I just ordered one to test since this is my first journey into tubes. I figured for under a hundred bucks I have nothing to lose. I will post my impressions when it arrives. Thanks for posting this Greg and keep up the good work.
As promised, I tested this preamp using a Rotel rcd951 cd player, Cambridge Audio class AB amp and B&W dm 620 speakers. I used a variety of cd's to test like 'hell freezes over" by the Eagles, "moe-mentum" by jazz legend Moe Koffman, "dig" by Boz Scaggs in HDCD, Cuban "rumba, mambo, cha cha cha" from Putumayo and Bob Marley's "legend" among others. I set the tone controls to 12 o'clock and noticed that there was ample bass and treble. I left the treble there but bumped up the bass to 2 o'clock as per my preference. The next thing I noticed was detail was there in abundance. Background instruments tended to blend in a little more to the foreground. The bass had a mellow quality yet went down deep. On occasion I could hear subtle detailed sounds with the tube pre-amp not audible before using it. The one very good thing this SA 1000 did was soften the typical British forward sound of these speakers. It also removed a slight coldness to the overall sound which made extended listening sessions more enjoyable. From what I could tell the pre-amp is dead quiet. It does it's job and have no plans to replace or upgrade it. I have no interest to roll the tubes at the moment since these stock tubes are sufficient. I have not tried the headphones yet but plan to. Overall I have to agree with you Greg that this little black box is a gem indeed. Needless to say it's been a positive addition to that system.
I'm building a custom 3 ipad recording studio console in cased in hard wood. I'm thinking this will be the perfect stereo switch matrix from all the outputs going into the DAW recording ipad. Super excited. It should look cool built into the console. Thank you so much for the review
I have a few headphone amplifiers that have built in pre-amplifier function For around $100 you could get TOPPING L30 Headphone Amplifier/preamplifier that could use a RCA splitter to send a signal a subwoofer and the mono-blocks The one you found looks fun
@@NormcoreGregI am not a headphone user, but the head-amps and DACs often include excellent pre-amplifier capabilities built in. For $100 the L30 is an excellent preamplifier. I have a few including some tube head-amps. I have them connected to a “passive preamp” aka a custom RCA switch. I much prefer them to a dedicated preamplifier.
You would be able to tell if the audio signal is being amplified or attenuated by the tubes if you were to tap on the chassis while music is playing (preferably through headphones) and see if you can hear a ringing or a change in the audio corresponding to the taps. I would love to know if you've tried this?
If you want Preamp, buy second units, tube or solid state, you will get excellent value from those units and plenty of many years of enjoyment, still have excellent resale value. Look for e.g. Audio Research, Conrad Johnson, etc tube preamp.
2nd hand can be very good value But those leading brands you mentioned - surely even secondhand it would be more than $1000, unless it’s a very old one ?
@@richardgrant418 price varies from country to country and also from different models. If interested you should do a little research on what models you are after first and depend on the country where you can get them from. Read a few reviews, the 2 brands above are outstanding one, and also Solid state Preamp from Parasound designed by John Curl.
Thank you for your review. I'm setting up my first streaming system, so still very much learning. I've just bought a pair of ZA3's and a Wiim Pro and am waiting on a Geshelli J2 dac. The J2 has no volume control. I assumed that I would be able to control volume from the Wiim. Is this not the case? I was also planning to use the balanced outputs on the Geshelli to the balanced inputs on the ZA3's. Do you see this as unnecessary, given there are no balanced I/Os on this unit? Hoping that you can help. I'm obviously very new to this. Many thanks.
Hi Mark. This sounds like a great streaming setup! You can of course control volume (and much more - EQ, room correction etc.) on your Wiim using the app on your mobile phone. Or for $20 you can buy a dedicated Wiim remote, which will be even more convenient in my opinion - amzn.to/3MqSdZz. Between your DAC and amps it's better to use balanced XLR cables since they are less prone to signal distortion than unbalanced ones. This will give you slightly more sound clarity irrespective of the cable length. That is what I do when I connect the ZA3s (or now V3 Monos) directly to my DAC that also has XLR outs.
There's a lot of china bashing on these audio forums. Guys lets admit that china is an advanced nation in technology, they also make stuff for the cost consious market too, this doesnt mean everything out of china has to be ridiculed on. I see a channel where the person just modifies every amp from china as if it would never sound acceptable without tinkering. Its just a process of making content for their channel and nothing else.
My only problem with China is that they make and sell a lot of knock offs, which is unfair to those who took time and money to design the original stuff. Plus there's the political issue, but I don't want to dive into this rabbit hole ;)
@@CashGravel every WiiM streamer, even the Mini, has a built-in DAC and analog out. If you have the Mini, it’s a 2,5mm jack marked AUX. Having said that, your SMSL might sound better than the one inside WiiM. As for gain in the preamp I tested, I believe it does, although I did not take it apart, nor did I measue it. And the manual is in Chinese ;)
@@NormcoreGreg yeah I’m not too fond of using that little auxiliary output over an optical output, but I realized I could run the deck through the preamp and then into the amp and it would solve that problem. I’m mostly curious about the gain however because the speakers I use are maggies and it’s not so much the tonality change I need but a bump in power would be nice
@@thelowprofile9767, the headphone amp is actually pretty decent. I’ll be uploading a video showing the internals later tonight. It also includes the amp specs, so you might want to check this put. Sorry, but I do ‚t have my notes with me right now.
This preamp is a total piece of crap! I just ordered one and by no way can it even compare to my Fosi audio box 2. First of all there isn't any ground for vintage turntables. Second you have to turn the volume knob all the way up and still doesn't give you a decent amount of power. My Fosi has a gain function that I can at least turn up the DB to 45+ if needed. If you need a preamp for a computer this will work. But for anything else just spend a little more and get something decent.
I’m sorry you felt that way @@keithnelson9233. I have it hooked to two Fosi ZA3s and there’s plenty of power for me. Maybe your source produces very low voltage? As for the turntable, I use an additional phono stage that takes care of grounding.
@@gjan1761 you are absolutely right. This preamp is not a phono stage! The naming can be a bit confusing since phono stage is also often called phono preamp :)
I just ordered one to test since this is my first journey into tubes. I figured for under a hundred bucks I have nothing to lose. I will post my impressions when it arrives. Thanks for posting this Greg and keep up the good work.
Please share your impressions when you try it!
@@NormcoreGreg Will do.
As promised, I tested this preamp using a Rotel rcd951 cd player, Cambridge Audio class AB amp and B&W dm 620 speakers. I used a variety of cd's to test like 'hell freezes over" by the Eagles, "moe-mentum" by jazz legend Moe Koffman, "dig" by Boz Scaggs in HDCD, Cuban "rumba, mambo, cha cha cha" from Putumayo and Bob Marley's "legend" among others. I set the tone controls to 12 o'clock and noticed that there was ample bass and treble. I left the treble there but bumped up the bass to 2 o'clock as per my preference. The next thing I noticed was detail was there in abundance. Background instruments tended to blend in a little more to the foreground. The bass had a mellow quality yet went down deep. On occasion I could hear subtle detailed sounds with the tube pre-amp not audible before using it. The one very good thing this SA 1000 did was soften the typical British forward sound of these speakers. It also removed a slight coldness to the overall sound which made extended listening sessions more enjoyable. From what I could tell the pre-amp is dead quiet. It does it's job and have no plans to replace or upgrade it. I have no interest to roll the tubes at the moment since these stock tubes are sufficient. I have not tried the headphones yet but plan to. Overall I have to agree with you Greg that this little black box is a gem indeed. Needless to say it's been a positive addition to that system.
@@adamant3844 Thanks....👌🙂🎶🍀👋
@@adamant3844 thanks for your detailed feedback. Happy you like the preamp 👍
I'm building a custom 3 ipad recording studio console in cased in hard wood. I'm thinking this will be the perfect stereo switch matrix from all the outputs going into the DAW recording ipad. Super excited. It should look cool built into the console. Thank you so much for the review
Sounds interesting. Good luck with your project :)
@NormcoreGreg Thanks.Ill post a pic when im finished.
Nice find, I would replace or remove the backlight LED though.
I have a few headphone amplifiers that have built in pre-amplifier function
For around $100 you could get TOPPING L30 Headphone Amplifier/preamplifier that could use a RCA splitter to send a signal a subwoofer and the mono-blocks
The one you found looks fun
That’s also an option. I’m not a huge headphone fan, so I wasn’t looking at headphone amps.
@@NormcoreGregI am not a headphone user, but the head-amps and DACs often include excellent
pre-amplifier capabilities built in. For $100 the L30 is an excellent preamplifier. I have a few including some tube head-amps. I have them connected to a “passive preamp” aka a custom RCA switch. I much prefer them to a dedicated preamplifier.
@middleearthltd, I have two of those on the way from Fosi Audio, so I’ll verify your theory and report it back soon ;)
Nice. I would change the LEDs inside, to warmwhite, to match the meter. 😊
@@jantepas7511 better yet, you can add blinking backlight to match the jumping needle ;)
You would be able to tell if the audio signal is being amplified or attenuated by the tubes if you were to tap on the chassis while music is playing (preferably through headphones) and see if you can hear a ringing or a change in the audio corresponding to the taps. I would love to know if you've tried this?
I’m on vacarion right now but will do the tap test when I’m back and report the result :)
If you want Preamp, buy second units, tube or solid state, you will get excellent value from those units and plenty of many years of enjoyment, still have excellent resale value. Look for e.g. Audio Research, Conrad Johnson, etc tube preamp.
Thanks. Second hand gear is a great option.
2nd hand can be very good value
But those leading brands you mentioned - surely even secondhand it would be more than $1000, unless it’s a very old one ?
@@richardgrant418 price varies from country to country and also from different models. If interested you should do a little research on what models you are after first and depend on the country where you can get them from. Read a few reviews, the 2 brands above are outstanding one, and also Solid state Preamp from Parasound designed by John Curl.
Sparkos has several chips for all 3 units. Call them
Thank you for your review. I'm setting up my first streaming system, so still very much learning. I've just bought a pair of ZA3's and a Wiim Pro and am waiting on a Geshelli J2 dac. The J2 has no volume control. I assumed that I would be able to control volume from the Wiim. Is this not the case? I was also planning to use the balanced outputs on the Geshelli to the balanced inputs on the ZA3's. Do you see this as unnecessary, given there are no balanced I/Os on this unit? Hoping that you can help. I'm obviously very new to this. Many thanks.
Hi Mark. This sounds like a great streaming setup! You can of course control volume (and much more - EQ, room correction etc.) on your Wiim using the app on your mobile phone. Or for $20 you can buy a dedicated Wiim remote, which will be even more convenient in my opinion - amzn.to/3MqSdZz. Between your DAC and amps it's better to use balanced XLR cables since they are less prone to signal distortion than unbalanced ones. This will give you slightly more sound clarity irrespective of the cable length. That is what I do when I connect the ZA3s (or now V3 Monos) directly to my DAC that also has XLR outs.
@@NormcoreGreg Thank you so much
Any chance of a look inside?
I’ll do my best to take it apart and show you the internals. Hope to upload it this week.
There's a lot of china bashing on these audio forums. Guys lets admit that china is an advanced nation in technology, they also make stuff for the cost consious market too, this doesnt mean everything out of china has to be ridiculed on. I see a channel where the person just modifies every amp from china as if it would never sound acceptable without tinkering. Its just a process of making content for their channel and nothing else.
My only problem with China is that they make and sell a lot of knock offs, which is unfair to those who took time and money to design the original stuff. Plus there's the political issue, but I don't want to dive into this rabbit hole ;)
That really looks nicer...
I love it, but it doesn’t have an optical input for my Wiim streamer.
@@CashGravel it doesn’t have a built-in DAC. But the WiiM does, so you can use its’ analog out (aux).
No, I have the tiny dac that’s only optical and I feed it into an SMSL dac. You didn’t mention if it had any gain in the output stage.
@@CashGravel every WiiM streamer, even the Mini, has a built-in DAC and analog out. If you have the Mini, it’s a 2,5mm jack marked AUX. Having said that, your SMSL might sound better than the one inside WiiM. As for gain in the preamp I tested, I believe it does, although I did not take it apart, nor did I measue it. And the manual is in Chinese ;)
@@NormcoreGreg yeah I’m not too fond of using that little auxiliary output over an optical output, but I realized I could run the deck through the preamp and then into the amp and it would solve that problem. I’m mostly curious about the gain however because the speakers I use are maggies and it’s not so much the tonality change I need but a bump in power would be nice
What is the plate voltage on those tubes?
I wasn’t able to locate this information 🤷♂️
Did you try the douk t8 pro?
@@StrangeBrewReviews I did not. Not yet at least ;) Any good?
How good is it with a phono?
Do you mean phono stage?
@@NormcoreGregYes
@@thelowprofile9767, the headphone amp is actually pretty decent. I’ll be uploading a video showing the internals later tonight. It also includes the amp specs, so you might want to check this put. Sorry, but I do ‚t have my notes with me right now.
GONE already! Looks like they only had two dozen units???
It’s being sold by multiple sellers (also at various prices). This one for example comes with free shipping -
a.aliexpress.com/_ExjEILz
This preamp is a total piece of crap! I just ordered one and by no way can it even compare to my Fosi audio box 2. First of all there isn't any ground for vintage turntables. Second you have to turn the volume knob all the way up and still doesn't give you a decent amount of power. My Fosi has a gain function that I can at least turn up the DB to 45+ if needed. If you need a preamp for a computer this will work. But for anything else just spend a little more and get something decent.
I’m sorry you felt that way @@keithnelson9233. I have it hooked to two Fosi ZA3s and there’s plenty of power for me. Maybe your source produces very low voltage? As for the turntable, I use an additional phono stage that takes care of grounding.
It sounds like you're trying to use this as a phono preamp (no ground, no gain when volume is maxed). You need a seperate phono stage for that.
@@gjan1761 you are absolutely right. This preamp is not a phono stage! The naming can be a bit confusing since phono stage is also often called phono preamp :)
It is not a phono preamp. You buy the wrong item and then complain about it?
Low fi
9+
😂😂😂😂😂
CHINAAAAAA DONT TAKE IT EVEN FREE.
@@CORVUSMAXYMUS you probably wrote this comment on a device „made in China” ;)
Wrong..