I’m curious to know if there are any tube preamps that provide good value for the buck.
My setup is as follows:
Onkyo tx-8270
Klipsch rp600m
Thankful if anyone could point me in the right direction
Cheers
Schiit Saga + is pretty nice, sounds good too. If you just wanted a buffer, the YAQIN CD3 does a good job as well.
What would you be using this for? I would assume your receiver would have plenty of inputs and can control volume already
Edit: Ive also heard that people use the darkvoice 336se as a preamp, but I have not tried this
Edit 2: also heard of the FX Audio TUBE-01 being a good cheap buffer, but I also can’t speak to that either
Actually the ifi micro iTube2 is really good as well
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Thank you my good sir. Now I got a few possible gems to research 
I’ll do some digging !
Perhaps check out some JJ 12AX7 tubes. Actually sound really good for the price. Just research the sound characteristics of the different models to find what you would want
Any more ideas? I have similar problems - RP600Ms arriving tomorrow 
Lucky you Sten. (Svensk?) I ordered mine almost a month ago from my local dealer and still havent recieved them. Then I saw that another dealer had them in stock 
I’m kind of leaning towards the ifi itube 2 tube buffer as I already have the Onkyo tx-8270 amp
From Estonia 
But I do like Stockholm
I have the Loxjie wedge amp and FX-Audio Tube 01 + GE Tubes at the moment. Probably will sound good, but goining from 5.1 to 2.0 frees up more space for tubes
Estonian. So we’re neighbors! I’m on the West coast of Sweden though 
Sounds like you’re going to have a sweet setup !
Hey there, not sure if you bought anything yet. On the extreme low end budget side an item that I have been using for 6 months or so and has provided an immense amount of value for money spent has been my NoBsound NS10P. https://www.amazon.com/Nobsound-NS-10P-Audio-Pre-Amplifier-Control/dp/B07719G56B/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=ns10p&qid=1568547401&sr=8-1It’s a tiny $50 tube pre-amp with Bass and Treble control. I had to replace the stock tubes with matched GE JAN 5654W’s (about $28 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01BFJDTW0/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1, I had to buy 3.5mm to RCA cables (audio quest.https://www.amazon.com/AudioQuest-Tower-3-5mm-Cable-Black/dp/B00EPX5PA8/ref=sr_1_8?crid=3U9D1VYHSD177&keywords=audioquest+3.5mm+to+rca+cables&qid=1568547289&sprefix=audpioqueest+3.5mm+to+%2Caps%2C123&sr=8-8)
I have used it thru various speaker and headphone amplifiers and I can say w/ this set of tubes it provides a nice bit of clear, clean warmth to the sound. I had to A/B comparison many times over to actually hear a difference but it is genuinely there. I especially like the way Blues and hip hop sounds thru it. I spent a bit extra on the wires because initially I used a pair of generic cheap cables and there was a bunch of noise being introduced in the signal path. With this exact set-up the unit is DEAD quiet, no hiss or noise whatsoever. I repeat the stock tubes really sounded bad and should be replaced w/ something else and YMWV.
Gear I have paired it well with:
SMSL AD 18 Amp
Monoprice Liquid Spark Headphone Amp
FiiO A5 amplifier
Pro-Ject S@ Pre-box digital DAC/Amp
I don’t much use the bass and treble controls but once in a while there is a song that needs a bit of tweaking and they have worked fine for me. The controls are very close together because the unit is so small and my fat fingers sometimes have a bit of trouble manipulating them. Mostly though I set the knobs to where I want them and make all adjustments from the Amps or DAC’s. I enjoy it very much as a desktop unit and for the total cost could not be more pleased with it. I am using it as I type this listening to Blues thru the project DAC and liquid spark amp via TIDAL off a MACBook pro 2015 and the sound is very pleasing and relaxing. Good luck on whatever you choose, hope this helps.
Thank you for that thorough post about the NoBsound NS10P. I haven’t yet pulled the trigger so I’m still doing some research. I will look in to this little guy further! Thanks again
I use my Darkvoive 336se also but that has a light hum, sounds good but i know the hum is there even though i can’t really hear it when a song is playing. Personally i want a Shitt Freya+ next just can’t justify the investment especially since both of these provide all the “tubiness” i need/want. Beyond that the sky is the limit…
I went a similar route to @Nick_Mimi:
Nobsound HiFi 6J2 Vacuum Tube Preamplifier Stereo PreAmp Digital Treble&Bass Tone Control (Silver) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01NBM5CTN/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_A-SFDbBDZN2Q9
And I also added the GE tubes. Got both by cashing in Amazon rewards points. So no additional money out if pocket and OMG! I couldn’t believe the difference! Warmth is definitely added and the sound just seems a lot fuller in general. I split the signal from my DAC, ran one line direct into my Atom, and another through this buffer into Atom and A/B switched. With my M1060 and HD6xx I couldn’t detect any negative sonic consequences of putting this little buffer in the signal chain. No loss of detail. No detectable increase in distortion. No hum. No buzz. Just more warmth and an improved soundstage. My Dekoni Blues don’t sound great with the added warmth, though, as they already are fuller in the midbass than the other cans. I also ran the Atom’s preout to my Origain amp powering JBL Loft 40s and they noticeably improved with the added warmth as well. I’ve not heard the rp600m so I can’t say it they would benefit.
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The 600m would probably benefit because they are fairly sensitive speakers, but it wouldn’t be night and day as Nick_Mimi noted
Will bring this topic up again
Runnin RP600Ms with Onkyo A9110 amp via SMSL SU8.
Still lookin for some warmth and can spend now up to 400 usd. But im not sure how much that budget increase will help since I cannot find much for that, that Freya is ~900 euros in Europe :S Any suggestions?
Have you looked for local used markets for tube electronics? You might find some vintage stuff too
Market is kinda small here in Estonia Due to that I had to pay 600 euros for RP600Ms, though in us amazon they are under 500 us…
How about https://www.schiit-europe.com/index.php/producten/amps/saga-passive-or-active-remote-tube-hybrid-preamp.html ?
That’s a pretty good choice imo, and would do what you want 
Not a bad price either
Lookin to finally pull the trigger on something - was looking to try something weird, cheap and chinese since the schiit is bit expensive still
this one is in german warehouse and is using 3x12ax7b + 6z5p - what would you reccomend for tube rolling?