I have half a dozen Shiit preamps including one of their $450 models. Like them a lot. Also a Puffin, a Zen, and old Dyna PAS valve preamp, and many others. So this may seem a bit crazy but I am! I really like a variety of cartriges, turntables, etc. So there are dozens setup in my home. Anyway, I found your comment about the Shiit having a "darker" background interesting. The Shiit is very clean and neutral. Also, it occurred to me that it might be fun to run a Denon 103 MC cart as directly as possible into a nice but very simple class A valve amp such as the Reisong A10 (using EL34 tubes). And this AIMIYA T3 PRO's volume control would let me do that. I would probably drive a pair of Klipsch Cornwall One loudspeakers from the 1970s that I just got cheap and re-capped. My guess is that the sound would be luxurious like a warm bath in music. I do not think the sound would be that "accurate" but any nicely recorded direct to disc jazz would sound so simple, direct, and enjoyable that accuracy would be the least of my concerns. Thanks again for an excellent and informative review.
This could be the best starter phono stage. I have many different phono amplifiers, with opamps, tubes or transistors, and in different priceclasses. I now use a a Gold Note PH10+PS10 + 4 silver transformers for MC. And a small Douk T4 pro (with the small buffer tubes) for the third arm on my TT. I was surprised how well the Douk sounds. Only the cheap NE5532 opamps can't be changed. Here you can. And that will be a definite easy upgrade. Also the dipswitches and variable gain are very smart choices! Fyi: i have many expensive MC and cheap MM for different uses. And a real mono MC cartridge. I also have a pair of Fosi ZA3's and upgrading the opamps made a big upgrade. I use the XLR tobconnect yo my pre-amp, I can use the RCA to connect an extra phono preamp like this. The volume knob is very helpful, so i dont have to touch the two on the Fosi amps and get them exactly equal. You should try seapping with OracleII 02 opamps, €7 a piece and a lot better than the standard NE5532.
That's an impressive setup :) I haven't heard of the Oracell opamps - must google them. But I also got Fosi V3 Monos. I wonder how they will compare to the ZA3s.
Lo adquirí con cierto temor y cuando lo empecé a utilizar me maravilló! La cristalinidad del sonido y la separación del audio (estereofonia) son maravillosos. Mi hobby es digitalizar mis vinilos y con sus potenciometros de ganancia y volúmen tengo control de grabación. Muy buena inversión. Tengo ejemplos de grabaciones en mi canal de YT. Saludos.
@seeteeshock, thanks for the link - very interesting stuff! However, I'm not really surprised. This is very common across all types of goods that well established brands sell OEM items with their logos on it at a high premium. That's what you get when you invest a lot (of time and money) into building a strong brand. For us consumers this means we can often get the same quality for much less. But the cost is the time we have to devote to search for such replacements.
The $10 Chinese AT3600 are exactly the same OEM. I use them as a standard new cartridge and they are really, really good. This Aiyima phono is an original. Very well thought out. I haven't seen anything like it. So that's not really a comparison.
I have half a dozen Shiit preamps including one of their $450 models. Like them a lot. Also a Puffin, a Zen, and old Dyna PAS valve preamp, and many others. So this may seem a bit crazy but I am! I really like a variety of cartriges, turntables, etc. So there are dozens setup in my home. Anyway, I found your comment about the Shiit having a "darker" background interesting. The Shiit is very clean and neutral. Also, it occurred to me that it might be fun to run a Denon 103 MC cart as directly as possible into a nice but very simple class A valve amp such as the Reisong A10 (using EL34 tubes). And this AIMIYA T3 PRO's volume control would let me do that. I would probably drive a pair of Klipsch Cornwall One loudspeakers from the 1970s that I just got cheap and re-capped. My guess is that the sound would be luxurious like a warm bath in music. I do not think the sound would be that "accurate" but any nicely recorded direct to disc jazz would sound so simple, direct, and enjoyable that accuracy would be the least of my concerns. Thanks again for an excellent and informative review.
Thanks for the comment. Big Klipsches are on my bucket list :)
This could be the best starter phono stage. I have many different phono amplifiers, with opamps, tubes or transistors, and in different priceclasses.
I now use a a Gold Note PH10+PS10 + 4 silver transformers for MC. And a small Douk T4 pro (with the small buffer tubes) for the third arm on my TT.
I was surprised how well the Douk sounds. Only the cheap NE5532 opamps can't be changed. Here you can. And that will be a definite easy upgrade.
Also the dipswitches and variable gain are very smart choices!
Fyi: i have many expensive MC and cheap MM for different uses. And a real mono MC cartridge.
I also have a pair of Fosi ZA3's and upgrading the opamps made a big upgrade. I use the XLR tobconnect yo my pre-amp, I can use the RCA to connect an extra phono preamp like this. The volume knob is very helpful, so i dont have to touch the two on the Fosi amps and get them exactly equal.
You should try seapping with OracleII 02 opamps, €7 a piece and a lot better than the standard NE5532.
That's an impressive setup :) I haven't heard of the Oracell opamps - must google them. But I also got Fosi V3 Monos. I wonder how they will compare to the ZA3s.
Lo adquirí con cierto temor y cuando lo empecé a utilizar me maravilló! La cristalinidad del sonido y la separación del audio (estereofonia) son maravillosos. Mi hobby es digitalizar mis vinilos y con sus potenciometros de ganancia y volúmen tengo control de grabación. Muy buena inversión. Tengo ejemplos de grabaciones en mi canal de YT. Saludos.
FYI ICYMI "$65 Rega Carbon vs. $11 AT3600L phono cartridge - The same thing?": ruclips.net/video/e2s69fpphVU/видео.html
@seeteeshock, thanks for the link - very interesting stuff! However, I'm not really surprised. This is very common across all types of goods that well established brands sell OEM items with their logos on it at a high premium. That's what you get when you invest a lot (of time and money) into building a strong brand. For us consumers this means we can often get the same quality for much less. But the cost is the time we have to devote to search for such replacements.
Hi, yes is the same 45€ System was build by Audio Technica for several companys as OEM
The $10 Chinese AT3600 are exactly the same OEM. I use them as a standard new cartridge and they are really, really good.
This Aiyima phono is an original. Very well thought out. I haven't seen anything like it.
So that's not really a comparison.