32 bit 384khz dac. Now is there any real difference between the Aiyilma T9 and douk. Well here's a tiny bit of unknowns. Douk is an audio export company from China. Meaning no products are made by douk. However I agree that this is and they are paying to have on products they buy and sell
I have the ST-01 version and love it for what I paid, but had to stop using it for my primary use case attached to my computer. The sound would constantly be clicking off an on. I would get a notification on the computer it would click on, but the sound was too short to play once it woke up, so I would get this constant clicking off and on with no sound. Very annoying.
Can I use them with my turntable it has a pre Amp?
3255 with 48V, sub out and 5V usb power out as well and I'll buy two
Just curious, but has anyone ever tried running an entire home theater with a bunch of the little cheap amps, like the Fosi TB10D or the Aiyima A07? Like run the heights and side/rears in normal pairs and bi-amp the 2 fronts? The center can stay on the receiver I suppose, but just curious if any has done this and how was the end result??
I love that amp IC! I've got one and from my experience you won't get the best performance out of it unless you use lithium, when I connect my 40v 10ah lithium battery pack made out of a123 26650 cells they are some of the most powerful cells you can get your hands on they can do 120 amps each in a 10sec test so my pack can do way more then this amp will ever need and let me tell you this thing comes alive
How alive you might ask? Well my O scope doesn't lie I got 255 watts RMS as 2.1 ohms
As an audio guy who buys lots of gear I really had to laugh at Randy's comment " Isn't it about dancing needles on lights". I thought about it and laughed again. Hell yes I want to see dancing needles so I bought the speaker switcher cause it's cool and it can dance!
Too bad the vu meters barely work on these things. I don't know why randy doesn't mention that. It is something that makes me question his honesty. The sensitivity screw does next to nothing. The vu meters basically don't work.
@@justinhof6315 everything works better when they are given enough power.
@@justinhof6315 The VU meters operate on low level signals also if you look on the bottom of the unit you will see an adjustment pot to increase the meter sensitivity
@@larryjohnson9019if you actually read the comment, the commenter already adjusted the sensitivity screw
@@sepg5084 Thank you for pointing that out
Would either of these be a good choice running my Klipsch RP600M paired with a Klipsch R120SW strictly for vinyl listening?
Randy, have you actually tested to see if the 3.5mm Aux/Line Out is variable through the preamp section? A lot of these cheap class D amps have a 3.5mm aux out, but in most cases they are simply wired in parallel with analog line in (and therefore have a fixed level). I guess since these are integrated amps, there's a higher likelihood that the line outs are volume-controlled, but I wanted to ask nevertheless. The product pages for these amps never say explicitly that the aux out is volume-controlled, even though they do say it can be connected to a sub.
On the Aiyima, it is Variable. I use it as a subwoofer output in my setup.
Hey how do you hook it up to a sub? 3.5 to rca cable into the lfe input?
@@justinhof6315 That's a question I've asked on forums and still haven't gotten a clear answer. I've got the Aiyima 08 pro and I wonder if you should use a stereo 3.5 to a mono RCA plug for the sub?
OK so I tried the 3.5 to rca connected into my subs lfe. It does work but is pretty boomy . I'll try moving it around my room to see if I get better integration. My cable is pretty short so it will be tricky.
By the way, Amazon has the 32 inch mono price speaker stands on sale for $29
Hi all! I’m trying so hard to find the right power supply upgrade for the St-01 Pro and cannot figure it out. Has anyone here upgraded this?
Is the USB drive useful if you want to add you Raspberry Pi streamer. In my case I have a PI running Volumio
Oh yeah, luv the channel, tastey
Can you confirm those tubes actually produce any power to the amp? I'm not questioning you, I'm questioning the units. Several years ago someone did test a similar amp and found out that all the tubes did was glow, they did nothing for the sound.
That reminds me of the Muntz TVs, from the 50s & 60s. Manufacturers used to brag about how many tubes their TVs had. So "Madman Muntz" put extra tubes in his TVs, which didn't do anything. He also had weights bolted to the chassis, to increase the heft---heavier was always considered to be better. Incidentally, later on, transistor radio manufacturers would employ transistors with only two leads connected, and which therefore would function as diodes. That increased the transistor count, a big selling point. It's perfectly acceptable to use transistors as diodes. but calling them transistors, in such cases, is deceptive.
Yes the tubes are apart of the pre-amp circuitry and in the signal path
@@larryjohnson9019 Thanks for clarifying that the tubes are indeed part of producing the sound,
If the tubes are old (made in 50's or 60's the labeling came off. Sometimes you can use your breath to leave a fog on the tube to see what writing was on it.
I had the Aiyima T9, and the remote would turn on my TV. Anyone know if it's the same with the Douk ST-01 Pro?
Have you seen the measurements of the Douk switcher?
I wouldn’t put it between my toaster and the power outlet!
I am wondering, when will the producers from these brands start with HDMI connections? Has it sense? Why the big receivers do and why not these products, not yet?
This is personal taste but the orange ring is bit too much bling and makes it seem cheap but then again what’s your moniker?
Sale going for the Elac speaker line currently.