A Tube DAC for your phone?!? Woo Audio Tube Mini Review
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- Опубликовано: 3 авг 2024
- The Woo Audio Tube Mini is a high-res USB audio DAC and headphone amplifier that works with any iPhone or Android phone.
Thanks to Jack Wu for giving me a Tube Mini to review. You can get it here:
wooaudio.com/amplifiers/tube-...
Note: When I shot the video, the Tube Mini was not on sale as it is now.
Thank you also to PSVANE for sponsoring this video.
You can buy the PSVANE Horizon Series of tubes on Amazon here:
amzn.to/4ciXXjB
Don't forget to read the FAQ! hear.audio/faq
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00:00 Start
07:13 Sound quality
11:24 Conclusion 
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I've owned a tube mini for a few months now, along with the power base. I can say no more than it is everything one might hope a tubed dongle dac to be. I use mine through my laptop and it pokes through a pair of Meze 109 pro headphones [cable as supplied]. I understand the employment of a USB A connector is due to it's physical robustness, which is fair enough. Sound quality is everything and this dac repays expectation and justifies it's price accordingly.
As a suscriber to the Berlin Phil's digital concert hall [they are rightly proud of the quality of their broadcasts] I'm afforded many occasions to listen live and I couldn't ask for a better partner in this endeavour than the tube mini. It's like a chef, supplied with excellent ingredients, always feeling obliged to do them justice. Although I began by following the start up procedure I quickly abandoned it as unnecessary - plug everything in, if it wants to crack and fizz let it, then check the volume on your laptop/phone, put your headphones on and get on with your life. It reminds me of the old Cayin IDAC 1, an old school point to point wired slice of pure joy. Only the mini proffers better detail retrieval and fit's in your pocket.
3:56 ouch. Thanks for the heads-up.
I’ve been looking at this very hard the past few days, so this video is right on time.
800mV is sketchy af for IEMs... Thanks for bringing attention to this Amos. This why I ultimately skipped this one as I listen to both headphones and IEMs these days.
800 millivolts, but yeah. I don't want anyone wrecking their IEMs.
@dankpods Portable Maracca Cracker?
Thank you for this Amos, much appreciated
I use it with the Ifi IEMatch and IEMs and love it!
I really enjoyed the tube mini, but I thought the dac circuit was a weakness. But since there is no analog input, it's impossible to suss out the contribution of the dac vis-a-vis the amp circuit, but it reminded me of an older 9018 implementation, with the attendant prickly top end intact. When the n3 ultra came out I sold the mini and bought the n3u, which I adore. Ymmv ofc.
I noticed that with the HD800S actually. It's not as noticeable with the slightly warmer headphones I've been listening with lately.
Thank you very much!
Thanks for the great review! Did you notice any difference in performance between the balanced and single ended outputs?
Have you considered plugging the woo audio tube mini into a fiio android dap like the fiio m23 with the usb c adapter?
Yes, with a couple of USB-C daps. Same results as described in the review with my iPhone 15 from USB-C.
500 holy crap dollars!
Excited for the Susvara Unveiled review :)
Yes!
Did you get the chance of testing it with 300 ohms headphones? Did it drain the phone battery too fast?
Listening I did, and it's fine with my HD800S, though I can make out that it's not as resolving as other gear I have. I can't say for battery drain as I didn't test how long different set-ups drained the battery of any of my phones. I might experiment with that though, so thanks for the question.
don't tubes have a limited timespan, how good are software emulation ?
I forgot what the usage time is for tubes, but a few thousand hours.
Software emulation can input even-order harmonics and the crosstalk effects as well, but that is usually done in hardware.
Can it drive a Tungsten?
No. You need a speaker amp or something with that level of power for those.
@@Currawong I saw in another review (amplify audio maybe?) that he drove a susvara with the woo mini. Not very loud mind you, but still 😁
You can do it, at lower volumes, as power requirements increase exponentially with volume. I did try the Tube Mini with the Susvara Unveiled and got a similar result to what I did with the DCA headphones. It's the usual "You can do it, but it wouldn't be my first choice".
Thx for the clarification
Priced Way Way Out of the Market.
Second
9:30 The main quality is that you don't notice any characteristics other than it having enough power 🤣 God, I'm so glad I disengaged from this hobby
Man, I really don’t get this trend of poorly designed luxury circuitry. Between this- a supposedly portable DAC using Class A topology and drawing the full current all the time (and having horrific popping noises) and Schiit lacking overcurrent protection, I don’t know man
First
Old timer always late..Bra, new dap with 2 real military grade valves..yup AK sp3000T..That's for old timer like u..not this stupid noisey frm woo..ha4..Peace!
I was just chatting with a mate about the AK, who reckons it's his favourite DAP now.
@@Currawong
No wonders..Peace!