Does anyone have any experience with these budget tube amplifiers from brands like Nobsound on Aliexpress?
Amplifiers like this one and this one
They look very cool, saw them posted on reddit.
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I’m being asked to login, which I don’t want to do.
can you provide the model #'s of links that don’t require me to be signed in?
thanks for the heads up
I updated the links, try it now!
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well first thing, these aren’t for headphones…you are looking for something to use with speakers? if so, are your speakers powered or passive? if powered, you want pre-amp, if passive, then you can use a full on powered amp.
i know lol i was just wondering if anyone ever used these amps.
they seem to be constructed using point to point wiring, crappy but replaceable tubes, and decent power transformers.
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I look forward to seeing what is shared as well.
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or… should i just buy one and risk getting corona virus
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that’s a myth and it’s been debunked many times. the virus cannot live long enough in the environment it has during shipping.
they have the style down…so I hope they can actually perform if given nice tubes.
have you used your Google-fu and see what others say about them?
The primary issue with cheap Tube amps is noise.
It’s not so much a function of the tubes as for the most part the power supply and components.
Valve amps require high voltage supplies, and in a SET configuration any noise on the power line gets directly transmitted through the output transformer.
Push pull amps don’t have that issue, but require 2x the number of tubes, and sound less “pleasant” since the thing that cancels out the PSU noise also cancels out a lot of the 2nd Harmonic distortion.
If you look at more expensive tube amps, the money goes on the component quality (not just the tubes) but the enormous oil filled Caps and Chokes in the PSU, the coupling Caps and output transformers etc.
No idea if these are good/bad, but you’d want to have talked to someone whose heard one before commiting.
i really cannot find any info about these amps due to there being no model number and nobsound making 100+ products. I found some people on youtube who made the diy kits but those are just those kinds of videos where people film the amp playing some random song while not talking all while shaking the camera.
i dont know if it’s really worth the risk?
You get what you pay for!
El Cheopo amps from far away places often have issues, poor soldering, circuit design, inferior parts…and most people do not have a clue.
There are some good products from overseas but usually have been vetted by folks over the years…and so many to stay away from.
You can by a really great amp from Schiit for $149 and often less for their B-stock items and you get a 2 year warranty and will easily be able to sell it!
Their is more than price here…
:>)
Alex
would using the schiit vali into a solid state power amp provide me with tube sound?
the vali is a hybrid also
The Vali is a hybrid tube amp that has a great tube sound. You can use the preamp outs to drive powered speakers etc…
I wouldnt take the preamp outs to another headphone amp…this would possible alter the sound sigature of the Vali which I think is what you want?
Many folks use the Vali as a entry level tube amp, the hybrid part is used for driving the tube etc…still a tube amp out…
If your budget can tolerate it there are more solutions out there like the LYR3 and others. Drop.com had several as well.
Alex
i need the amp to powered passive speakers, not powered speakers.
Moved to speaker amp category
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