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 tubes may be ok. Just an FYI free tip.
Another Excellent review. Really enjoy your reviews as they balance the technical objective/empirical with the more subjective sound components. Keep up your fantastic reviews DIYs!
Another excellent video! Aiyma and Douk do seem to clone each other so i am not surprised to see the same amp chip in both. The AIYIMA T9 PRO does have tone control for Treble and Bass btw. You just double click the volume button and the screen cycles through each. I wonder how many volts you can pour into them while increasing watts before they distort.
I have owned my model, the Aiyima T9 for years now, and I am really happy with it. The only flaw I can recognize is the Difference between Coax and Optical input. But, this can certainly also depend on my PC, that the Coax Output is a little bit "darker" than the optical, although they are both from the same DAC... That said... when switching to coax, I have to gain the high end a little bit in the equalizer, and through optical it´s fine as it is... Coax lacks a bit in brightness and maybe dynamics? I am not really sure about the dynamics, but I´ll test this in the next few days for some time... The funny thing is, my main DAC, The DAC of my main System built with: A PC for Streamer, then going via HDMI into my cheap DAC, then the Dac feeds my Tube Preamp, and the Tube preamp goes into 2 (Stereo) Power-Amps to bi-amp my JBL 4341 Clones! This main DAC costed me the horrendous Sum of 18,- Euros. LOL! But it sounds really good! That said, I really think, that the synergy of components and how a DAC is bound into a system chain, is more important than the DAC itself...Until now i didn´t try to change my main DAC, because i don´t have a replacement for my 7Meter HDMI Cable to go into a normal DAC with RCA inputs now. So i still use the HDMI Connection between TV and PC to get a sound out of a Splitter-box DAC. As long i am pleased with the sound? Why change? lol... But I`ll try this out this year... I am still not aware how. Either a long USB cable, or a long RCA Connection to one of my better DACs... I´ll see...
Excellent review, thanks. Agree with you that tone controls are a deal breaker for me. By the way, I would like to see if there's any difference in the audio quality among the different inputs: optical/USB/coaxial/RCA. Thanks
Great review. Did you notice what DAC were in these? I read where the Aiyima T9 PRO version has an ESS 9018K2M DAC chip, which is found in $1000 amps. How would these amps compare to the sound quality of your Sherwood S5500? Thanks for any clarification you can provide.
The ST 01 Pro's case looks very similar to the older Aiyima T9 which I have attached to my PC. I am looking to replace the Aiyima as the PC-USB has auto mute after about 10 seconds silence. It then takes a few seconds to unmute causing me to miss any audio during that time, particularly annoying when making Zoom or Skype calls. Does this Douk Audio also do this?
Thank you for this. Given that you have an ST-01 Pro and took it apart, you are in the best position to let us know: what is the dac chip in this? is the line-out fixed or variable, more like a pre-out? does it go through the tube stage?
If I recall correctly ES9018K2M the Dac is ok but not a strong feature the issue is the power supply but again at this price can not expect a lot The line output is variable can not confirm but it is likely from the tube/tpa amp circuit The Aiyima line out on the other hand was fixed if I recall
Thank you very much! I was interested in it as a tube dac/preamp, not that worried about power. However, from my SMSL AD18, I have a 6.6A 24v power supply that I can use as an upgrade in case I want to try this as an amp as well.
TPA 3251, heat sink is on top of chip. TPA 3250, heat sink is on bottom of chip. Like a chassis. - from TI docs. Edit: to clarify, both numbers are the TPA 3250 chip in actual performance. Texas Instruments is just trying to ensure proper heat sinks are used in various housings. Goog job TI USA! Actually my ST-01 Pro sounds much better with the tubes upgraded to GE JAN 5654w tubes, only $17.00...
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 tubes may be ok. Just an FYI free tip.
Thank you I got the distorted tubes then contacted them sent me new ones I think there was a bad batch somewhere but fixed the issue now
Another Excellent review. Really enjoy your reviews as they balance the technical objective/empirical with the more subjective sound components. Keep up your fantastic reviews DIYs!
Thank you 🙏
Another excellent video! Aiyma and Douk do seem to clone each other so i am not surprised to see the same amp chip in both. The AIYIMA T9 PRO does have tone control for Treble and Bass btw. You just double click the volume button and the screen cycles through each. I wonder how many volts you can pour into them while increasing watts before they distort.
Thanks for letting me know I would not have found out. That should fix the bass in the frequency response. 🙏
@@Gabster1 Agreed! Its funny because without your FR graph, we had already turned the bass up one notch. 😀
I have owned my model, the Aiyima T9 for years now, and I am really happy with it. The only flaw I can recognize is the Difference between Coax and Optical input. But, this can certainly also depend on my PC, that the Coax Output is a little bit "darker" than the optical, although they are both from the same DAC... That said... when switching to coax, I have to gain the high end a little bit in the equalizer, and through optical it´s fine as it is... Coax lacks a bit in brightness and maybe dynamics? I am not really sure about the dynamics, but I´ll test this in the next few days for some time...
The funny thing is, my main DAC, The DAC of my main System built with:
A PC for Streamer, then going via HDMI into my cheap DAC, then the Dac feeds my Tube Preamp, and the Tube preamp goes into 2 (Stereo) Power-Amps to bi-amp my JBL 4341 Clones!
This main DAC costed me the horrendous Sum of 18,- Euros. LOL! But it sounds really good! That said, I really think, that the synergy of components and how a DAC is bound into a system chain, is more important than the DAC itself...Until now i didn´t try to change my main DAC, because i don´t have a replacement for my 7Meter HDMI Cable to go into a normal DAC with RCA inputs now. So i still use the HDMI Connection between TV and PC to get a sound out of a Splitter-box DAC. As long i am pleased with the sound? Why change? lol... But I`ll try this out this year... I am still not aware how. Either a long USB cable, or a long RCA Connection to one of my better DACs... I´ll see...
Excellent review, thanks. Agree with you that tone controls are a deal breaker for me. By the way, I would like to see if there's any difference in the audio quality among the different inputs: optical/USB/coaxial/RCA. Thanks
Wow! That is a crazy distortion spike in the middle!
Thanks for doing this. Very much appreciated
Great review. Did you notice what DAC were in these? I read where the Aiyima T9 PRO version has an ESS 9018K2M DAC chip, which is found in $1000 amps.
How would these amps compare to the sound quality of your Sherwood S5500? Thanks for any clarification you can provide.
Not as good as Sherwood S5500 they a great budget amps great value for the money but still a cheap Class D chip.
@@Gabster1 They are a high quality IC, check out the TI specs.
The ST 01 Pro's case looks very similar to the older Aiyima T9 which I have attached to my PC. I am looking to replace the Aiyima as the PC-USB has auto mute after about 10 seconds silence. It then takes a few seconds to unmute causing me to miss any audio during that time, particularly annoying when making Zoom or Skype calls. Does this Douk Audio also do this?
No this one does not same for the Aiyima pro
@@Gabster1 Good to know.
I also have this same issue with my older Douk ST-01 and I'm hoping the Pro fixed it
Is there a way to disable the annoying clicks?
Yes. press M1 on the remote to disable auto mute function.
Great video. Keep up the good work
Thank you for this. Given that you have an ST-01 Pro and took it apart, you are in the best position to let us know: what is the dac chip in this? is the line-out fixed or variable, more like a pre-out? does it go through the tube stage?
If I recall correctly ES9018K2M the Dac is ok but not a strong feature the issue is the power supply but again at this price can not expect a lot
The line output is variable can not confirm but it is likely from the tube/tpa amp circuit
The Aiyima line out on the other hand was fixed if I recall
Thank you very much! I was interested in it as a tube dac/preamp, not that worried about power. However, from my SMSL AD18, I have a 6.6A 24v power supply that I can use as an upgrade in case I want to try this as an amp as well.
Do all these little amps use the same 3250 chip?
The two in the review, yes. There are other fosi audio popular models that use the 3116 chip
TPA 3251, heat sink is on top of chip. TPA 3250, heat sink is on bottom of chip. Like a chassis. - from TI docs. Edit: to clarify, both numbers are the TPA 3250 chip in actual performance. Texas Instruments is just trying to ensure proper heat sinks are used in various housings. Goog job TI USA! Actually my ST-01 Pro sounds much better with the tubes upgraded to GE JAN 5654w tubes, only $17.00...
How can these tubes perform at all when tubes require a few hundred volts.?
Возможно, лампы образуют катодный повторитель
Excelent review
I think it would make a great video if you would try to improve those small amps :)
Thanks Gabster.
Ridiculous to put tubes in such an amplifier, but it looks cool i guess. And it can fool gullible people that it makes the sound better.
Generic.